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Reflections on Golf and Life After ECU Injury - Part 8


February, 2016 - The first afternoon home from the surgery was not too bad.  The meds were kicked in pretty strong and I had very little pain.  The toughest thing that day was just the annoyance of having to hold my arm up in the air to keep the swelling down.  I did not walk around much as the weight of the cast was enough that I decided to lie down and elevate the arm for the most part.  The next day however, things were much different. The wrist area was not really in much pain, but my left shoulder was in some pretty terrible pain.  I think it may have been a combination of the way my arm was positioned for the surgery and having to hold the arm and weight of the cast chest high whenever I moved.   I had to deal with this for about two weeks until I had the cast removed.  It was not the most enjoyable two weeks I have had.

When they removed the large cast, they put me in a much lighter weight splint and that was a huge relief to me.  I was a bit surprised at the size of the incision in the wrist and that the doctor also had two smaller ones.  Looking at it gave me the sense that I was going to be in for a long road to recovery from there.  The wrist felt incredibly stiff, I was really not expecting it to feel quite that tight.  The good news is that unless I was trying to take the splint off for showering the surgery itself had relatively low levels of pain. 

View only at your own discretion.  This is how the surgery looked and was a little shocking to me when they took the big cast off.  Also the second picture shows the lighter splint that they initially put me in as well.

Spoiler

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Another two weeks later which was one month post-surgery they reduced the size of the splint so that I could bend my elbow.  That was another step forward at that point and we also scheduled some physical therapy.  I was very excited to start rehabbing the wrist and to get the mobility back.    

 

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JetFan1983

Posted

Get well soon, Nate! Yes, physical therapy will be great despite how repetitive the grind is (as you probably already know). I started my PT back in July but because of a couple setbacks, I've only been consistent with it for the past five months. I've grown to really like my therapists and the other patients who are always there at the same time slots as me. 

Be sure to keep us updated if you can. Rehab is tough but over the long term it will hopefully add up to a return to health, or however healthy you can eventually get the wrist. Rooting for you! :beer:

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Hatchman

Posted

Good luck with your PT and recovery.  You'll have ups and downs.  Once the pain subsides, gains and comfort positioning will be quicker.

cipher

Posted

Thanks guys.  I started the PT about a year ago.  I am doing it on my own now to try and get back to playing this spring. 

JetFan1983

Posted

3 hours ago, cipher said:

Thanks guys.  I started the PT about a year ago.  I am doing it on my own now to try and get back to playing this spring. 

Haha that's great. Yea, sorry, Nate, I thought this post was recent. It said "March 2nd" under the time stamp. I guess you added the "2016" part recently haha. Obviously I've been following your progress for a while now, my mistake. 

I have no return date yet. Could be a while for me still. But that's great you're thinking it could be as early as this spring for you. 

cipher

Posted

16 minutes ago, JetFan1983 said:

Haha that's great. Yea, sorry, Nate, I thought this post was recent. It said "March 2nd" under the time stamp. I guess you added the "2016" part recently haha. Obviously I've been following your progress for a while now, my mistake. 

I have no return date yet. Could be a while for me still. But that's great you're thinking it could be as early as this spring for you. 

We should probably start a support group for injured golf addicts.  If only we loved being injured as much as we loved playing golf, we'd be in a good spot right now.  :-)

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iacas

Posted

25 minutes ago, JetFan1983 said:

Haha that's great. Yea, sorry, Nate, I thought this post was recent. It said "March 2nd" under the time stamp. I guess you added the "2016" part recently haha. Obviously I've been following your progress for a while now, my mistake.

Nate is posting to time the last few posts with his return (hopefully) to playing.

Hatchman

Posted

Ok, keep us posted.  Tough injury indeed.

chilepepper

Posted

Hang in there......and do every frigging thing they want you to do for PT. 

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