Today was my post surgery follow up appointment. I was escorted into a "casting" exam room where I was asked a questions about my pain and how I was doing overall. The girl then started to remove my bandages/wrap. When it came to the bottom half cast she seemed to not know what she was doing. She had no idea where my incision was and made my really nervous. After speculating momentarily, she said she would be right back, and left the room. Apparently she wasn't sure how to get my half cast off. When she returned she said she needed scissors to cut it off. She had to ask me where my incision was and I suggested she would be safe cutting the cast off toward the side. She said it made her nervous not knowing where my incision was... What? I replied that it also made me nervous that she didn't know. After she finished removing the bandages I peeked at my wrist. It was swollen and looked deformed to me. The incision looked great though. There was only one stitch that the dr. Had to remove - the rest had dissolved.
I was then taken to X-ray. I was very nervous not having my cast. They gave me a pillow to lay my wrist on for support while walking to and from X-ray.
After returning to the casting room, the Dr. came in looked at my incision and X-rays. Everything looked really good. I'm not going to lie, it was freaky to look at the X-rays and see the screws that were now in my wrist. After the short exam, the Dr. casted me up to my elbow. The cast is freakin water proof and purple! Yay! The worst part of the casting was when the Dr. squeezed my wrist to form the cast correctly. Ouch!
After discussion about my return to work, I agreed to wait another week. I originally planned a week and the Dr. told me at least 2 weeks - guess he won. Truthfully, I wouldn't be very productive with the pain and being so tired all the time.
That evening, the pain was back with a vengeance. I would imagine it had to do with the casting and disruption. The Dr. prescribed me a different pain med, Tramadol. Vicodin makes me sleepy and woozy. I hate taking pills of any sort, and most of all hate not being in control so I am always nervous taking something new. This one kicked my butt, but it took away the pain. Needless to say, I will not take it again unless I am desperate.
Pictures to come...
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