i went to the doctor today. he was a good ole boy who took his sweet time giveing me crappy advice. i went in at 8am and got out at 11:30am the doc was a redneck goodile boy who does not think it needs surgury. i told him i had a doctor tell me i needed the surgery and that he would plate it. he replied with something like "thats easy for another doctor to say. they might do it at one of them big truma centers, but we need to just let it heal on its own"
He also cut me out of my splint with out knowing if they had a hourmoral fractor brace. if you watched the video you know. the docs buddy Buddy came in with one that did not fit my arm, so i had to go to his shop to have a custom one molded. Dr. Barrineau had about 0 bed side manner. i heard him tell his associate while he was in the hall that "we dont want to do the surgery, we dont want that kind of responsibility, you know we dont want to be sued for malpractice" this doctor sucked, i am not going back. i dont trust him and i do not want s lifetime of a crocked arm. no one should ever see this jackass. the doc my buddy had recomended was not threre. i am not going to this building agian. i am going to go to "one of them big truma centers" anyone know any good orthos?
i went to Seattle to meet courtneys mom, liz. we had a great time - despite the fact my hand swolled up like a purple blimp. We went to the seattle art mussem, it was great. the next day liz drove us all over the city and we saw all the sites. and the last day we went on an awsome food tour though pike place market. With a little help i even took a real shower. i was a bit stinky. it had been a while sine i had bathed for real. it was an amazing trip despite my mallity. i rested a lot and courtney and liz took wonderful care of me and got me though the trip. got me out for great coffe, tai food and great pizza. thank you.
Well you are not going to read this for a while b/c I am above you, 30,000 ft flying to SeaTac. It was hard to leave my family today, they were so wonderful taking care of me. I cried a bit hugging my mom and dad goodbye and I think they did too. I can not wait to see my girlfriend but t is hard to say bye to the people you hardly ever get to see when they took such good care of you (even when you were acting like a wounded jack ass) and you are not sure when you will see them again. I went into the doctor today b/c my splint was a bit on the loose side. He wrapped me up a bit better and he also did me a solid by taking a picture of my bruised arm. The new wrap job allows me to put on a shirt, which is real boss. He told me about the surgical option and recommended I have the surgery when I get home. He said some older docs will not do the surgery simply b/c the arm will grow back on its own while inside the plaster splint, the down side is that it will grow back crocked. That is the chance some doc are willing to take over the surgical option. The growing back takes 3 months and as the doc put it, “it is very unnerving b/c for the first month you can feel the bones moving around. “ I totally know what he means. It is creepy feeling. The draw back of the surgery (very small as with all surgery there is a risk/reward) is the radial nerve. It goes from your spine down the back of your arm. There is a chance after surgery that you can lose feeling in your hand and it will be limp for 3 months or you may lose feeling all together. All that being said I go to a doctor in Tuscaloosa on the 31st and I will hear what another doc thinks. I want the surgery to get over this a soon as I can and not flop around for 3 months. Here’s to not flopping around.
Christmas was nice. santa brought me an xbox 360. my arm is doing ok, well enough to fly to seattle tomorrow. i can't wait to see courtney and meet her mom. In arm news my wrist and thumb are turning a nice shade of purple. i bet the rest of my arm is that color but i wont know for a while. hopefully tomorrow i can make an appointment for a doc on the 31st. i know iam going to need pain meds by then
the question for today is... nick, what about going to, well you know...the bathroom?
Well, as some people know, i do that 2 to 4 times daily. I had gone the morning of the accident and i had stood up to use the rest room during lunch at the mountain resort around 2:00 on saturday. that was the last time i used the bathroom before i unwillingly became left handed around 4:15. Once i was off the mountain no one would give me anything to drink in case i needed surgery. Via the chopper i got to the hospital around 6:45. I did get to use a portable urinal while in the hospital bed. As far as the other part that did not happen until monday afternoon. I think my body shut off the pipes for fear of the left handed wipe. when it happened, number 2, the clean up was not nearly as hard as i thought i was going to be. It takes a bit longer to wipe and the stool is a bit hard (i hear trauma and stress can cause that) but overall not so bad. The pipes are no longer blocked, i have gone 2 times already today. not to shabby. Merry Christmas from my family to yours
today i finally made it out of the house. but before that could happen i needed no to stink. i had not had a shower since before traveling out to the snow board place. i started to stick from the sweating i did boarding before my big break. so i got myself up and cleaqned myself like this.
i got out and did some shopping with my dad for about 2 hours. and went to christmas eve church service with my family. now i am beat going to bed hoping not to get woken up by santa.
so called the recommended orthopedic doctor this morning about my follow up visit. he was not going to be able to see me until the 26th. i leave for Seattle that day at 7pm . When the doctor heard I live in Alabama and would be home on the 30th, he recommended i just wait until i get home to see a doctor b/c if they do surgery it is not going to be until after 5 days. A second doctor here in the Pittsburgh area gave the same advice. So now i am looking for an ortho guy in tuscaloosa. I got some recommended names from a buddy who knows these things(he did my cyst operation). WARNING THIS VIDEO IS GRAPHIC AND AWESOME
so now i play through the pain. and with my moms left over meds from her neck surgery.
Hello Friends-happy holidays, I am at my parents house in Pittsburgh. So i went snow boarding yesterday with my brother in-law, Rob. It was first time ever for me. it was real fun, i was getting the hang of it. i was thinking of turning pro-on my 3rd time down! So i was not that good....i fell down a lot. watch me fall - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQrQ5qu2aWc
then while trying to stop I fell for about the millionth time. I felll backwards and my right arm stayed behind me as my feet went forward, my hand went under me and my shoulder kept going. it sounded like a shotgun went of in my head. i new it was broken immediately. rob - the navy combat rescue swimmer, was there...he was great helping me and also by taking pics and video like i asked him too. they got me down the mountain via a sled, after rob told them how to get me on. me on the sled - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMh1ypu2T3g
from there to the ski patrol where they got my jackets off and cut off my shirts. about 4 inches above my right elbow the =]medics found a "3rd hinge" 1. elbow 2. shoulder 3. my humorous bone in 2 pieces. it looked like i had a huge rippling right bicep. that was just where the bones were overlapping. goodtimes. b/c there is an artery near the break and there were a few other people needing more serious attention at the same time, the small hospital near the slopes did not want me. after some red tape(the first helicopter would not fly me to pittsburgh we drove to it...i saw it) I was taken to the small hospital that did not want me and flown via helicopter back university of pittsburgh medical center. the drive that had taken 1 1/2 hours took 20 min.
long story short - i broke the humorous bone in my right arm. now i am in a big splint, on pain meds and still in pain and have to have surgery after a while. (not to soon) i go back to the doc on monday. here are the pics - http://www.flickr.com/photos/9730910@N05/sets/72157603522889346/ i am stuck in that chair for a while. it does not hurt where i am holding my wrist, just where it broke. b/c the lower part of my arm is not attactced to the bone I have been haveing this whole phantom limb thing. in the hospitas while the nurse, the ortho doc and my dad where setting it i thought my forearm was pointing right off my body, while it was actually laying on my lap!
i will keep you posted left handed is the new right handed merry christmas nick
