On January 3rd I had exploratory, diagnostic surgery on my left wrist. I injured it during field days in 4th grade, umm yeah, 4th grade! That was a long time ago… I went to physical therapy in middle school but they could never really figure out what was wrong with it and said that one day I would probably have to surgery. So I just learned to live with the pain, and it meant I didn’t have to do push-ups in gym which I always thought was a plus ;)
In October the pain hit an all time high and since Obama got me another year on my parent’s insurance, I decided that now was the time. I saw an amazing specialist, Dr. Gordon, at the University of Colorado Hospital, and after lots of x-rays, an MRI, and a couple of needles squirting stuff into my wrist joint, we still didn’t know what was wrong with it. So exploratory surgery it was.
When I added “do something I’m afraid of” to the list, I really didn’t have anything specific in mind. I thought it would be good to challenge myself and would probably be something that I did towards the end of the year. As the surgery approached I got more and more nervous. I kind of hate hospitals and machines hooked up to you and anesthesia and pretty much anything having to do with someone cutting me open. Would I be the .001% that didn’t wake up? Or would I come out of it all with more damage than I went in with? Was it even worth it since I’ve lived with the pain for so long now? And even though they weren’t all stupid questions, I was really much more afraid of it than I should have been. In the end, I trusted my doc and my decision and reality beat out fear.
The surgery went well. Dr. Gordon, the anesthesiologist and my recovery nurses were rock stars. He found that the ligament that connects my two forearm bones was spongy instead of hard, something that wouldn’t show up in any of the imaging scans we did. He thinks that my body kept trying to repair the damage but was never able to since I kept using my wrist. He prescribed 90 days of inactivity, allowing time for my body to work it’s magic and hopefully heal it.
For now I’m in a splint, spending my days watching movies, reading, completing my family tree, running and being forever grateful for my parents. Seriously, I can’t even tie my own shoes, my parents have been so so good to me.
Oh and if you know of any one handed activities please let me know, I’m always open for suggestions :)
25 Adventures 
That picture scares me a little bit :(
I’m proud of you and so glad that they figured it out a bit and I hope that your body mends itself easily (the body is amazing!).
Love You!
And here’s an option for addressing the shoe situation:
Bahaha!
You are a true friend Caitlin.