It's been a long time since I blogged last and man, what a way to renew it! The month of June used to be a month I welcomed each year with mixed feelings. The
arrival of June meant the onset of the south-west monsoon in India and the fact
that it would bring in a lot of rain was a great feeling. This also marked the
beginning of a new academic year; also, new books, new school uniforms and
stationery besides the new friends we would make. The sad part was
that June also marked the end of the long summer vacation which we spent playing indoors during the day, bicycling in the cool breezy evenings, the trips
to the hills to beat the summer heat and of course visiting relatives.
However, for the past two years, the month of June has brought me
more heartaches than joy. They have left deep scars in my life. June 2016 started
with the sudden unexpected demise of my Father. He had been hospitalised for a week. When I spoke to him on 2nd June, he sounded confident and assured me that all was
well. But things changed overnight and on the morning of June 3rd he
breathed his last. All of a sudden thoughts raced through my mind - all that I wanted to tell
him, all that I wanted to do but failed and a million other things that made
me feel much more miserable. I was still coming to terms with this loss of my
Dad when June 2017 had something more in store for me - I had a terrible fall!
Apparently, I had fallen with my arms outstretched, which injured both my wrists
and my left elbow took the
major impact. My ulna was dislocated and my radial bone head was shattered into pieces which the doctors said could not be put back. They took me through an open
surgical procedure where the broken pieces had to be removed and a synthetic
radial head was replaced (see picture). I had to be in a cast for 3 weeks and at the end of the second week they removed the staples. Moving my elbow became difficult and when the cast was removed I was recommended ten
sessions of physiotherapy.
It is now 5 weeks and I’ve completed my physiotherapy and my ROM (range of motion) still has not shown much progress. My review with the Ortho at the end of 4 weeks seemed to be a mere formality with not much of excitement. Currently under a cloud of suspense as to how things will pan out I’m trying to make a lot of adjustments to my life in terms of routines. At the moment the challenge is in terms of pronation and supination of the left wrist which are critical for playing my guitar or my keyboard. I’m continuing to work on these by myself and pushing it as much as possible till it hurts. I’m also slowly gaining strength in terms of holding things, pulling and pushing, etc. More than all these I’m also praying that I’ll be able to extend and flex my arm like before.
Apparently, I had fallen with my arms outstretched, which injured both my wrists
It is now 5 weeks and I’ve completed my physiotherapy and my ROM (range of motion) still has not shown much progress. My review with the Ortho at the end of 4 weeks seemed to be a mere formality with not much of excitement. Currently under a cloud of suspense as to how things will pan out I’m trying to make a lot of adjustments to my life in terms of routines. At the moment the challenge is in terms of pronation and supination of the left wrist which are critical for playing my guitar or my keyboard. I’m continuing to work on these by myself and pushing it as much as possible till it hurts. I’m also slowly gaining strength in terms of holding things, pulling and pushing, etc. More than all these I’m also praying that I’ll be able to extend and flex my arm like before.
Those having experienced the trauma of radial head fracture
and replacement may please feed back with comments on your experience and
suggestions to encourage others who are facing this issue like me.
