Look What I Can Do Today!

The surgery is over, I’ve recovered from the havocs of anesthesia and my arm is screwed and plated in place so it shouldn’t fall off anytime soon.  It was a helluva June! 

Now, as they say, the real work begins. Yesterday, I learned that my one-hooved/pawed/handed status will be part of my life for awhile.  Up to a year, the hand therapy experts say. I gulped as she gave me that prognosis. I felt my eyes start to tear up.  I was thinking 6 -8 weeks.  A year? Crap!  Well, that’s not exactly what I said.

Doing my hand exercises

She followed up with reassurances that she was super impressed with what I’ve been able to accomplish so far (pulling the lid off a half open can of cat food!) and all the “horse people” she’s worked with over the years have a special determination that speeds up progress.  Hooray for us horse-folks – we have guts!

After digesting that information and brushing the tears away we delved into the mechanics of what’s wrong with my arm.  There are multiple issues from my shoulder to my fingertips, many just resulting from the trauma to the arm and several weeks of immobilization.  Fairly typical for the type of fracture I had and routinely addressed with physical therapy.  But, noooo, I wouldn’t do something “routine”.  I have to be different!

When my arm fractured the radial nerve which runs from the shoulder to fingers was damaged.  This has left me with a condition called Radial Neuropathy and Palsy (ICD-9-CM code 354.3 or ICD-10-CM code 656.31).  In plain English it means my arm and hand is partially paralyzed with the hand and fingers most acutely affected.  For inquiring minds, here’s more information - Radial Nerve Dysfunction.

In terms of my life it means I can’t do things like two-handed keyboarding (yep, I’m typing this with one hand),  use my camera, drive, microchip a cat, saddle a horse (yet!), hold a brush to blow dry my hair, shave my left armpit, uncork a bottle of wine, hold the phone and write/type with the other or even take a shirt off that’s not stretchy or has buttons.  Well…..you get the idea.

But let’s talk about what I can do with one hand.  I can halter and lead a horse, keyboard with increasing speed, give a horse a bath, pill a cat  (I’m especially proud of this!) and pull weeds in the garden. Oh yeah, don’t worry, except for the armpit I can do all that stuff.  Personal hygiene as it is so politely called.

My right arm and hand isn’t completely useless.  Everyday I’m finding new things I can do.  Last week I couldn’t fold any laundry.  This week I can fold towels. I discovered last night that I can draw up a cat vaccine.  I can hold a teaser for the cats’ playtime although Stella gets feisty and can pull it out my hand.  I can carry a lightweight, empty feedbucket a few feet (definitely couldn’t do that last week).  I’ve started using my right arm to assist in pulling on my pants.  I  can even operate the page forward/backward buttons on my Kindle – woo-hoo!! And, I’m pretty darn proud at the gesture I was able to do to express my disagreement with that blasted one year timeline!

I have a plethora of exercises to do everyday between twice weekly therapy appointments.  I’ve been assured that the burning pain in my hand will decrease soon and functionality will continue to progress but the fingers are at the end of the line for regaining use. 

As I settle into my routine exercises of manually spreading the fingers apart on my right hand with my left or gripping a table top with my thumb and forefinger, I’ll have plenty of time to reflect what’s good in my life. 

I have a super supportive husband (if not sometimes a little pushy), an in-house advice nurse with my sister and an unlimited number of friends who are spoiling me rotten (can anyone say Princess?).  I’m blessed with a job that I’m able to perform perfectly well even with my limitations.  FieldHaven is a pretty awesome place to be “stuck” at!  And, I am surrounded by my kitties, my hound and my beautiful horses. Hey, this is starting to not sound so bad!

This morning I watched news reports of Aimee Copeland, the 24 year old Georgia woman with necrotizing fasciitis, leaving the hospital where she’s been for  two months for rehab. Aimee left behind both hands, both feet and a leg – all amputated to save her life.  Yet her dad said she “is very excited”.

Mmmmmm…….I think I’m a pretty lucky girl!  I will get to use my hand again some day. Unlike Aimee.  And it WILL be less than a year.  MUCH LESS.