Oh no Bev! This is terrible news! I am so sorry for you and wish you a quick, quick recovery. Please let us know how it goes with the ortho. Don't be afraid to ask them for whatever you need, including home help.

Kate

Oh Bev! I am soooooo sorry! Please know that we will be thinking of you and hope that you have a speedy recovery.

Sue

OMG - so sorry. Just got over my recovery not using right hand and it's not fun. I hope hubby can cook. Wishing you well.

Oh, no! I am so sorry. Please do everything they tell you to and don't do anything they tell you not to do. Heal quickly.

beverly

oh my gosh i am so sorry to hear about this.... i had a neck injury some time ago that prevented me from doing my beloved gardening so i can relate to your injury. hang on to trust in knowing you will get better and will get back to what you love. take time to get better and rest. thinking of you!!!!

Ouch!!!!!!!!! I feel so sorry for you! I hope there is decent news at the orthopedist's office. I hope you're a lefty.

So sorry to hear this.
Be sure to follow the doctor`s instructions.
I wish you a speedy recovery.

so sorry!! Follow orders and get well soon.
Theresa

This must be something in the air! Two of my friends had on hand casts when we met for dinner last night.

Take it nice and slow so you'll heal fast.
Rosa

Oh no! I hope you are able to manage the pain and it heals quickly.
I will volunteer to sew your blocks for you if you can send them to me. I could then send them on for the lotto. Let me know!
Linda OH

Bev, I'm so sorry! I hope you have a speedy and easy recovery!

Donna

Good grief! How easily (& quickly) things can change.

Take care of yourself and don't over use it too soon down the road.

Terrible news! So sorry for your bad break. Get things healing and back soon. It will be better tomorrow.

Ouch!! I'm sending lots of fast healing thoughts your way :-)

Robbi

thank you everyone for your kind thoughts and wishes.

dh does not cook at all, but 2 of our adult kids live at home. one has the flu right now though. dd #2 said she will come home for the weekend if the weather is good to help.

i'm so glad it is not gardening season. that would kill me.

linda, i would so appreciate it if you would sew my blocks. i cut the pieces a little big so i could trim to size if i remember correctly. if you email me your address i'll get them in the mail. i don't want my name in for the drawing.

tomorrow i go in and they will manipulate the bone and put some screws in right through the skin. sounds like fun?!?

i always have a problem thinking i have to take care of everything. i vacuumed today until the arm starting throbbing. i have a hard time sitting without feeling guilty.

Bev, NO MORE VACUUMING! :) If you can't sew or garden, you can't clean the house, either. That's rule #1!

Donna

I was laughing at how many of the comments advised you to listen to the doctor's orders and not to overdo it. Then you post that you were VACUUMING!!! You crazy woman! Slow down, set aside the guilt, take care of yourself and let that arm heal! Next time you think about getting up to work on something, picture all of your quilty friends wagging our finger at you and saying "No! Sit still!" :~))

Kate

Bev...I'm just catching up and sorry to read of your terrible pain and predicament...However...You MUST follow fellow quilters orders and rest that arm...No housework...dust bunnies will be there forever, it's ok, they are part of life!
Rest your arm and you'll be fine in no time.
take care,
Valarie

Sorry to hear that Bev. And here I thought it was bad that had not been able to quilt for 2 weeks cause I had the flu. Hope your breaks heal quickly.

Best to you,
Sandra

I am so sorry. What a horrible accident. I hope it heals quickly and completely. Please do not try to do things that could harm your arm, or prolong the recuperative period. Hugs!

I agree with the others- NO vacuuming! Dust bunnies won't kill their creator! I had double knee replacement surgery and kept trying to do things that could wait. All that happened was a lot of senseless aches and pains. Feel better soon.

Oh Nooooooooooooooo! I'm sorry, Bev. I can feel you searching the air for a foothold as you stepped back. Do whatever you have to do to heal quickly.

SharonG/FL

I'm so sorry, Bev. I can see how that can easily happen. Years ago a bricklayer on one of our jobs did the same thing, only he was eight stories up.

Please take care of yourself, and don't overdo. Lois

Oh dear! I'm so sorry, and I hope surgery went well today.

surgery went fine. but now we all have flu. we're just hunkered down and waiting it out. my surgery nurse is a quilter and showed me quilts on her phone. she mainly does art quilts. beautiful. i told her about this site.

