Ouch!!

Our weather over New Year’s was especially warm and sunny by Canadian standards. So when the relatives in Sherwood Park (near Edmonton) invited us to bring our snow gear and have some fun, we gladly did!

Some of us visited while the guys assembled goal nets for a friendly, family street hockey game. With goals in place and sides picked, there was need of one more player. Not being one to stand on the sidelines, I volunteered enthusiastically. I had played a little hockey in high school and was up for a challenge.
 

The game was no more than five minutes long when my nephew slipped me a nice pass for a break away. My husband was in goal, so I ran for the puck to shoot a first goal past him. Nobody saw me go down.

Suddenly, my running went into slow motion. I could see my feet still going but my body was no longer coordinated with them. As the sidewalk came closer I thought, “This is going to hurt!” It did!

My shoulder took the brunt of the fall and I lay along the curved edge of the sidewalk, unable to move an arm that was screaming with pain. Daughter jumped in to access me, and later took me to the hospital emergency department. There an x-ray revealed the joint of my shoulder broken in two places, chipped, and pushed out of the socket. I was given a prescription and sent home in a sling & swathe.

After reporting to the emergency department in our local Red Deer hospital, I was referred to an orthopedic surgeon. By the time I attended that appointment, the medication initially prescribed was reacting and making me very nauseous, dizzy, lightheaded, and all-round sick. The surgeon explained the pros and cons of surgery and left me a couple days to make a decision.

Surgery seemed to be the best, and really the only logical, choice. On January 6, 2016, my 2:15 pm appointment resulted in my admittance to hospital by 4:00 pm and surgery at 9:00 pm! Having the shoulder back in place and reinforced by a plate with 11 screws eased the sharpness of the pain. I was thankful to get it over without having to lay and think about it very long. Then I could take a different, more effective painkiller and begin healing!

I have since discovered many people who have had a broken shoulder or arm, so I won’t detail the many challenges of those first weeks in a sling. Suffice it to say I really hope never to repeat them. Being unable to work/play on a computer or play the piano did not make me a happy camper. Eating spaghetti and meat sauce makes a mess. Reading is easy with the Kindle app on my smart phone. I persevered with my pulleys and stick exercises and, little by very little, improvement came.

Monday, April 25, I had another follow-up appointment with the surgeon. He found no concerns with the x-ray, said the bone has just about healed, and was satisfied with the range of motion I have attained. Finally the words I had been waiting for – “just use it!”

Thank you to my understanding family for their help, and to my many friends for their encouragement, and to Eugene at Protea Physiotherapy for his generous advise!