If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

October 31, 2010

When you have two children who are away at college and a high school freshman, Halloween just isn't quite the same.  Yes, I put out some festive decorations for my home and put pumpkins on the front porch, but costumes ... not so much!  But, WAIT!  What if I dress up for Halloween myself?  No, that really isn't my thing either.

I stopped by my old office this week to assist them in a project and one of my friends asked me if she could play the strings on my contraption like a guitar.  It isn't the first time I have been asked that, so in the spirit of Halloween, and my continuing journey of retaining my sense of humor, I turned my contraption into a guitar.  Happy Halloween!

Month 5 ... let's check the progress!

Well, it's been 7 weeks since I had measurements at PT.  The entire time with my physical therapist has been spent working on range of motion in my shoulder so all of the range of motion work on my elbow has been left up to me.  Have I done the job?  Let's check the progress:

Extension: 8 degrees / 4 degrees with assistance.  4 degree improvement since last measurement, 32 degrees overall!   I was told that I would probably never get more than 10 - 15 degrees because of the placement of the plates.  Ha!  No one should tell me I can "never" do something because that just makes me fight harder.  I hope that when my triceps returns after the radial nerve fully heals, I will get my arm completely straight.

Flexion:  134 degrees with or without assistance.  10 degree improvement since last measurement, 34 degree improvement overall!  I'm afraid this may be the extent of my ability to bend at the elbow because even the PT can not push it even one degree further.  I believe I am right at the range of motion I had prior to my fracture, although I never had an official measurement after all of my surgeries as a child.  I will keep working on this!

Nothing new with the fingers, so hopefully I will have an update to report soon!

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1.02.28

Blast from the past .....

Early on in my posts I mentioned the fact that I suffered a severe injury to the same arm when I was 13 years old.  I had several surgeries and have often wondered about the surgeon who fixed my arm the first time around.

I grew up in Maryland and I remember the physician left his practice shortly after he treated me to move back to his home land of Israel.  Last night I was on PubMed looking for articles related to circulation issues after a fracture and radial nerve palsy.  I didn't find what I was looking for but I did find an article about humerus fractures that cited a Dr. Edelson in Israel.  I sent him and email and within an hour I had a reply - it was the orthopaedic surgeon who treated me in the 1970's.  How great is that?

Random little story, but it made my day!

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1.02.28

... and YES, my wrist is getting stronger!

September 11 was the last date I posted photos.  Today is October 4 and I decided to look back on those images to see if there has been any progress.  I'm glad that I keep images because it may not be much, but the wrist is stronger!  My pointer finger has more muscle tone but the other 4 fingers have not improved at all.  Yet.  I know their days are coming!

tiny improvement, but see a
small amount of flex at the wrist!

When my hand is flat on the table I still can not lift any of my fingers.  There just is not enough strength for that ... yet.  I can, however, lift my wrist and that is progress!

I can lift my hand at the wrist
when flat on the table!

Thanks to my new iPhone I am able to take video.  This is what it looks like to have a wrist that works, with a hand that does not.  Because the pointer finger has gained some muscle tone, I am actually able to lift it with the wrist at certain positions.  Yay!  However, when I try to lift the other fingers - or all 5 at the same time, it is clear that I have a long way to go!