Sticks and Stones...

may break my bones, but falling down can have the same effect.

Yeah it has been a long tme since my last blog. So what's new? Well, on Friday, June 15 (four days before an 8 day vacation trip to Boston and New York) I broke my wrist playing that ULTRA-VIOLENT and PHYSICAL sport of... tennis.

"Tennis" you say? What, did I try to use too much top spin? Did I try to clock a 160MPH serve? No, no, I was just stupid. I thought I was still young enough to do a full sprint to get a cross court shot. I over-reached and couldn't get my legs back under me. So to avoid sliding on my face, I jammed my hands down and cracked the tip of my radius bone on my right hand.

Of course, at the time I tried to make myself believe it was just a bad sprain. I iced my wrist down that night but couldn't sleep comfortably. The next day (Saturday) it felt better and the swelling went down, but I still couldn't use it. Fortunately, I already owned a splint for my right wrist (when I thought I was developing carpal tunnel) so that helped. On Sunday (Father's Day), I took Canine's suggestion to get it checked by a doctor. When the doctor saw the xray he said, "Yep, you dun did it" (somewhat of a jovial doctor I must say). Here's a picture I took of my xray:

If you look closely at the top of the radius bone (the long arm bone on the left) you can see the fracture line going diagonally and a few smaller ones. The doc said that luckily, the alignment looks good so I wouldn't require surgery to pin anything back into place. Now the doc was ready to get me into an arm cast then and there. However, I asked him if I really needed a cast or if I could get by with just the splint. He said that if I wanted a more expert opinion, I should see the Acute Fracture Clinic in the morning. So he gave me my xrays and wished me good luck.

The next morning, I met with a Physician's Assistant (PA) who examined the xrays and told me the following. Their standard practice for this type of fracture is a full arm cast (a cast that goes above the elbow to prevent any rotation of the forearm) for two weeks. Then the full arm cast is removed, xrays taken, then into a short arm cast (below the elbow) for another 2-4 weeks. So basically, we're looking at about a 6 week cast period. Since I was going to spend the next 8 days where the weather is hot and humid, I asked the PA if I could get by with a splint and get casted when I get back. The PA said this is not their recommendation, but if I wanted to do so I would need to sign a waiver stating that this was my choice. He gave me a better splint which was a bit longer than the one I had, and had me schedule an appointment for Thursday, June 28.

Here's the splint I used on vacation. It has three velcro fasteners and a metal plate along the inner side to prevent bending the wrist.


I felt I made the right choice in not getting an arm cast before my trip becasue I would have been HATING it in Boston and NY. To be able to take the splint off and use cool water to clean and rinse off my sweaty arm was worth it. I got a funky tan line now (as TC can confirm).

So we returned late Wednesday, June 27. The following day I go to get my arm cast. They take new xrays to make sure I didn't make things worse. I'm expecting the full arm cast but was relieved when they said I'd only need the short cast. And to make me feel even better, they said I probably only need the cast for 3 weeks. After that I can use the splint again.

Here's my short arm cast:

I got blue because it was the "manly" color. Earlier, when I told TC that I'd need a cast, the first thing I heard was, "Can I sign it?" She had fun signing it.

Well, it's been somewhat tiring typing with just my left hand, so I'll stop now.