Glad the surgery went well!

Bev~so sorry for your accident; I think we've all stepped off into 'thin air' before - time to rethink placement of those too high design walls. I'm happy your surgery went well and you shared a passion with the surgery nurse. I'm sure she completely understood how you fell --thinking ahead to filling that space.
Stay away from the flu bugs in your family. Put on your jammies and stay under the covers. Speedy recovery to all!

I'm stepping back in here to expound on 'do what the doctor tells you to do' and what we've recently experienced.

"You aren't supposed to be doing that." "It doesn't hurt." "You're moving around too much." "It doesn't hurt so it's ok." "The doctor didn't say you could do that." "I'M FINE!"

He now has a broken stainless steel pin in his kneecap. Broken? Stainless steel? How does that happen? Healing will take longer when the doctors orders are not followed even though you think everything is ok. Listen to the doctor!!!

SharonG/FL

sharon, i'm so sorry to hear about your husband! having the flu has given me no choice but to cover up and behave myself.

Wow! at both the broken arm and the broken pin.

Glad to hear surgery went well and really sorry you're all suffering from the flu. Bet that's harder than the break with no one well enough to carry the load. My go to meal when sick is the kind of Lipton's chicken soup with noodles that comes in a box with two packets. Only a couple of minutes of boiling and plenty of drink down soothing with soda crackers!

Glad you are listening to the rest part, but so sorry about all the misery.

LindaB/CA

Glad your surgery went well Bev.

Best to you,
Sandra

And now the flu?!!!!! If bad things happen in 3's I'd say you've paid your dues with the fall, surgery, and the flu. I hope you can crawl in bed, take the pain meds, and stay fed and hydrated. I'm sorry life is so cruddy right now, but the rest of this new year has to be better!

And now the flu?!!!!! If bad things happen in 3's I'd say you've paid your dues with the fall, surgery, and the flu. I hope you can crawl in bed, take the pain meds, and stay fed and hydrated. I'm sorry life is so cruddy right now, but the rest of this new year has to be better!

Oh no! I have been offline for awhile and just read this today. Stepping into thin air and falling is a big fear for me. I know how hard it is to sit and do nothing. I have friends that do it all the time but I can't seem to do that. But like everyone else has said follow doctors orders and take it easy. I hope you are feeling better soon.
Darlene

Bev, just want to chime in here with the choir, singing "take it easy" and "do what the doc says"
I'm so sorry this happend to you.
As everyone says, the dust bunnies won't kill anyone, and you'll heal faster if you don't do things to increase your inflamation (like overusing your arm!)
I understand how hard it is for someone who always has stitching in your hands, but make yourself pick up a book instead.

About 6 years ago I broke both bones in my wrist, all the way through so had to be in traction to reposition them. (it was a skiing accident out in Beaver Creek). I was in a cast for months, and I was working in a fabric store at the time. It finally healed, and now I do everything I once did, but it took longer than it should have because I wouldn't rest it enough.

So sorry about your injury, but, as strange as this might sound, maybe it's a blessing that you got the flu, it may be the only way to keep you from doing things you shouldn't do with your arm. When I injured my left hand in the head-on collision a couple of years ago, I couldn't believe how much I needed it, thank goodness I'm right-handed. I can't imagine what it's like to injure the dominant one. Please just rest and accept the fact that you can't do what you want to do right now. It's OK to be a baby and let others do for you or just leave the dirt and mess for now.

Just checked in to see what everyone's been up.

You have really had a set-back, and I'm so sorry. Like Rita said, the flu is probably a blessing in disguise: you not only need to rest the arm, but the flu makes you feel too bad to be tempted to do anything. For a while.

When the flu-bug departs, please remember that resting the arm means no vacuuming, making beds, carrying laundry, picking up toddlers or stacks of newspapers (or fabric), and do NOT lift skillets or pots or even glass mixing bowls. If the injured arm feels really, really good then it's okay to use the *other* arm to do light lifting (one dirty dish at a time) or other movement. Yeah, I know the doc didn't get that specific, but using muscles on one side of the body will move muscles on the other side which will press against the break, and you do NOT want to disturb those bones until all is nearly healed. As one who has broken the right wrist 3 times and the left twice, I'm here to say that letting it heal properly is *lots* faster than using it 'til it hurts -- causing an oops, another couple weeks to heal.

