Blabberbox » Random Stuff » Broken WristShare on Twitter

Broken Wrist

September 4th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Random Stuff | #

It's broken... not fractured, not dislocated, broken. Both bones. My right hand... the one I use to write with...

Before

April 25 2006: Before

After

April 25 2006: After

What Happened???

April 25 2006

         This is probably one of the most random things that happened in my life. I was playing basketball at school at around 11:45AM. I was running in one direction and one of my friends was running the other way. Trying to run behind him to other other side, I didn't see his shoe out until I almost tripped over it and it was too close to my feet; by trying not to trip over it, I slipped. There was no way at all I thought it was much of a fall at all, so I just put my right hand out to stop myself but I was going forward a little too fast. My hand was originally palm down and flat toward the ground. It folded backwards until my palm was facing upwards, and I landed on hand and wrist, going forward the whole time. Basically I landed on the back of my hand/wrist while it was palm up from the ground.
          I never really felt any pain. In fact, I thought I just had a bloody hand until I noticed my arm was bent twice; it looked like I had two wrists bending in an S shape. I also couldn't move my hand and wrist very much. Some strange thought came through my head that it was nothing and that I just had to pop it back straight. But it was broken alright - and pretty stiff as well.
          Someone called the PE teacher over. He took a thoughtful gaze at my bloody and twisted hand and told me to go to fountain to wash it up. He said he had some bandages I could wrap around it. After staring at him for a moment, I told him I that my wrist looked twisted or broken. He took another look at it and told me to go to the office.
          After trying to find a way to carry my hand, I decided to leave it hanging at my side. Then I presumed to walk to the main office as my teacher instructed. When I got there, I asked where to see for a broken wrist. They told me to go to the room left of the counciler's office.
          I went back outside, broken wrist dangling at my side, and headed to the counsiler's office to my left. I looked to the left of it and saw a hallway but no room. I went in to take a look. Maybe the room was inside the hallway, but there was nothing.
          I went to counciler's office instead to get clearer directions on where the hell I was supposed to go. One of the counsilers saw my wrist and took me to vice principal's office to the right. The vice principal told me it might be dislocated. I was then brought to a man further into the building and told by him it could be broken. They gave me an ice pack to put on it and asked for my name and phone number. I was told my dad should come in about 15 minutes, so I sat and waited. Several times I tried to shift my position for my wrist was bent like a boomerang and I couldn't really place it flat anywhere.
          Just about 15 minutes later, my dad picked me up and took me to the hospital about 20 minutes away. We entered the Emergency Room where we were told to sit in the waiting room to be called up. After about 10 minutes, I was finally called up into a room. I was given another ice pack and told to wait in a chair. After about 5-8 more minutes, I was put on a cot and brought to another room to wait. Finally at around 2PM, (there was clock on wall in front of cot), I was told I was going to get an x-ray first. They put me outside the X-Ray room where I waited several minutes more. Note I broke my wrist at 11:30AM and it is now past 2PM.
          They gave me two x-rays, one with my hand face down, one from side with my hand elevated. After a few more minutes, the doctor replied that I had broken both bones and I was then brought to another room to wait.
          After a rather long wait, a doctor came over and asked me which method of straightening my wrist I wanted. One way was to knock me out with a gas, but it may stop my breathing. The other way was to put a shot on my right arm and numb it down; I would be awake the whole time but would only feel some "tugging" at my arm when they straightened it. They planned to yank my hand out and reposition it. The doctor said they now needed my dad's consent; my dad had gone back to the waiting room right before I went to get my x-rays. After a very long wait, I suggested they call my dad's cellphone. I don't know if they did but they brought my dad in not much later. My parents were fine with the numbing method.
          Things slowed down after this. After a while, someone came by and told me I was going to need an IV to put in the medication. After another wait, a nurse comes by and injects a needle into the back of my right hand. She said it didn't reach the vein and they'd need to try again. The second time was less painful, but the needle still didn't go into vein. A while later, another guy comes and tries to do the same, but twice he failed. I now had four punctures on the back of my right hand. While waiting, there was a blackout for about a minute or two. Finally a while later another comes. The first time doesn't work, but the second time succeeds. I now had 6 punctures on the back of my hand. They then left me to wait with needle stuck in hand for a long while.
          Finally someone came along and measured my left arm. After another long wait, a few doctors came over and told me to hold my right hand up above my head to drain the blood out. My hand felt pretty painful this time, but more or less it felt as if my hand was dead. Several minutes later, they came back again and wrapped my right arm up with strap and pumped it up to keep blood from flowing from my arm to the rest of my body and back.
          After a short wait, they attached medicine to needle and started the injection. I felt pressure swell up in my hand, under the skin, and white blotches started appearing on my right arm. My arm was starting to feel cold and numb. I was told that this needs several minutes to take effect. They leave for another 8 minutes or so.
          At last, it was time for the operation. One doctor held my right arm down. Another held up my right arm so it was at a 90 degree angle. Then a third gripped my hand and yanked it up and set it up. I had felt them holding my hand, but the pain was replaced by numbness. I could tell when my hand was yanked out however; it felt like I had no wrist, only an empty gap between my hand and arm. They quickly wrapped my arm up, almost forgetting to remove the IV needle. It looked bent downwards a bit and I mentioned that outloud. The doc tried to shove my hand back a bit, but it didn't change. My hand couldn't move at all.
          I was then taken to get xrays again. I waited several minutes outside the room and was then taken to a different room than before. The doctor took the same positions of my hand as the other did and I was set to wait another several minutes. I asked what the x-rays looked like as it seemed to be taking a lot longer than before. The guy responded in that he didn't read the x-rays.
          I was then brought back to the previous area where I had the operation. After another while, a doctor came and showed me the x-ray; he said my wrist was bent down about 10 degrees. It would be up to the "bone doctor" tomorrow on what to do - whether to let it grow or restraighten it. My hand still felt asleep and tingling at the finger tips; my wrist had a throbbing low pain. My elbow felt like it had been hit at the funny bone ridiculously hard. I couldn't move my fingers without feeling my wrist tighten up. Moving my thumb even a little caused the whole side of my wrist to tighten. I glanced at the clock - it was 6PM.
          I was given an appointment with another doctor the next day. It was then they'd replace my stitch with a cast. The doctor would also determine if I would need to restraighten my wrist.

