Last Tuesday, I got a phone call in the evening from Susan the Wonderchild, who said, perkily "I'm at Urgent Care because I broke my elbow." Well, I'm glad she was happy about it, but it did give me pause. Turns out that she was trying out for the Roller Derby and fell and her elbow hyperextended and blip! she cracked off the end of her radius. Everybody's gotta have a hobby, I suppose.
Now, something interesting about all this: when the doctor said to Susan "Would you like a prescription for pain meds," Susan said "No, I'm fine, I don't need them." I explained to her later that this was not the right answer; that, in fact, when the doctor asks you if you want pain meds, that you say "Why, yes, thank you, that'd be very helpful," and you give this answer if you're feeling better than you ever have in your life at that moment. You never know when you're going to need something powerfully narcotic and opiated that will help you deal with life's little exigencies, like when you've just dropped something very heavy on your foot. Susan has gotten this principle down, although it was certainly reinforced by the pain level when the natural endorphins wore off and her arm started throbbing. When the orthopedist looked at her arm two days later and he offered her 40 Vicodin, she said "Why, yes, thank you!"
She decided that she wanted a second opinion and liked the second orthopedist much better, so this afternoon, she had surgery with him. He replaced the bone chip and did a thing or two else. She's at home now and will be recovering. The nerve block they gave her has made her arm completely numb, which is very strange for her. Her friend Von, who the Babe and I both like very much, brought her home from the day surgery (although the Babe was able to be there when Susan woke up). Von's been playing cards with Susan this evening.
Speaking of 'home', I wanted to mention something else: Susan has moved back in with us. She'd been planning on doing this anyway, but this was planned for May or June. With the need to be taken care of and a few other things, she's moved back in today. We now have 4 cats again, too. We'll be getting a couple guys to schlep her stuff from her house to here and set it up again.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Yes, "Thank you very much" is indeed the correct answer. Hope she gets well soon; Roller Derby needs more skaters!
Post a Comment