Endurance Race Report II

Finally getting around to reporting on the new stuff. I went in last Thursday to get the bandage off, take x-rays to make sure everything went well, and I thought I was going to get my stitches out. Turned out I had 17 staples holding me together. That was cool. I went around for ten days having no idea because I wasn't aloud to take off the bandage. It did explain the weird feeling I had when I put pressure on it. So they took those out, and put sterry strips on, just to make sure I wouldn't rip myself open.

The x-rays looked good except one chunk of the bone that was misplaced is still misplaced. Doc said when they tried to move it back to place, it had fused to the artery that supplies my left arm. It ripped open, so they had to get a vein guy to repair it. Ended up just leaving it where it was. But the rest of is is lined up, touching each other, so it should be good when it heals. I got out of the sling, and have some exercises to do 3 times a day.

I also went from Percocet to IBprophen, and now only take it when it starts getting sore and achy. The sterry strips came off, and looks like it is healing up pretty nice:


The only thing that's weird, is I've got an area of numb skin. Feeling it out, and putting some dots, I connected them to trace out where I can only feel pressure. No touch, no cold, no hot.


Probably not a big deal, even if it never does fix itself. I don't know if they even could fix something like that. But I figure if it never does get better, maybe that will be a free spot for a new tattoo.

Well take it easy, and enjoy this awesome weather we're having.

Endurance Race Report

The race has begun, and it's a long one. I'm one week in, and it will be a good number of weeks to go. The race to getting my life back to what it was.


Tuesday 9-30 5:30am:

I woke up to go into surgery, wearing the required "loose fitting and comfortable clothes." Style!



Surgery was running late from "equipment malfunctions," and I didn't get into surgery until noon. So Melissae and I spent the morning watching King Pin and reality shows on hospital cable. (as I got overly hydrated with my IV drip) Finally go into the surgery room, and I remember seeing the bright lights and the doctors going over their cutting equipment one more time. My wheeled bed didn't even come to a stop, and then I'm waking up in a different room with bandages and an icepack. Guess things went well.

I ended up having a bad reaction to the anesthesia, so the rest of the day was spent making sure I was ok to go home. I won't go into details, but nausea and a catheter aren't fun even when you're on Percocet. Speaking of which, that stuff is pretty fun. Here's me having a wild ride:


The next couple days were 4 hour intervals between pills and naps. But after that, I feel a little less pain, and a little more mobility every day. They had to cut away the stuff that had started to attempt to heal the two bones together, in order to re-position them for the plate and screws. So I'm pretty much starting over with the bone healing part. But I already feel 10 times better than before. I don't have that floating disconnected shoulder feeling anymore. My bandage comes off this Thursday, and I'll know more after that.

Take care, and if you're going to Burnin' At the Bluff, do an extra lap for me. I want to hear all about it.