Well things are much
better. The arm is now at the 32 day mark......the last week or so things have progressed to the point where I can use it for typing without it throbbing after 30 secs.
I've been to physio once last week for the first time and again today.
Unfortunately the exercises she asked me to do last week have irritated the
worst damaged area (where the cut in the muscle was deepest). I'll be
resting my arm until this pain subsides in a few days or a week. At that
point I will move slower with the arm exercises and consider more physio
appointments once the arm reaches the 6 week mark and the muscle has had more
time to heal. The physiotherapist says I will regain full mobility in my arm with
persistent stretching exercises. I will resume careful stretching exercises
once my muscle has more time to heal to regain mobility in my elbow and
wrist (mobility was lost due to the accident and lack of use). The wrist
still has swelling which is limiting it's full mobility.....but the wrist is
very close to having full mobility. I also massage the injured area with cream twice a day to soften the scar tissue on the skin and below the skin and this also
moisturizes the skin scar and will reduce it. I'm avoiding all sun
exposure on the scar as this makes scars worse. I'll be continuing the
physio appointments for a while to come.
I'm also wearing a gel sheet.....a 1/8" think silicone sheet
with mineral oil that covers the cut and is held in place with an elastic sleeve that covers my forearm.
These gel sheets are used for burn victims to level out scar tissue and to keep
the scar tissue from drying out.....I need to wear this at least 10 hours a day for 2 months.
Click on
images to see larger images |
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The
lines in my arm are from the gel sheet and the swollen area |
This
gel sheet is actually quite effective at leveling the scar on
the skin. |
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I can now lift about 8 pounds with my injured arm.....2 weeks ago I could only lift my cell phone before I felt pain in the cut muscle.
My left arm was always my strong arm until the injury. I've been off work for a month and don't think I'll be returning to work for another
month...my wife is keen I fully heal before returning to work. Some skin
on my forearm (about 30 to 40% of the paralyzed skin) has regained
feeling. A large section of the skin on my forearm has no feeling at all and this might return in 2 years or never return.
I also have phantom pains in my skin and muscle as feeling returns to these areas and the nerves
reconnect. The muscle works fine.....but I do have pain in the undamaged
part of the muscle halfway between the cut and my wrist where one of the tendons
connects to the damaged muscle. Some skin has regained feeling, but for 2 weeks as it
regains feeling....it feels like the worst sun burn. This feeling was so bad that my breath touching the hairs on my
arm would cause me pain, so I shaved off those hairs......which was odd as most
of that skin had very little real feeling and only a phantom sort of feeling
(hard to explain). And the skin doesn't automatically regain full
feeling.....sometimes a numb sort of feeling is all that will return....I will
wait and hope.
I can now dress
myself.....tie my shoelaces and do all the little things you take for granted
when you have 2 hands.....including driving my 5 speed car. It is good to
see my life slowly returning to normal.
It is looking much
better as you can see in the photos below.
Click on
images to see larger images |
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Apr
30 2006 |
May
28 2006 |
The gel
sheet really does flatten out the scar tissue on the skin.
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All things considered....things are going very well,
but I am limited and need to devote time to my healing
process, which is why I'm not working at my job. At this point it looks
like I'll be off work for a total of 2 months.
Steve
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