A bit shit. I’ve really tried to stay positive but this is a bit of a kick in the dick today. I’ve been slowing down with improvement in PT and have half expected this news for a couple weeks now.[user not found] wrote: ↑Fri Sep 11, 2020 8:23 pmOof. How do you feel about things? About the doc? Life in general?fledonfoot wrote: ↑Fri Sep 11, 2020 7:34 pm Got cleared to ride a bike again today! Bone is just about healed and the hardware provides support while it matures.
However... Looks like I’m heading back under the knife at some point later this year...
The heterotopic ossification issues I’ve been having have basically created a wall/stop that stops me from moving my palm face down more than 20 degrees. I’ve developed severe tendinitis from overcompensating with my wrist to try and force things through the wall.
In addition, the plate is limiting range of motion against a block of scar tissue and my triceps tendon when I try and extend my arm outwards. I’m just about maxed out at 30 degrees extension and 120 flexion. I’m about to hit the wall of no more progress in my PT, where I’ll be just on the wrong side of a medically functional range of motion. Not one that will let me ride a bike or reach for the top shelf or scratch the back of my head.
The treatment plan was to remove the hardware after 12 months to help limit long term arthritis and range of motion concerns. The hardware should be in for at least 6 months for the right amount of support for the joint as it matures.
The plan now is to keep going with PT for the next six weeks while the bone continues to mature... If I don’t hit certain targets by then, we will look to go in, pull the hardware, pull the scar tissue, grind/remove the excess bone growth, and perform a “surgical release” of the capsule in the elbow to free up motion, stitch me up and get me into a PT program ASAP and get out ahead of the healing issues.
Part of what caused this is the amount of damage and total instability of the joint which required 3 weeks of immobilization in a cast and a total of 4 weeks before my first PT session. After this next surgery, I don’t have the immobilization to worry about and can get into a PT program quickly to keep the joint moving and stop the likely bone growth issues from becoming the issue the did after the first one.
So if this is the way it goes, I need to do it the last week of December, otherwise I pay my out of pocket maximum again by the end of January.
Merry Christmas!
Reality is that I almost lost my arm. Everyone that’s seen this injury has told me it’s a bad one, but rarely actually acknowledges that it’s really that bad. It’s this weird elephant in the room type thing with everyone I’ve met... it’s hard to explain.
I think my doc is fantastic. He’s been straight and up front about everything and every time I see him he tells me I’m ahead/behind “ideal” but the reality is this is such a mess that the timeline is what it is. His work has been awesome, it’s just my body recovering In the way it has combined with the mess I made of it has put us here.
I told him I need to try whatever I need to do to be able to get back on a bike in some form. He cracked a joke about me being insane and said he’d work on a plan to make it happen. He told me I can’t really make it worse... we can only try and make it better. I’m taking that, a couple of days to actually mope around and bitch a bit for the first time about any of this, and get on with things.
moments when my uncle's daughter was 7 weeks old, then 2 months, it was hell. She calmed down after about about a year later. Now that I see her over 2 years now, she started to talk and can make a sentence without a babble, it's just precious to witness all these things.
no way would I have the patience. 
to you.
!!
and need deets/verdict.