I’ve had some pretty down moments since breaking my wrist three weeks ago:
- When the ER doc said it was broken, not sprained.
- When she said I’d need surgery, not just a cast
- When Shea and I had to waste three days waiting in hospital in Regina in the midst of a 10-day camping holiday in Weyburn
- The entire drive into Regina where I beat myself up pretty bad about hurting myself. “Accidents happen” but I kept thinking how this was an “unforced error” as I chose to try a bike jump, I didn’t just trip in a crack on the sidewalk.
- Realising how many things are affected by this injury – from typing to swimming to even being able to do up the buttons on my clothes (hint: I can’t – at least without some serious pain.)
- Reading how the vital bone I broke has a crappy blood supply which makes it very slow healing among many other issues that are a pretty solid knock against intelligent design.
- When I broke my leg, I got x-rayed, casted, and still made an important meeting at work the same afternoon then missed very little work after. But because of the nature of this one, I’ve already been off for a couple weeks and will be for at least a couple more.
- When I nearly cried in the x-ray room yesterday when they made me hold my hand at a slight angle instead of flat.
- That it took over two hours to type this blog post using one hand when it might’ve taken ~15 minutes before! 😉
But I’m trying to stay positive so here are some things I’m keeping in mind…
- It could’ve been worse. I broke my left wrist, not my right. I only broke one bone. I didn’t break my neck!
- This bone is notorious for being missed when initially broken so I was lucky they caught it *and* I got surgery within 48 hours which should help ensure better recovery.
- After hurting myself, I’ve heard lots of stories of more serious injuries at the campground this summer – a kid who got a horrible concussion riding a bike down a hill, a drunk who face planted and smashed his face so bad, he required hospitalization, a lady who fell off a bike and also broke her wrist but broke multiple bones/needed multiple screws. There’s apparently even another dad who tried to impress his son on a bike jump and broke his ankle! 🙂
- I may not get back to 100% but I will recover unlike people who have permanent injuries, amputations or anything else that that can’t be treated. (Talked to one guy at the boat launch last weekend who was clearly in ill health. Said he has CP so has lost most use of his right wrist permanently among other impacts *plus* he’d fallen off a ladder a few years ago and broken his back!)
- I broke it closer to the end of summer in late July so we had regular camping through all of May/June and 3/4 of July.
- I can still do most of my favourite camping activities with slight modifications. No football tossing with Pace so we’re using a frisbee. Regular books are harder to manage so I’m reading more magazines and ebooks. I can’t swim but can still wade in the water at the beach. And luckily, I can still crack a beer one-handed!
- I’m fortunate to have a job with sick leave benefits and to live in a country that has universal healthcare and a relatively strong social safety net.
- I always wanted to be the bionic man growing up and now, as the picture above shows, I’m on my way! 🙂
