Another set back
The first week of clinics was going amazing. I was seeing many different kinds of chronic diseases that I never even knew existed. Some we had discussed in class so it was great to actually see it in person. I'm doing Long Term Care right now and we go to people's homes. Most of the patients are bed bound and are paralyzed to some extent. These patients will never get better and will get worse. If they are lucky they will deteriorate slowly so it's pretty sad to see them and most of the diseases are hereditary. It almost makes you hesitant to have children when you see what these patients have to go through.
What amazes me the most are the primary carers. Most of these people are a family member, like a spouse. From talking to them you can tell that they love the patient very much but you can see the sacrifice that they had to make and sense the loneliness that they are experiencing. I have nothing but gratitude and respect for these people. It's great to see that they are not giving up on them even though the outcome is pretty much set in stone.
Midway through the first week of clinics I go to softball training and I somehow end up fracturing my finger. The coach was hitting me grounders and liners one after the other. No one else was there yet so she kept hitting me ball after ball. Occasionally a ball will hit my non glove hand because of a funny bounce or something. It happens all the time and people don't think much about it. Well I kept going and when we finally stopped and warmed up with the other players, I couldn't throw. It was just too painful. I thought it was just a swollen finger.
Two days later I spent all day trying to get an appointment for an xray referral. I go to school and they wouldn't fit me in. Then I go somewhere else and they say that they are not accepting any new patients until after the weekend. Two places later I finally have an appointment and got a referral that took the doctor 30 secs to write. When I eventually got the xray and got back to the doctor's office, he immediately sent me to the hospital to see a hand surgeon. Great, this is going to cost me so much money. Because I am an overseas student I have to pay for everything upfront and hope that I will get some of it back.
The hand surgeon told me that he would have to operate on my finger because more than 50% of the joint is out of place. But then when I saw him again on Monday he decided that surgery may be prevented and worth a try. Now I have a splint on and have to keep it on 24/7. Even if I take the splint off, I have to ensure that the finger is completely straight and absolutely not allowed to bend it for 6 weeks. It's quite a hassle sometimes but I'm allowed to do anything I want as long as I can tolerate it. It's just a finger, not a big deal at all but I still can't believe it's broken. Even with the broken finger and before I got this splint I decided to tape my fingers together for some support. Then I went to my ball games and ended up playing. I may have a broken finger but it can't stop me...
What amazes me the most are the primary carers. Most of these people are a family member, like a spouse. From talking to them you can tell that they love the patient very much but you can see the sacrifice that they had to make and sense the loneliness that they are experiencing. I have nothing but gratitude and respect for these people. It's great to see that they are not giving up on them even though the outcome is pretty much set in stone.
Midway through the first week of clinics I go to softball training and I somehow end up fracturing my finger. The coach was hitting me grounders and liners one after the other. No one else was there yet so she kept hitting me ball after ball. Occasionally a ball will hit my non glove hand because of a funny bounce or something. It happens all the time and people don't think much about it. Well I kept going and when we finally stopped and warmed up with the other players, I couldn't throw. It was just too painful. I thought it was just a swollen finger.
Two days later I spent all day trying to get an appointment for an xray referral. I go to school and they wouldn't fit me in. Then I go somewhere else and they say that they are not accepting any new patients until after the weekend. Two places later I finally have an appointment and got a referral that took the doctor 30 secs to write. When I eventually got the xray and got back to the doctor's office, he immediately sent me to the hospital to see a hand surgeon. Great, this is going to cost me so much money. Because I am an overseas student I have to pay for everything upfront and hope that I will get some of it back.
The hand surgeon told me that he would have to operate on my finger because more than 50% of the joint is out of place. But then when I saw him again on Monday he decided that surgery may be prevented and worth a try. Now I have a splint on and have to keep it on 24/7. Even if I take the splint off, I have to ensure that the finger is completely straight and absolutely not allowed to bend it for 6 weeks. It's quite a hassle sometimes but I'm allowed to do anything I want as long as I can tolerate it. It's just a finger, not a big deal at all but I still can't believe it's broken. Even with the broken finger and before I got this splint I decided to tape my fingers together for some support. Then I went to my ball games and ended up playing. I may have a broken finger but it can't stop me...
posted by Sub29 at 9:05 PM
1 Comments:
Oh my god Sub! I can't believe you kept playing with that finger! I really hope you stick to your splinting because I don't want you to have to go through surgery! Please please be careful and take good care of yourself!
miss you!
Post a Comment
<< Home