Month: March 2008

I had planned on asking A. to marry me while we were in CA (Yosemite, specifically).
That did’t work out (for obvious reasons), but the logisics were such that I had figured I would probably postpone, but wanted to keep my bases covered.
We had a great afternoon Friday, and I decided what the hell on the beach in Jacksonville, and she said yes!

As my uncle put it blithely, sometimes you have to play the ocean you are dealt.

i did get out yesterday. we made it home okay, but as i was getting out of the car, the stupid little velcro strip holding my arm sling disengaged, and i totally ended up back in agony. I describe the night of my surgery as chasing the devil – i would be in a lot of pain, then get enough drugs in me that i could sleep, but i would sleep for a couple hours, which would mean i wasn’t jamming on my drugs every hour, which meant i woke up in agony. I was released with a little medicine ball attached to a cathyeder on my neck, which is supposed to help numb my upper arm. last night was really more of the same in regards to pain & sleep. A. has been super through all this (she camped out in the hospital room w/ me, and has been my second pair of hands overall) – i just hope this doesn’t burn her out. i know the surgery was a good thing, rationally, but, in terms of my present condition, morale is way down, and i feel like i took a huge step back in tgerms of pain management and self sufficency.

hopefully, i fly back to ny tomorrow. i am supposed to be seeing my doc in a few hours, and he is going to give me a once over, change my half-cast into a brace, and (man i hope) give me double thumbs for flying tomorrow. w/ my medicine ball and metal plates though, i am sure that the lovely gov’t reps of our homeland security will be nothing but understanding and helpful at securty.

i am jack’s marvelously mangled morale.

hope everyone else is hunky dory – thanks for all the well wishes guys.

So I was in surgery for north of four hours, instead of the premeditated two/two and a half. Doc ended up having to use two plate/screw dealies because I have dinosaur bones. Chief accomplishments of past twelve hours? Solid foods an non-catheter peeing in sizable volume. Despite my rapid mending (due largely to A’s attentiveness, coupled with the Flanderish smiles of my evangelical he-nurse Gabriel) they may want to keep me a second night for pain management, It hurts a lot when the doc plays goatse with your tricepts, fyi.

Next time will be +1 piece. Made of metal, which I am sure all the phd candidate TSA folks will grasp without any explanation. As it was, they had to swipe down the gauze on my arm to be sure nothing untwoard was smuggled within my broken limb.

Pre op all day Monday. Follow up on either Tues or Wed. Have a happy Easter internets. May all your easter eggs be full of ironic code populated by bored programmers w/ too much mountain dew in thhier bloodstream.
Last time through the airport in one piece

not going to ca.

i reviwed my case w/ a family contact in orthapedics at the Mayo clinic. flying down there to get the surgery.
the doc said “you should have gone from the er to the or – i can’t believe it’ll be over a week before you get the surgery”.

here’s to hoping for no permanent nerve damage, crazy blood infections, or onslaughts of immunio-finickyness in the face of implanted surgical steel.

i am jack’s badly broken humerus.

so there is a possibility my radial nerve is involden in my injury.
according to my latest batch of xrays, my break point is such that the nerve is either:

  • inside the break
  • a few mm above the start of the break
  • out of place as a result of tissue trauma cased by torque of the break

given the potential side effects of radial nerve dysfunction, the doc is suggesting surgery. he said i could also just let it heal naturally, but they would need to re-set the bone for that to be ok. that leaves me with a 33% chance of nerve damage according to my options above if i have them re-set blind. they did a partial reset today, so i have a new cast, and i am a lil more comfortabe, but a lot more worried.

surgery is gonna be large. shoulder to elbow incision – plate + screws, along with all the other lovely risks associated w/ surgery _and_ there is still a chance of nerve damage if something/someone fucks up.

if i waiit and try natural healing, that will make the surgery harder if they have to do it, esp. since the nreve will prolly get covered in new bone.

part of me wants to say ff this, refill my oxycodine scrip, and deal with it when i get back from cali…


click the xray for more…

so saturday was a blast…
, , and mclovin had a great patty’s day party. i made corned beef, cabbage, and taters (of which, i think there were only leftover cabbage), and folks were having a good ol time.
after a few rounds of drinks, it turned to arm wrestling betwen my br and i, which has been a longtime item of entertainment. after losing rightie, we switched off leftie. i was lifting my elbow (according to eyewitness reports), and when my bro went to give back, he brought my arm down and back at the same time.

