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Plague diary: update II and III
Dec. 24th, 2020 01:37 pmI saw the doctor on the 17th. I was uncomfortable with David in the waiting room for more than 30 minutes when it was just not well ventilated not well spaced so I saw doctor by myself. I would've liked a second person there to hear what the doctor said but I just did not feel it was safe for him. Safer for me because I theoretically have some immunity. The doctor said first of all that the break is in two places on the "ball" of the humerus, but it's nice and tight and it is not a place that they feel that they can put a cast. He wants me to take my arm out of the sling and let my arm hang straight for a while and also to raise and lower the arm at the elbow to keep the elbow from getting stiff. I have been doing this, and also putting jock itch powder on it twice a day because I got a yeast infection on the skin from leaving it in the sling for a solid week.
I saw the doctor again on the 23rd. They re-x-rayed the arm, and the doctor says that it looks better than the first set of x-rays done right after the accident. He said that he would be willing to operate but that he does not see the need. Moreover while the operation might be an improvement there is no guarantee because of the way he would need to move the muscles and tendons out-of-the-way in order to get to the bone. He wants to re-x-ray in two weeks and see how it's going. He feels that I will get back about 75 or 80% of my original functoinality back, but because the shoulder is so mobile I will not notice the deficit much. He also said that I should be able to return to work in about four more weeks. David and I have had a quick conversation and decided that for a variety of reasons including the fact that I will be better able to help with the driving in a fortnight and continuity of care it probably makes sense to stay in Cleveland for at least another two weeks, and have a follow-up x-rays here. Things still hurt lots and lots and lots, but it is actually less than two weeks ago. Improvement is happening; it's very slow.
I saw the doctor again on the 23rd. They re-x-rayed the arm, and the doctor says that it looks better than the first set of x-rays done right after the accident. He said that he would be willing to operate but that he does not see the need. Moreover while the operation might be an improvement there is no guarantee because of the way he would need to move the muscles and tendons out-of-the-way in order to get to the bone. He wants to re-x-ray in two weeks and see how it's going. He feels that I will get back about 75 or 80% of my original functoinality back, but because the shoulder is so mobile I will not notice the deficit much. He also said that I should be able to return to work in about four more weeks. David and I have had a quick conversation and decided that for a variety of reasons including the fact that I will be better able to help with the driving in a fortnight and continuity of care it probably makes sense to stay in Cleveland for at least another two weeks, and have a follow-up x-rays here. Things still hurt lots and lots and lots, but it is actually less than two weeks ago. Improvement is happening; it's very slow.
