Hello Friends!
Well, let’s just start with some “news you can use” before I start my New Year’s ramble.
First, the 4am experiment was not a success. It started off well, as I enjoyed a productive 1.5 or so hours emptying my busy brain of a bunch of thoughts, and then I did find it easier to go back to bed and sleep for a while. However, when it came time to get up… ugh. Best description is like having a hangover all day, without any of the fun the night before. It was a short-term fix to crazy brain, but not a winning strategy for the future. Not saying I won’t do it again, but only on a weekend – it would be a killer on a weekday. Sigh.
Second, inquiring minds want to know “how do you break both elbows”? Quite simply (in my opinion), by having really strong wrists. So, here’s the whole story as I understand it (I wasn’t there). My mom volunteered the Maven to play tennis on Sunday before Christmas in San Diego with a few of her friends, who play from 7am to 8am every Sunday. As he got up and got ready at 6:30 on Sunday AM, I’d like to record to reflect that I specifically said “honey, you do NOT have to do this”. But, off he went, and I believe he did so because really & truly he has been looking forward to playing tennis again in our new world – with more time and many courts and lots of options for clubs. In his mind, I’m pretty sure this was meant to be an easy warm up with a few older guys, to lead into his return to tennis in 2019. Oh well! He returned home at just about exactly 8am that AM looking fine, but a little bewildered. He said, “it went well for about 30 min til I fell”… as he gingerly showed me both arms (no scrapes) and calmed into bed, telling me that the worst part was driving home… when he turned on our street he screamed out loud. So sad!
My understanding of the fall is as follows – he was playing doubles, close to the net, and he saw a ball coming that he new his partner wasn’t going to get – so he made a sort of dive for it to his left (he’s left handed). At that point, who knows… he didn’t have proper tennis shoes on, they may have given out or slipped, he may have tripped, but whatever happened, his feet went out from under him and he “free-fell” to land directly on both hands, more or less straight-armed… at PRECISELY the right/wrong angle. His left went down hardest and first, and then he rolled on to his left shoulder. Apparently the guys thought he’d hurt his shoulder. But, rather than breaking both wrists or landing on him head, he squarely jammed both arms… and yes, he fractured BOTH elbows. Ouch.
The left was the worse of the two, certainly in terms of pain… and ultimately in terms of the break. After coming home with this sad story, he took a nap (probably in shock) and despite the hopes that it would just “feel better” we went to lunch with friends, and then, directly afterward to Urgent Care for x-rays. The poor doctor felt really badly saying “Merry Christmas – you broke them both”. One much worse than the other, even to our inexperienced eyes. They gave him two splints, but only immobilized the left… which continued to be super painful, until today.
We were stuck in the Xmas limbo Sunday – Tuesday, when our primary care was closed, but called to put in the call for a referral request on Monday. They assured us we’d get a call on Wed AM. In fact, we called them on Wed before they called us, and they got us an appt with an ortho here in Saratoga on Friday. We managed through Christmas, called off Santa Anita, and then had a pretty smooth (but long) trip home on Thursday the 27th.
Saw the Dr on Friday the 28th, who took new x-rays and confirmed the diagnosis – 2 fractures, one much worse than the other (but not a messy break, just a distinct fracture of the radial head). He recommended surgery to fix the left, since it’s the Maven’s dominant arm and he still has hopes of a more active, sporty lifestyle .. golf, tennis etc. He scheduled us for surgery on Thursday (pretty quick turn around!) 1/3… today!
So, after about 10 long days of “limbo” – suffering with one really, really sore dominant arm… and making do with the limited motion of the right arm, today was our day to start the road to recovery.
The good news is that the surgery went well. I had a great chat with the surgeon after he finished, and he clearly couldn’t have been more happy with how things unfolded and the stability of the repair (a plate and screws to reattach the fragment to the bone). Bobby came through it all well, only bothered by the nerve block which made his entire arm feel “dead” utterly numb… and pretty freaky, but as we soon would learn, way better than the alternative. He had a peaceful afternoon on the couch, watching Swingers while I made phone calls. Then, I headed out to pick up pizza and his pain meds to have them on hand when – very suddenly- the nerve block expired at 5pm.. projected for 8-10pm. As I was waiting in the CVS I received an SOS… to tell me that the pain had come rushing in like a lion. So much for the warning signals… he felt some tingling, but had not idea the wave of pain would crash upon him so fast. Poor thing! It’s been rough sledding since then (writing at 9pm).
I dashed home as fast as I could with pain pills and pizza, and started the meds at 6pm to a very, very sad man. He can take 2 every 4 hours… and we have about 1 hour & 2o minutes to go. It’s been a difficult few hours. Chasing the pain is no fun at all. Hopeful well get him on the road to feeling better in time for bedtime. Good luck & good thoughts, very welcome!
So, that’s the story for now. As a happy silver lining to his tough couple weeks and really tough day, the news of his winning a crazy football contest went “live” today. So, here’s that fun tidbit: Weir wins inaugural Sportsline Super Contest
Sorry for the reversion back to an “online diary” approach, to share with friends far & wide. I actually started a real journal this year, so I’m hopeful that will help me be more focused… and allow the blog to be a place to capture (slightly more interesting) thoughts and observations more than “blow by blow” of our not-that-exciting-but-very-happy lives.
Big year ahead (hint… starts with a 5)!!
XO
M.