i hope i never see the look i saw on his face again. he knew right away he had broken something. i can still hear the sound in my head – that wet tearing crunch – like the sound a cold roasted chicken makes when you are taking it apart for salad… a couple people heard it i think, it was apparently enough to make take an emergency run to the bathroom. apparently, on my way to the sofa from sitting on my knees, i sorta passed out. after a few mins of focus, i got to the sofa and started sorting things out with a lot of help.

i could wiggle my fingers. i didn’t have any bones poking out anywhere they shouldn’t have. my arm needed support to not create shooting pains and a grindy noise, but it felt like i dislocated my elbow, not my arm. using a couple of ties, my bro and i got it into a sling of sorts. despite my protests, A. came with me to the ER, and has been a super help since then. my bro feels like shit about it now (even though he shouldn’t), but he was true to family form when it comes to a crisis situ – hold it all together to get shit sorted out, and deal with the rammifications later…

called to find out if an ambulance would be covered by my insurance. it wasn’t, so i got a ride from someone at the party with a car. Alf doesn’t drink or smoke, so I need to get him something nice as a thanks. anyone have any good ideas?

got to the Sinai ER before 9, then checked in. A. had the foresight to bring a water bottle, as well as a belt of ‘s for me to bite down on (it was returned with a bunch of toothmarks on it last night), both of which remained handy throughout the evening.

ER admittance is always a fucking mess, and sat night was no different. tadmitting interviewer saw me after about 10 mins, and i was still waiting like 40 mins later. it was at this point that i really wished i had a flask to go with the water bottle. i could feel the start of shock coming on. A. mentined this to the admitting nurse, and, surprise, they found a spot for me. once i was reclined somewhat, my head started to clear a little, and my body temp came back up.

i got out of the ER by about two am. A. was a super help throughout, and even called my aunt, who is an orthapedist for the Mayo Clinic in Fla, who she didn’t know! the call was placed when the er doc mentioned a high probability of surgery. ultimately, it was decided that the onsite’s orthapedics guy, who basically gave me a pass on surgery then and there. they put me in a “gravity cast”, wherein the weight of the cast is supposed to keep the fractred bone aligned.

a few observations:

  • along with a high pain and booze tolerance, apparently, comes a high pain drug resistance. i should have recalled this from when i woke up halfway though wisdom tooth extraction from a general anesthetic that the attending anestesiologist had to administer 3x
  • nurses get really nervous when they administer 16mg of morphine to ypu, and you are still in pain, and pretty much with it
  • having a good xray tech is really important. the first guy i got was a total asshole, who was totally mcjobbing the deal. the second woman i had, much later in the night when i was worse off, was like 100 times better.
  • there are a lot of fucking bumps in the road between Mt. Sinai and my apt. i almost bit through ‘s belt going across lex on the way home.

i have an appt with my orthapedist at 9:45 tomorrow morning. my money is on surgery, which will blow, since it wiill totally hose my vacation plans. i say this mostly because if i sneeze, cough, laugh, or move the wrong way, i can totally feel the bones shifting around, and it kina makes me gag. i’m on a healthy dose of oxycodone, but to stay sharp enough to take care of myself, i end up with some pain.

tellecommuting for the immidiate future, and learning how to type one-handed way better.

life is pretty low when your principal accomplishment in the prior 24 hours is showering, and that took more prep time than time spent in the shower…

big thanks to anyone who offered a hand Sat that i forgot. thanks for all the well-wishes since. i’ll update tomorrow – i am gonna try to get the doc to email me the xrays.

this guy!
broke my arm while arm wrestling my bro at a patty’s day party. spiral fracture about 3 inches long on my left arm starting 2 inches north of elbow. in a cast from shoulder to fingers, and seeing a doc tomorrow (hopefully) to find out if i will need surgery or not.

best part of all this… i was wearing a tshirt that said “stereotype me, i’m irish”.

lived up to that shit.

god, have i really been using lj almost a fifth of my life? i don’t know if that is sad or something to be proud of.
i got a bomb dropped on me at work today. this project i’ve been trying to get airborne for almost 9 months just got deferred another year.
in the meantime, i will continue to supplement functionality, support, and technical capability of the product that the business uses with moxy, elbow grease, and a lot of drinking and dirty hacks.

i predict a gloomy, drunken evening, with a sprinking of distain and self-pity this weekend.