just broke my arm, dammit.

[Jennifer Diane Reitz]

i was walking to lunch, and wasn't paying enough attention, stepped wrong. ended up slamming face down on a concrete walkway. had a touch of shock while dealing with the paramedics. hospital trip later, i busted my radial head, the part of the elbow where the radius meets the joint.

no cast, just a sling - apparently to give the best chance for it not healing frozen and immobile.

fucking hurts. left arm. really hard to try to find a way to sleep. got maybe an hour or two so far. i prop the arm up on a pillow.

hospital pain pills don't work on me, so using tylenol-codine from canada. helps, enough, barely, by relaxing all the muscles cramping around the injury. hurts worse than the actual broken bone itself.

watch where you walk, folks. one second is all it takes to get fucked up bad. happened so damn fast. wish i lived in a civilized country with social medicine more than ever right now. took 6 hours of waiting to find out i had a broken elbow. by that time all my bleeding cuts and scrapes had sealed over on their own - no way to disinfect them by then. they offered me a tetanus shot as answer to that; too expensive, plus i had had fucking enough of their shit by then. god i hate american medicine.

the paramedics were nice though.

scraped up my new glasses too. damn.

you'd be amazed how much having only one good arm - and an incredibly painful useless one- sucks ass. it sucks miles and miles of ass. pain is my new closest companion. at least i lived. falls can be deadly, so maybe i am lucky, in the end.

just needed to whine a bit. thanks for listening.

jenny

[Insand]

I am sorry to hear this. May you heal quickly.
Canadian emergency room stories can be as bad as yours. At least, once in, it doesn't lead to moneyhell.
I too wish much improvement in the US sickcare system, for I have family there.
I regret I have no free & useful therapeutic advice.
I suggest that, after being immobile, those arm muscles will need gentle restrengthening. Such has been my experience.
Injury can be so absorbing of one's attention. Enjoy all available distractions !
Wish you well.

[Wizard CaT]

[Alfador]

Eek... *hugs... carefully*

[draque]

Huh, around 9 months ago, I had more or less an identical injury to the one you're describing there. If you take it easy on the arm (and it's not considerably worse of a break than mine was), it should be tenderly usable within the next few days, although it'll be a couple of months before it's at 100% again. Anyhow, sorry to hear that it's hurting you so much. : \

[Relee]

Geez, that sucks. I hope it heals up quick.

[Plasman]

oh, jen. oh, poor poor, jennifer.
ow ow ow ow owwww ow ow owwie ow.

i wish i could do more to help, but it sounds like you've done what you can. stupid non-effective health care system. stupid pavement. stupid gravity.

also, this explains why you didn't use any capitals.

look after yourself, my dear.

[Ashes]

Best wishes, Jennifer. I hope it heals as quickly as possible. Can't imagine how much it must suck.

[Anna]

Au Scheiße!

What else could I say?
The german words just fits perfectly in.

A friend of mine did broke a bone in his right foot, not a toe, a bone, right in the middle of the foot.
He had a lot "to do" for the next weeks. So I can a bit understand what's in your mind now.

My job experience in the hospital, nearly 30 years ago: - you will have two weeks real trouble, then it heals.

Jennifer, get well soon!
Gute Besserung!

[Monocheres]

jennifer, i am very sorry for your suffering, and hope you heal quickly.

everybody, i propose that, as a gesture of empathy, we all post to this forum using only our right hands to type (as i'm doing now) until jennifer gets well enough to use both her hands again.

huh? ... what's that? ... oh, right ... um, my avatar would like everyone to know that, while he's all on board with the _sentiment_, we shouldn't count on him for any _concrete_ support, because, um, well ...

[draque]

everybody, i propose that, as a gesture of empathy, we all post to this forum using only our right hands to type (as i'm doing now) until jennifer gets well enough to use both her hands again.

I've been on forums where people type one handed, but I never expected the UJ boards to get to that point...

[Coda]

Not like it'd make a difference to me except for typing speed. This post was typed one-handed. ^^() I'm used to it. (From holding my son in one arm while using the computer, you pervs! *grin*) Full capitalization, full punctuation, even emoticons, at 60 WPM.

[Quaeras]

Right hand only

haiku wishes you the

best healing!

I hope you feel better really soon. You never appreciate little stuff like arm mobility until it's missing.

Use the time to catch up on some of the slower interests? =]

[Coda]

Right hand only

haiku wishes you the

best healing!

直すのに
右手だけには
願っている

naosu no ni
migite dake ni wa
negatteiru

("for healing, with my right hand only I am praying")

[InterNutter]

I've not broken a bone, yet, but I've had multiple episodes of carpal and several hand injuries. I know exactly what it's like to discover how much you use something by having that SOB hurt like blue fuck every time you try.

Keep up the painkillers only as needed, stay as comfortable and as distracted as possible, and try not to let the Drama Llama stick around ('tis very hard to evict that annoying creature at times). My healing thoughts are with you.

For what it's worth, I had a little talk with my invisible friend in the sky on your behalf if it works and you heal phenomenally fast, do let me know.

Feel better soon.
[Is it cheating to be typing right-handed on an iPad?]

[Plasman]

Hey Jennifer,

I know it's probably still too soon to be out of the sling and back into form, but I hope at least now you aren't in as much pain any more.
How are you doing?

[vernes]

yes! How are you now?