I went to the Ortho Doc today for the 4 week evaluation of my arm. He gave me the stink-eye last time as the big U fracture was not healing as quickly as it should. Needless to say, he put me on strict non-dog work which really hampered me in getting ready for the sheepdog trials. I could work the dogs far away but no close work and certainly no grabbing any sheep or sheep knocking me about.
I got the lecture if the U fracture didn't heal it would be a plate and screws so that scared me enough so I was very leery of using my arm for anything. Of course, he gave me a bunch of physical therapy to do which hurt like hell but after getting the one stink-eye from him, I most certainly didn't want to get another one. So I dutifully did the PT. He told me not to drive further than town, which is a whole whopping 1.5 miles away. I didn't ask him if I could ride my horse into town, as his stink-eye look would go into massive overtime.
So I babied the hell out of my arm and that meant Getty and my students took over the heavier part of farm work, suck as bucking hay and tossing sheep into the air, oops, I mean grabbing sheep for worming, I wasn't even allowed to hoof trim but was able to carry the trimmers to the stall, since they weighed the same weight as my cell phone, I was not allowed to carry anything else heavier than that. I didn't work my young dogs as I know I would get knocked down and his stink-eye would break at that point!
Well, it all paid off as the U fracture is filling in well so no plate or screws. However the two big lines at the elbow head are still not filled in and quite big so I am still limited on some stuff. No long driving, twisting, turning and stuff like that. I can work up to carrying up to 25 pounds in 30 days and he gave the the stink-eye, which meant not to go home and toss 25 lbs bags of feed about. I have a month to work up to that. I go back in a month to see how that progresses.
He also moved my arm back/forth/sideways and so forth and said I was a good girl in doing the PT. Looks like no loss of function but as I get older, I will have issues with the two big crack in the elbow head. But I will have full function of the arm and that's good.
It's going good and it finally quite hurting like hell. I still get odd pain which means I have been pushing it so then I lay off for a bit. I never had a break or fracture before and I sure hope this will be my last one. It really affected my performance at the Finals as every time I would move my arm, I would get like a sharp knife stab in my elbow and almost pass out. I remember throwing my crook to the ground at the pen as the pain was unbearable. Too bad, I let my dog down by not being there for her.
So the arm is pretty much healed, aside from the two cracks at the elbow head. So if you see me really pushing the limit, speak up so I don't mess it up more. I am suppose to ease into using my arm but not jump into it at full force which is something I would do. As for the nevicular crack, that is pretty much healed up. It is filling in well and I am happy.
Best deal is I am out of wearing the sling. I was using less and less anyways. So I am going to slowly ease back into farm and working dogs again. Besides, I need to start running again, since I haven't done that since the accident. I have been eating well and not running so you know what that means! My jeans are tight!
I can go back to typing again but obviously not in great detail and quit when the arm hurts. I probably won't be doing any shot-putting though. I am happy that I can go back to my normal activities again. Life is grand.
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