Thread by @benjancewicz

I was in a pretty bad motorcycle accident last night.

A blue Ford cut in front of me making a left turn, and I smashed into their passenger door.

I spent all night in Shock and Trauma all night.

2 CT scans, 4 X-rays and many many tests later, I’m alright.

I’m about to get some sleep, so I’m signing off.

I’m ok.

Feels like I got hit by a car, but I’m going to heal.

Please pray for me as I recover.

An update on recovery: pscp.tv/w/b9vObTE5MTAy…

So, today I went out and found m motorcycle so I could get the license plate off of it...

And good God.

I’m glad the bike isn’t salvageable, because these guys hacked all kinds of pieces off of it.

The poor thing looks like the dragged it behind a truck and then stole everything they could off of it.

While I was there, no less than 3 other people showed up to complain about damage done to their cars or stuff getting stolen out of them.

I hope nobody ever get their stuff towed voluntarily by Universal Towing in Baltimore.

But thankfully I was able to rip the license plate off the back.

RIP, #Wiskichak. We had a lot of fun together.

I’m getting worried. 😕

So I’m back at the shock trauma outpatient building to get my cast cut off today and to get the results from my CT scan.

The cast specialist gingerly cuts through my cast with a special vibrating saw. It felt so good. But he didn’t take it all the way off.

After a little weight, the orthopedic surgeon comes in, and talks me through the results from my CT scan.

And there’s kind of a serious problem.

The scan shows a serious gap between the bones in my wrist, meaning that the tendons have ruptured.

You can see a large 90 mm gap in the first picture.

They had done x-rays shortly after my accident.

But because of my pain, I wasn’t able to straighten my wrist all the way when I had my x-rays, and so they didn’t see the gap earlier.

This image shows that x-ray, but you can see my hand is skewed towards the left.

And the orthopedic surgeon said that I need surgery.

My blood ran cold.

My right hand is my one and only livelihood.

I design with it, draw with it, write with it... it is the only way that I have to make money.

It’s the primary way that I am skilled.

I am scared.

The doctors were very patient and talked me through what it entails.

They’re going to do a surgery on Wednesday, and try to go in and stitch up the tendons.

They’ll put a screw between the bones to hold them together.

They said I should be able to make a full recovery.

But they said there are risks. There could be infection, there could be other complications.

They gave me a formed brace to take home, that I can remove so that I can wash it in the shower.

But I have to be very very careful not to move my wrist at all.

While they had my cast off, they let me do a sponge bath to clean it.

Suddenly, my hand flopped over, and there was a small pop.

Sort of what it sounds like when you crack your knuckles.

But it hurt so bad. I have no strength in my wrist at all.

I’m scared. I’m trying to stay optimistic, and I know I must.

Alright. I’m going into surgery. Wish me luck.

I’m out of surgery

Today I went in for an appointment to have my leg looked at. They did x-rays of my knee, and a sonogram of my leg to make sure that there was no damage, and no blood clots.

They’re still going to do a more in-depth study, but it appears that I am free a blood clots, which is a great thing!

They’re signing me up for physical therapy for my leg. So, a good day.

@revjenn set up this awesome thing for people to volunteer to bring me food or get me to doctors appointments, or help in other ways while I’m immobile.

If you’re interested in helping out, follow this link.



And thank you!my.lotsahelpinghands.com/community/bein…

Hey everyone.

The drugs that I’m taking have me wiped. My arm feels like it’s on fire whenever I’m conscious. So I sleep a lot.

I will reply to everybody’s well wishes when I have the bandwidth, but I am barely able to stay awake for more than a couple hours at a time.

💙

Update time!

Today was my post-surgery follow-up, so they brought me into the shock trauma center to get my x-rays taken.

The x-rays clearly showed the pins that are in my wrist, but that everything was being supported as it should be.

Healing will take a long time, and that means my wrist must stay secure

The next step was to remove the splint that they put on my arm, examine the cuts through which they did the surgery, clean the wound, and get me set up with a new cast.

WARNING: The next pictures are of the stitching and are a little creepy, it was hard for me to look at it.

I can feel nothing from my first knuckle to about the middle of my arm, and once they took the dressing off, I could see why.

They needed to make two long incisions so they could pull the tendons and ligaments together and sew them to my bones.

In order to get my new cast on, I both needed to have my wrist straight, and the technician needed to have 360° access to my arm.

To do this, he put my fingers in Chinese handcuffs, and suspended them up on an IV rack.
This kept my wrist as straight as possible while he worked.

New cast wrapped and done, @crazypastor was able to get #me home by noon.

My next visit will be next week to have the stitches removed and to see how the scars are healing.

After that, I will likely have a cast on for 4 to 6 weeks.

I am really grateful for all the help that everyone has given, bringing food, driving me to appointments, and just keeping me company.

I still can’t cook or drive, let alone work, so support as I am slowly getting nursed back to health has been critical.

Thank you. 😭🙏🏼

🙏🏼✨

Update time: I went in today to have my cast changed, and to take out the stitches.

This past week has been really painful, with my skin feeling like it was on fire. I was really worried about infection.

They cut the cast off, and sent me in for my x-rays. It was really strange having the cast off, my wrist felt fragile and tender.

The doctor reviewed my x-rays with me, and said everything was looking better than average.

My bones are staying where they should, and there is no indication of any infection.

And I’m slowly getting dexterity back in my fingers, which is a good sign.

The stitching came out, and it only hurt a little. They helped me renew my prescriptions, and set me up with a new cast.

Overall, I was in and out pretty quick. But I’m exhausted.

I get the cast changed again in two weeks, and surgery to remove the pins will be in four weeks.

Update time!

Only two weeks left until my final surgery. They’re going to take the pins out of my wrist.

So today I went in to have my cast changed, and to clean up the scars.

The doctors and the cast technician were really impressed at how the scars are healing.

I got to peel off the stitching tape and scrub it down myself, which was really satisfying since I haven’t been able to clean it.

I was a little horrified that I couldn’t move my thumb at all, but the doctor said that it was normal since the farm has been stationary for almost 2 months, and would come back in time.

it was a quick visit, and the cast technician got me back into my new cast.

The cast technician built my cast with a little more mobility in mind, so I’ll be able to practice doing some rudimentary typing.

The main focus now is to wait and heal, until the September 10 surgery.

#Me

Update time!

I went in for my last cast change before my surgery.

They cut off my old cast, and took some x-rays.

The doctors said that my scars are healing really nicely.

So well, in fact, that they’re not going to cut into the same area when remove the pins.

The skin was healthy enough that I was able to scrub it down in the sink. It felt so good.

The doctor said that recovery will be a lot longer than I expected.

He’s going to move things very slowly.

For example, he said he doesn’t want me riding a bicycle or doing anything that I have to grip with for another six months.

He said that if my wrist on the right has the same flexibility as my left in one year, then we will have moved too fast.

This was a little discouraging, but it helped reset my expectations.

And I know I can be patient.

It will be all right.

#Me

Heading in to surgery early tomorrow morning to remove the pins in my wrist.

Pray for me.

Heading in. Should be a pretty short procedure. @crazypastor is here with me for the first part.

@UnrollHelper