Bionic Man

Story continued from here. 

As the week went on, the grumpier Adam became about his splint, it was hurting his wrist. The night before his appointment to get it removed, he was ready to take it off himself. His wrist and whole arm hurt—He was worried that he'd fractured his ulna or radius and was considering asking for an X-ray further down his arm.

(Below) Adam is trying to smile just before his appointment. He wasn't feeling well on top of the new pain. He'd finished his prescription pain killer the day before and it wasn't treating him well as it was leaving his system. (Light headed, pale, nausea...but a day later he was fine.)

Just an hour later, the blasted thing came off. The splint was stiff and made out of cast material.
The PA also fessed up as to why Adam's arm and wrist hurt so badly. For this kind of surgery the arm has to lay flat with the palm up. Because Adam lifts weights (and doesn't stretch well enough) she had to CRANK his arm and put a lot of her weight into keeping it in place during the surgery.  She told us that the minute he rolled into the operating room she thought, "Oh no," because she saw his buffness and knew it would be a problem.

The exterior wound doesn't look anywhere NEAR as bad as I imagined—in fact, it looks great! (I was expecting blood stains and a bumpy mess of stitching.) 

During the appointment the ends of the thread (dissolving) were clipped and the wound taped up. Now Adam can get it wet...which means he can shower all by himself! Yesss! And dressing will be much easier.

Furthermore, the PA also told us the scar tissue they cleaned up inside his arm (mentioned in the previous post) wasn't from the injury healing. It was tendonitis. It's what weakened his tendon in the first place and though the tendon ripped—the scar tissue was still holding on to the end of it, keeping things connected so the doctor didn't have to fish way up in his bicep for it. Ewww.

Fitted with a brace that will keep him from over-extending his arm while it continues to heal for the next 8 weeks, Adam really can't use it much or put weight on it. Right now the brace is locked at 60 degrees and he can't rotate his palm up. Physical therapy starts next week. And yes, he finished shaving his one arm.

Friendsgiving + Thanksgiving

We liked Friendsgiving enough last year that we decided to have it again! We hosted it the weekend before Thanksgiving. All the good food and dessert were present. The rules are, we get to do it our way (bring ANY food we want), and we share leftovers. It's SO disappointing to go where the feast has been prepared by ONLY the host and so you don't get to contribute and you leave empty-handed—no leftovers and those are the best!

WE got the memo about striped sweaters.

To walk off the meal, we strolled down the street wrapped in Mom's quilts. It was TOO cold. We didn't get very far before everyone decided to turn around and stay full.

We played games into the night. (Marla, Lex, Pre-surgery Adam, Lysha, Reed, Nick, Stacy)

As it turned out, our Sister in-law decided NOT to host Thanksgiving this year (half the family goes to Kansas anyway.) So, Adam and I ended up hosting a second Thanksgiving just a week later with his parents and sister, Heather. 

THAT celebration was a lot of work. Because of Adam's surgery I ended up setting up, cooking and cleaning up by myself (on top of taking care of him.) I was EXHAUSTED. It was a good weekend but quite a challenge. And I completely forgot to get photos! But Adam did take a couple when his parents tried on a $400 cowboy hat that the CEO of the company purchased for him as a thank you. His dad looks great in it.

Don't worry. I made sure to send them home with PLENTY of leftovers. It made my heart happy.

Adam's Surgery to Repair a Tear

Lifting too much weight in a weird way can rip tendons. Adam learned this while shuffling a poorly loaded stack of windows (not of his doing) in the back of his truck (they are so heavy.) He heard a couple of snaps like a rubber band come from his left arm and that was it. His arm was useless and in pain.

At the ER we were referred to an orthopedic doctor who helped us take steps to recovery very quickly. After an MRI, we found out Adam tore his distal biceps tendon (where the tendon attaches at the elbow.) This kind of injury is rare, can only be fixed by surgery and must take place within three weeks of the incident before it heals wrong. Full recovery is expected in four months.

Below, Monday, November 21st at Baylor Scott White Trophy Club, Adam awaits surgery. He was nervous about being put under. They gave him something to relax and as they were rolling his bed down the hall he began to giggle, so he was just fine.

Above, the nurses shaved his arm and the doctor signed his bicep so as not to operate on the wrong arm. Can you see the bruising? Ouch. 

The doctor reported that everything went well. Scar tissue had already started forming so he cleaned that up too. After returning home, Adam has been staying in our guest bedroom (below) so I don't bump his arm at night. Plus, the room has a TV so it's a convenient setup for the situation.

We've been keeping him on strong pain meds (he feels so good when he's high) and his arm elevated and iced.

If you would like to see how the distal bisceps are repaired, click here or on the image below. (Start watching at minute 2:11)

I do have video of Adam coming out of it, it's not necessarily funny, but I wanted to have record of it anyway.

She's Not a Huntress Yet

Mr. Moon finally talked me into hog hunting. I usually scrunch up my face at the thought because the weather is either too hot or too cold—but that excuse wasn't going to hold any ground this time. Adam generously gifted me his old camouflage garb to keep cozy and my own gun. So, I squeezed into four layers of clothing and secretly hoped we weren't going to see any hogs that night (because I was feeling too lazy to gut one.) And we didn't see one. So my very first "hunting" experience was lovely.

(Above: Adam, Anna, Nick)

I enjoyed Adam's company in silence, and we watched: two young buck play-fight and graze until it was too dark to decipher them from the trees, long single strands of spider web gently float and sparkle past the blind, and finally the appearance of a night sky full of stars. And when Adam got too cold—we went home.