Monday and Tuesday have been busy days. Megan stayed in the hospital for an extended stay from Sunday morning through Tuesday evening. Two nights in the pack-n-play were met with mixed reviews: Laura said it went great (she'd be capable of sleeping through this if it occurred in our building right now), while Kyle may be getting a bit blurry-eyed... Megan did get her five feedings a day from Laura, though! :)
Back on Saturday evening Laura started complaining of severe pain in her right shoulder, the one with the fractured clavicle. For over a week, Laura has taken no pain meds whatsoever except for one night in the ICU, so the fracture has been manageable. Saturday night, however, Laura was in extreme agony and demanded something for the pain, so I knew she must be really hurting and wondered why this would come on now after 8 days.
This pain continued into Sunday and the doctor explained that healing bone "laying calcium" can get inflamed and increase the pain level. I had not heard this and did not recollect the pain getting worse as my clavicle fracture healed (although I was on the bike riding Tour de France stages daily so my healing process was surely abnormal), so I was skeptical that suddenly her clavicle would start bothering her so much more than it had been initially.
Monday we had various therapy sessions, but also many interruptions as we shuttled off to Mon Gen Hospital for followup head CT scan, and then separately went off to in-house x-ray of her shoulder. All told an exhausting day for Laura and me.
Now today, Tuesday, I get a look at the x-ray and it is clear that the formerly non-displaced clavicle fracture is displaced. This sucks and obviously explains her pain. How has this happened? Has the therapy been too aggressive with the right arm? They say that they have to work the arm or the shoulder could "freeze", a far worse condition than a simple fracture. I say that we are in rehab for the brain trauma, not because of her contusions or fracture. Nonetheless, we are at where we are at, which is a displaced fracture of the clavicle that has her in agony and has a very nice protruding bump. I demanded, and received, an orthopedic consult who advised that he would not operate on such a fracture as the two ends are non-overlapping and still near each other, but that we should get further films in a few days to ensure that the current placement is stable. I have succeeded in pissing off the occupational therapists as well as the physicians assistant, but I don't care. We didn't come into their hospital with a displaced fracture, and now we have one. It may or may not matter for the course of care she receives or for how the fracture will heal, but they should not be so dismissive about it. I got pissed at the therapist when she answered Laura's question as to why her shoulder hurts so much now when it did not last week with "You are doing therapy now and were not last week, so you are working it." No, it hurts because the bones have shifted whether or not your therapy caused it, so tell Laura that. Ok, blood pressure rising.
The doctor, for that matter, is not dismissive about it and reacted promptly in getting an orthopedic consult set up once he saw the x-rays and that his initial diagnosis of pain due to inflammation was wrong.
To end on a more positive note, after the long visit to the ortho consult, Megan had gone home, Laura was exhausted and she finally got a nap for the day. Unfortunately for her, it was interrupted by me, and I wheeled her across the street for pizza at a restaurant to celebrate our anniversary.
I love you, Laura, and always will! Good times and bad. Sickness and health.
Back on Saturday evening Laura started complaining of severe pain in her right shoulder, the one with the fractured clavicle. For over a week, Laura has taken no pain meds whatsoever except for one night in the ICU, so the fracture has been manageable. Saturday night, however, Laura was in extreme agony and demanded something for the pain, so I knew she must be really hurting and wondered why this would come on now after 8 days.
This pain continued into Sunday and the doctor explained that healing bone "laying calcium" can get inflamed and increase the pain level. I had not heard this and did not recollect the pain getting worse as my clavicle fracture healed (although I was on the bike riding Tour de France stages daily so my healing process was surely abnormal), so I was skeptical that suddenly her clavicle would start bothering her so much more than it had been initially.
Monday we had various therapy sessions, but also many interruptions as we shuttled off to Mon Gen Hospital for followup head CT scan, and then separately went off to in-house x-ray of her shoulder. All told an exhausting day for Laura and me.
Now today, Tuesday, I get a look at the x-ray and it is clear that the formerly non-displaced clavicle fracture is displaced. This sucks and obviously explains her pain. How has this happened? Has the therapy been too aggressive with the right arm? They say that they have to work the arm or the shoulder could "freeze", a far worse condition than a simple fracture. I say that we are in rehab for the brain trauma, not because of her contusions or fracture. Nonetheless, we are at where we are at, which is a displaced fracture of the clavicle that has her in agony and has a very nice protruding bump. I demanded, and received, an orthopedic consult who advised that he would not operate on such a fracture as the two ends are non-overlapping and still near each other, but that we should get further films in a few days to ensure that the current placement is stable. I have succeeded in pissing off the occupational therapists as well as the physicians assistant, but I don't care. We didn't come into their hospital with a displaced fracture, and now we have one. It may or may not matter for the course of care she receives or for how the fracture will heal, but they should not be so dismissive about it. I got pissed at the therapist when she answered Laura's question as to why her shoulder hurts so much now when it did not last week with "You are doing therapy now and were not last week, so you are working it." No, it hurts because the bones have shifted whether or not your therapy caused it, so tell Laura that. Ok, blood pressure rising.
The doctor, for that matter, is not dismissive about it and reacted promptly in getting an orthopedic consult set up once he saw the x-rays and that his initial diagnosis of pain due to inflammation was wrong.
To end on a more positive note, after the long visit to the ortho consult, Megan had gone home, Laura was exhausted and she finally got a nap for the day. Unfortunately for her, it was interrupted by me, and I wheeled her across the street for pizza at a restaurant to celebrate our anniversary.
I love you, Laura, and always will! Good times and bad. Sickness and health.
Thanks for the updates, Kyle. We both think about you guys every day. Laura, we're wishing you a speedy recovery and hoping that they can get your pain under control. Kyle, she's lucky to have you there as her advocate.
ReplyDeleteWhen I broke my clavicle, it was my fault. I just never could pace myself. Now I set off the metal detector at the airport.
ReplyDeleteAnd Happy Anniversary! Laura looks so great! Kyle, well, not so much! Kidding! It's so good to see a picture like that! Hang in there and hope to see you soon.
Positive Chakra energy works!
Paul and Pat
Massage anyone???
Happy Anniversary! Glad you got to escape the hospital for a short time. Sorry to hear about the displaced fracture but I'm glad to hear you're giving the doctors and therapists a run for their money Kyle. Hopefully Laura will be out of there soon!
ReplyDeleteComing from someone who works in a hospital every day...STAY ON THEIR BUTTS!!! You are her biggest advocate AND the person who is with her the most (but of course, you know that!!)...and knows her the best! NEVER NEVER stop being a pain in their asses!
ReplyDeleteMy reaction to the therapist's behavior is that necks need to be cut, but given that you live in a western post-modern society, this would, of course, be unacceptable. So instead, you should take off your shoe and wave at the therapist menacingly...she will get the message.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading and praying every day. Laura, you look really good.... like you just have your arm in a sling, nothing worse. Beautiful. Kyle, thank you for being persistent. Health professionals need to listen.
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary! Keep up the good work--both of you!
ReplyDeleteWhen the Baathists would chase us through the marshes, the reeds would give us severe abrasions on our legs and buttocks. To ease the pain we would apply a poultice of buffalo dung. It worked very, very well and the smell would keep the Baathists away too. I think you Americans call this a two-fer...so I will try to find some buffalo dung for your cuts. It is the least we can do to help ease your pain. As for your broken clavicle, no amount of buffalo dung can heal that, only time and patience.
ReplyDelete