16 weeks ... let's check the progress!

Today was another follow up and things are going really well with the fracture.  The bone continues to heal well and x-rays show new bone growth which is always what you want to see.  It's hard to see the fracture line in the original x-ray with all of the hardware but I am reminded again of what a terrible location the humerus broke.

the pink line represents the fracture - what a mess!

The Dr. is really happy with the recovering radial nerve.  The wrist continues to get a little stronger each week and now I patiently wait for the fingers to follow!  There was a resident from University of Iowa in the office today so much of my visit was spent educating him about the injury I had and the healing process.  I really like teaching moments because I always learn a little bit more, too.

My surgeon told the resident that he didn't remember the radial nerve showing signs of injury in the ER and the location of the fracture is not indicative of a radial nerve injury so he feels that the multiple surgeries in my arm as a child and scar tissue may have contributed to the trauma on the nerve as it was moved out of the way while they repaired the injury.  We will never know but it is very unusual for this particular fracture.  In fact, I was reading an article that said this type of fracture in adults is very unusual, too.  Like everything else with me -- it's "uncommon."  Shocker.  :)

So, now we try to figure out how to best heal the shoulder.  One MRI with contrast, one more follow up and one cortisone injection ..... never a dull moment!  We will meet and discuss only the shoulder one week from today.

Crash!

20 miles is how far I was riding this morning.  I took off at 6:15 am and headed out with my Pearl Izumi shoes that I needed to break in and my recently installed clipless pedals.  It was a perfect morning for a ride and then I would be off with a friend to pick blueberries – a summer tradition.  I was almost home, marveling in how much I loved cycling when I approached a 3 way stop and I can’t remember how or why, but I got stuck in my pedals, couldn’t release my foot, and …. C R A S H! It was loud, it was ugly and I was hurt!  I didn’t crash into a car, I crashed into a curb.  I was still struggling to release my shoes from the clips while on the ground so I just gave up and took my feet out of my shoes, reached into my back pocket, grabbed my iPhone and called my husband to come pick me up.

We headed straight for the ER and it didn’t take long for me to realize that I had really done a number on myself.  I had severely fractured my left arm, just above the elbow.  I wasn’t going to pick blueberries.  In fact, I wasn’t going anywhere for 2-3 days and surgery would be at 2:00 pm this afternoon.  It is called a ‘distal humerus fracture’ and it is not good.

Emergency Room

Left distal humerus fracture