Dawn says: "We are leaving for vacation tomorrow so go take the trash out, I don't want that in the house when we get back in a week, It'll smell to high heavens". She was right, but I'm male, so I resisted. I countered: "Can't we just leave it in the outside trash can until we get back, it won't stink up the house out there?". No.
So off to the trash I go with the trash to the local dump. For those of you that are more suburban than us rural folk, we have to take the trash to the local community dump, no one comes and picks up our trash.
Dawn is off taking Dana to Brownies and she had Dillon along too. So I'm at the dump with the big 50 gallon trash can in the back of the Ranger 4x4. Instead of opening the tailgate and sliding the can out the back I decide to just lift the can out from the side. I put my right hand at the top of the can and my left hand at the bottom, arm straight out. I then lift the rather heavy can up mostly with my left arm and just guiding with the right arm and I feel this rather odd sensation run up my left arm. It was kinda like hitting my funnybone on something, not all that painful but somewhat uncomforatable. I put the can down on the ground (I actually got it out of the truck) and stood around shaking my arm for a few seconds trying to figure out what just happened. I then picked up the trash can and dumped it and put it back into the back of the pickup. It was then that I started to notice something strange...
When I raised my left arm as to flex my bicep muscle, I had no bicep anymore. It was gone! Or rather, I should say, it was misplaced! Instead of being centered between my shoulder and my elbow it was more like 1/4 then way from my shoulder. Furthermore, as I held my arm at a 90 degree angle and tighened my bicep, the muscle did not raise up in height as you would expect, but rather the skin around the elbow just looked like someone was pulling it towards my shoulder from the inside. It was really freaking me out. I tried to call Dawn on the cell phone but she did not have it on so I drove home to see if she was home. She was not but I got in touch with her via cell phone and told her that I needed to get to the hospital because something had gone horribly wrong.
Did I mention that we were about to go on vacation? We were headed to Scottsdale AZ for a vacation during our 6 yr. old daughter's spring break from school. We were suppose to catch a flight out of Baltimore, MD on Saturday at around 6 AM and it was now around 6 PM on Friday afternoon. Well it looks like we are going to have to cancel our vacation....
I head to the hospital while Dawn heads home to get the rest of the packing done and to get the kids to bed.
I get the the hospital and wait for a while, then get moved to a bed in the ER. It's now around 10 PM. More waiting and waiting and the attending doc sees me and I explain what had happened and he thinks that its just a bad tear in the ligament but he needs some xrays to futher diagnose the injury. More waiting. All this time I am amazed that it is so painless. Really. It is just a bit sore and I still have full use of the arm. I can lift things, I can pronate and supinate (how many other blogs have you seen those two words used on??). The only thing I notice is that there I can't lift as much weight and that I can not supinate (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supinate) as well as before.
Finally the xray tech retrieves me and we go to the xray room for a few REMs of radiation. Back to the ER room to wait for developing of the film. Then more waiting for the xrays to be read and for the ER doc to get the prognosis.
Finally, the ER doc is the bearer of good news (not really). He says that I need to see the Orthopaedic doctor in the morning so that he can get me in for surgury right away. I tell the doc "the only way I am meeting with the surgeon is if he just happens to have an office in Scottsdale, AZ". He chuckles a bit and stares puzzled as I attempt to explain the whole situation. I tell him my plans and that I have just spent $1300 on non-refundable air fare and that its got to be REALLY serious for me to cancel my vacation plans! Remember, I'm not in that much pain and my arm still works, just not 100%. I can still raise a 12 OZ. cold one with it so how bad can it be? He is shocked at my revelation and says he needs to consult with the surgeon that night to see if that is acceptable behavior. What were they going to do to me, tie me to the stretcher? He comes back in a few minutes later and says that the surgeon says that it's OK to wait but the longer I wait the more difficult the reattachment will be.
Thank goodness. I'm outta there but it's now around 2 AM, I have had not sleep, and I need to wake up around 3:30 am to drive to Baltimore....
Pics of arm the next day as I am laying in the sun in AZ. Notice the nice shade of yellow and purple as the bruising gets going good. The ER doc gave me a sling to wear but it was more hassle to wear and the good it did, so I'm not wearing it in the photo (click for larger version):
Here are some pics the day of surgery (click for larger version):
And after the surgery, when the cast came off, this is what was underneath. The mark of Zorro! Note in the far bottom right of the image are the letters DS, my first two initials, so that the surgeon does not forget which arm to cut on !!! (click for larger image, caution, proceed on an empty stomach):
Read about the procedure here: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1906570
Or Here: http://www.baylorhealth.edu/proceedings/20_3/20_3_ranelle.pdf
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