It's past time for the other 'adults' to pitch in. "Not knowing" is not an acceptable excuse. You can sit and tell dh what to cut, measure, stir, etc. It's okay to look-see that the heat is correct but let him make ALL other movements. Let dh and daughter do the shopping and putting away - if something's not done to your usual standards, relax - you probably won't die from it. Same with vacuuming, making beds, doing the dishes, cleaning, etc. And if any of them xitch about it, look them square in the eye and ask what they would have done if you had broken your neck instead of your arm? Which could have very easily happened, and that makes them lucky you were not paralyzed or worse.

Hope you get over the flu quickly, and that you let your arm heal straight and strong. It's so much more fun to quilt when you feel good.

i will take all your excellent advice to heart. marji, i can't imagine being laid up for months.

please pray for me. i've now developed an allergic reaction to the cast. hand and arm swelling, red bumpy and ichy. doc said try not to go to emergency room. they'll cut off cast and i'll prpbably have to have more surgery. ds going to store to pick up benadrl ..only had one in house..and ibuprofen for swelling.

Hope you respond quickly. That's really enough misery for a lllloooonnnnggg time.

Good Grief!!!!!! I wonder if there's latex in the cast material or dressing beneath it. Call your Dr if it gets worse- weekend or not. Are you saying the Dr is warning the ER staff would remove the cast and cause the need for more surgery, or that this is what he will do?

This post was edited by procrastinator on Sun, Jan 19, 14 at 16:07

Maybe you're allergic, but it's possible you've had a reaction to the surgical scrub. They use Betadine a lot, and it's irritating. There's no way to really wash it off completely when you've just had screws. Thank goodness it's winter, and you won't be sweating.

You can see your own swelling, but added to that, many people think their cast is too tight. I think it's partly the brain's confusion with the loss of all it's usual sensory input. Suddenly, there's no changes in touch, no temperature changes, no changes in position, no flexing of muscles, no stretching. But there is touch...constant, unchanging touch of the cast and nothing else that the brain is used to getting that would balance that out. It seems natural that the brain would have to interpret this as overwhelming pressure, and tell you that your cast is too tight.

What to do about this all....eh, I'm not sure. The experimenter in me would try ice packs around the upper arm in addition to the Benedryl. It mustn't be actual ice that could melt and introduce moisture under your cast. Frozen peas make a pretty good moldable ice pack. As for the sense of tightness...maybe an ice pack on the fingers, and then warmth and rubbing your fingers, and maybe some vibration to the whole arm. The only thing that comes to mind is the top of a running clothes dryer. You could sit on a low-ish stool and rest your arm on top of the dryer so it would stay elevated.

My brother always used an old style knitting needle to scratch inside a cast. You know the knobs at the end? Very effective, but not so sharp as to break skin. Do ask your ortho about that, although my brother had plenty of screws, I'd be concerned early on about introducing bacteria close to the screw site.

Heh, heh, Long post, but at least you know I'm thinking of you!

I've been away and am just now catching up...I'm so sorry to hear about your arm, the flu, and the reaction! You will definitely be in my prayers.

How are you doing, Bev2009? You've had a lot going on in your household so hope you're ruling the roost and taking care of yourself.

Dr told my DH that 'movement' is what is working the broken pin out so, even if it doesn't hurt to walk, just the movement is a bad thing and if the pin comes out, the whole surgery will need to be redone. Only saying all of that to give you a heads up. It's boring to totally sit and do nothing, but it's better to do that for 2-3 months rather than 6 months to a year.....at least that's the time frame for DH's bone to heal.

SharonG/FL

thank you, lola. i really did take everyone's comments to heart, which says a lot since i usually believe i am invincible and irreplaceable. i think my new couch is going to have a permanent dent from all the hours of my sitting. my church family has been bringing dinner over each night. that will probably end saturday, but my sister is coming on sunday to cook and visit. i am very blessed. years ago my divorced sister broke her arm. we picked up her two kids while she was in the emergency room and they lived in our living room for a couple of weeks. she is so happy to be able to reciprocate now. i am happy to stay warm inside until i return to the doc on feb 12.

ohhh my goodness!! NOT a good thing...and this is just no way to get a vacation, you know.... Seriously, tho...so sorry and hope you heal faster than fast!!