The Removal

Last Wednesday I spent a super fun-filled morning at the orthopedist's getting my cast and pins removed. Only henceforth I am no longer going to refer to them as pins. Those mother-effers were screws. Anyhow, step one was sawing the cast off. Jim (the cast guy) wielded that saw kind of crazily. I could feel the blade against my skin and at one point he actually cut my finger with it. But the real good times came with the screw removal. The one in my arm wasn't too bad. It definitely wasn't comfortable, but I wouldn't it was painful. This was not the case for the one in my hand which held on for dear life. Jim twisted. And twisted. And twisted. And still the thing would not come out. So he left the room. Came back and tried again. Still no dice. Let's try twisting a different way. Or from a different angle. Nope. He kept asking if I was okay. Not so much. Finally, he resorted to using some pliers and the sucker came out. I think I should have been given some drugs. I had to lie down part way through it because the pain was making me light-headed. Afterwards, my arm was pretty nasty looking. I looked like I had had some bad skin grafts because there were patches of thick orangy dead skin and then where that had peeled away there was bright pink raw new skin. Blood was oozing out of the screw sites. Six days later and my wrist is still completely useless. I can't move it at all. I'm able to wiggle my fingers but not much more. I start physical therapy on the 9th. Still no idea when I'll be back to work. Enjoy the pretty pictures!