1. Exploring a Broken Bone (Pt.3)
I was asleep the entire time, but I was told that once I was asleep,
they put an IV into the vein on the top of my hand. My orthopedic surgeon
performed a “closed reduction” on my wrist. This means that he moved the
bone that was fractured back into place without having to go into my skin.
After bringing the bone back to
its original position, he put in not
one, not two, but THREE pins into
my wrist to make sure my bone
remained steady. To make sure
that I didn’t move my wrist when
I woke up, Dr. Ushiba put it in a
temporary cast (or splint). A
splint is made up of layers of
cotton nearest to the skin, a hard
plastic or metal piece to keep my
wrist from moving, and an ace
bandage wrapped around the
splint and cotton. When I woke
up, one of the nurses had moved
me from the OR to the Recovery
room where I saw my parents and
told them how much better my
wrist felt. Once I was back in my
original room, we waited for 2 more hours until they could get my
prescription ready. Finally, they brought a wheelchair to my room, and the
nurse wheeled me down to the lobby so I could go home.
In the past couple of days, my arm has gotten slowly better and
better, and I have slowly realized how much
better it feels from day to day. On the first
day, my wrist hurt a lot. My parents gave me my
Tylenol with Codeine for the pain. However, the
next day, I threw up a lot because of the
codeine. My doctor said this was normal and
switched me to pediatric Tylenol. This is my
first broken bone and I am glad that I have a
good doctor and my recovery is going great. I
can’t wait to get my cast so that my friends can
sign it!