May 17 2006

         The doctor the next day decided that the bone would straighten out on its own. I had to go back weekly for several weeks afterwards for checkups and x-rays with a different doctor.
          On May 17, it was decided my cast was too loose. At the same time, they would straighten it out a little bit more. I was told that originally, when my wrist was first straightened out, it was about 19 degrees off.
          They cut open the old cast. The doctor held my arm up with one hand and shoved my hand back with his other hand. There was a tense amount of strain. It sounded like someone was cracking their knuckles but the cracking went on for several seconds, stopped, and went on for several seconds again when he shoved my hand again. I was taken for another x-ray and given a new lighter, more tightened cast. The doctor told me my wrist was now only off at about 15 degrees.

June 7 2006

         My cast was finally removed this day and put in a stitch instead. My arm was freakishly skinny and bony. It looked bent downward or still messed up. The doctor then replied that the deformity is the degrees it was off and would go away in about a year; if it didn't, I might need to have surgery, but that was supposed to be in the most extreme and rare cases. I was to wear the stitch for another 3 weeks and 2 weeks afterwards I still am not to do much with my hand. According to the doctor, my wrist would remain deformed for about a year.

1954 unique view(s)

Responses

  1. JonnytheHammer said,
    Mar-24-2007, 02:49pm

    dude i hope you get better, even thoguh this is a year old:lol:

  2. pftq said,
    Mar-24-2007, 03:00pm

    lol thanks - it still hasn’t healed though. :S I have the chip of bone still sticking up under my skin. I sure hope I don’t have to do surgery to remove it.

  3. rik said,
    Oct-12-2009, 10:55am

    Hi my daughters just had her cast off after breaking both bones in her forearm, looks bent has yours straightened yet.

  4. pftq said,
    Oct-12-2009, 11:31am

    Yes mine has straightened by now.  It took me several months after getting the cast off before I felt like I could use it normally again, but that depends more on how you strengthen it.  I still have the scars left over (there's a literal bump where a chip of bone still juts out) and it tires more easily than my other hand, but it's otherwise normal.

  5. karapish said,
    Oct-07-2015, 08:32pm

    Sad sad story

Leave a Comment

Name: (Have an account? Login or Register)
Email: (Won't be published)
Website: (Optional)
Comment:
Enter the code from image: