The Road of Recovery - Part 2

If you are reading this post first, may I suggest you read my previous entries to have a better picture of my story.

1. My Journey of Faith
2. My Life Changed
3. The Road of Recovery - Part 1
   

Another injury that occurred as a result of the accident was a green stick fracture to the left elbow and a huge bruise and haematoma. A lump formed by the elbow and although the bruising disappeared the lump took a long time to be absorbed. 

Day 4

September 25th

September 20th

This didn't hurt as such, but I was aware of a tightness because of the swelling.

The three pics were October 11th, 28th and November 8th so you can see it took a long time to disappear. 

Another consequence was pieces of the shattered windscreen. I am thankful I wear glasses as they protected anything ending up in my eyes. But there were pieces in my face, my hair and in my hands. A lot was removed after the accident and I was able to pic a few pieces out over the early days as they worked themselves to the surface of my skin.

But I noticed a piece trapped between the last two fingers in my right hand. As hard as I worked at it I couldn't get it out. There was another piece deep at the side of the wrist also on my right hand. I had an x-ray and an appointment was made with my GP who removed them under a local anesthetic. One of the great things being at Pohlen was that it is also the Matamata Medical Centre where our GP is one of the doctors there.

Small incisions were made and the glass was plucked out. Then the little cuts were sealed close with some medical glue. There was even two pieces found in the place on my wrist. 

Later once I was at home, I was clearing out my old handbag (Jennifer gave me a new one for my birthday) and it had lots of windscreen bits in it. Either from the initial impact or when the windscreen was knocked out to get the roof cut off the car. My handbag was on the floor in front of the passenger seat. Interestingly I don't remember if I had put it there when I first went out or on the seat beside me and it landed on the floor after the accident. Depending on what's in it or what else I am taking with me will determine where I put it! 

I made progress with my healing of bones, scars and even the odd bit of thrush I had in my mouth, under my armpits and the groin (TMI?) but these infected areas were because I wasn't moving much so they became lovely warm breeding grounds. I also learnt to stand and walk again but that will be in another post.

However there was a hic-cup along the way.

One thing at Pohlen was there were always activities to join in with or I would work on one of the 1,000 piece jigsaws they had. On the 9th November I was making a bracelet with beads and helping others to thread theirs. I was in my wheelchair and wanted to got to the toilet. I tried to 'back' the wheelchair but there was one of the hospital lazy-boy chairs parked with the brake on right behind me. I didn't think its brakes were on, (or it didn't occur to me) so tried to force my wheelchair to push it back. There was a sudden pain in my right arm where the plates were. I tried not to say anything but I really needed some pain relief. At first one of the carers said I'd have to wait but my 'favourite' saw how upset I was and took me straight to the nurses. I was given pain relief and a warm wheat pack.

Over the following days and weeks it still hurt and the nurses were worried, even the physiotherapist at Pohlen, so they had the doctor check it. But it was all put down to tissue injury or I had just pulled something!

I sure had pulled something all right. 

Because I couldn't climb up into Harry's truck, our daughter Sarah would come and collect me and take me to Cambridge for hand therapy on my right hand, which also involved my arm. 

On our third visit the physiotherapist was working away on my shoulder. Of course we had to wear masks because of COVID so she didn't see the painful faces I had while she did this. She suddenly stopped and said "What's that clicking sound?"

I said I'd noticed it a few times and she then said, "That's not right. We are stopping this now and I am sending you for urgent x-rays and a scan." She also said she was going to have the report sent immediately.

We managed to get an appointment straight away in Cambridge and we were driving home when the physiotherapist rung to say she was sorry, but I would have to go back to hospital for more surgery to re-attach the main plate in my arm. She had let Pohlen hospital know and by the time I got back they had forms ready and the healthcare worker was helping pack my things. 

Once again I had no idea what the next stage of my journey would be but I wanted to come back there until the ramp to our entrance was erected at home so I could go home.

A clear view of the angle 
the plate and break were

The top pin has come off the plate
while still in the bone

In the left x-ray you can clearly see the short plate attached (actually behind the bone) to help keep the shattered break in place. (This was in the initial repair on the 10th September.)

The right x-ray, not only shows the dislodged plate and bone out of line again drastically, but how the top was protruding out so causing a bulge on the surface of my skin. This explained why it hurt to lie on my right side and why the manipulation at physio was so painful! It was like I had broken my arm again.

It was 21st of December - Christmas in Hospital 

But as always God has everything in order.

Jennifer had decided to come down from Hamilton with the grandchildren to visit so. We believe that was God's plan so I had transport back up to the hospital with out having to book an ambulance which would have taken some time as it wasn't an emergency.

The rod in the middle of two longer plates

It was with mixed emotions I went through this. One, I was not going to be able to go home for Christmas day. Two, I had become excited to be celebrating Christmas at Pohlen, as I had helped organize a few things and I wouldn't be a part of it now. Three, my recovery had taken a step backwards. 

To cut a long story short, the metal plate had come away from the bone and pins when I had yanked on the wheelchair, so I had to have surgery again to re-attach it. I was admitted back into Waikato hospital up to the orthopedics ward where I waited for a slot to have the surgery. Emergencies always come first depending on their seriousness so I was scheduled for first thing in the morning on Christmas Eve. 

I had a four hour surgery where the first plates and pins were removed and longer plates were put on both sides of the humorous. A centimeter of jagged bone was cut out at the break for a cleaner healing. A nine centimeter rod was inserted into the bone (For some reason I thought this would be a couple of centimeters long!) to help hold it together and allow a stronger healing. This also meant a much longer incision in my arm but they did cut along the previous scar.

After surgery to prevent blood clots especially in my legs and because I was unable to walk with out holding onto support, I had feet pumps attached to my feet to keep blood moving. They were quite funny to watch. 

But with it all God was blessing the whole situation and I could constantly see His hand in the goodness I experienced.

On the third day I got moved to a window bed (6 beds in the room) and the lady across from me was also back due to complications to her post accident injuries and we were both in for Christmas. Other patients left their flowers behind for us. One of the health care workers had could do amazing calligraphy and did our bed signs. Someone was out flying a hot air balloon and I could see it drift by. 

As I was still doing my daily Facebook grateful posts I was finding little gems everyday.

 

The menu and meals for Christmas day were special for the occasion.The meals at Pohlen were designed for older people, not so 'hot and spicy' with easy to chew and digestive friendly food. But contrary to a lot of peoples comments, I actually enjoy public hospital food. Maybe it's because I haven't had to cook it myself and there is a variety with a lot of things my hubby doesn't like. But Christmas day's food was lovely. The menu for choosing what you would like comes the day before and Christmas day's menu was on gold card rather than the white A4 paper.

I forgot to take a pic of the lunch meal which was a lovely cheese log with a fresh salad but the extra touches of special 'real plates instead of the blue hospital bowls, tray mats (Usually there weren't any), Christmas serviettes and a typical festive menu helped make it special. 

All the wards and even the pre and post op rooms were decorated in a Christmas way. When you are lying on your back and being wheeled on a bed this looks very festive.

The day before I was to be transferred back to Pohlen I was moved up to the other Orthopedic ward. It was a revamped area and certainly was refreshing. There were a lot of the people who had cared for me back in September and it was so good to see familiar faces and have them fuss over me. They were amazed to see me walk and said they don't usually get to see people like me coming back to show them how far they had come. 

To come....

Living at Pohlen Hospital