Radiohead Replacement

My interaction with my laptop and phone since I broke my elbow has been primarily by voice. I’ve done a lot of searches for the term “radial head replacement,” which is, most of the time, interpreted as “Radiohead replacement.” A worthy question, but not the one I’m asking.

When I last checked in, 5 days ago, I’d managed to tie my own shoes for the first time in more than a month. Since that time I’ve added some more skills:

• Wrote a legible sentence with a pen, with my right hand.
• Pulled up my jeans with two hands.
• Fed myself a couple of mouthfuls of food with my right hand.
• Typed an entire blog post two-handed.
• Made breakfast, lunch, and supper, every day.

That last one was necessitated by a household end-of-summer bonus: Lisa tested positive for COVID. We didn’t see that coming.

I tested negative immediately thereafter and have continued to test negative since. With L. away at camp for the week, Lisa and I were able to isolate from each other in the house; we slept apart, ate apart, read apart. It was hard being together-but-separated, given that we’re almost always together-and-together.

It was also hard because, since mid-July, Lisa had been doing everything for the household: driving, cleaning, cooking. To mitigate the infection vector, I took over the cooking for both of us, in an awkward ballet that involved opening jars with my knees, opening bags with my teeth, and cursing the food packaging industry for making products that surely must wreak havoc on the daily lives of millions of people.

Although it was hard, it was also helpful. In addition to my thrice daily 20 minute physio sessions, my kitchen physio has undoubtedly helped improve my range of motion. It also gave a boost of much-needed  confidence.

The one thing that hasn’t improved is my sleep: it’s been horrible for almost every night of the 29 days since my surgery. I’m not in pain, but I’m in discomfort, enough discomfort that it’s difficult to find a position to sleep in that’s comfortable for more than 30 minutes. 

This is, apparently, not uncommon after surgery, and most resources I’ve found suggest constructing some variation of a pillow kingdom, which I continue to iterate on.

Lisa, meanwhile, is now COVID-free, and so we’ve ended our isolation, and life is returning to less-abnormal abnormal.

I have my next appointment with my physiotherapist at the hospital on Thursday, and the next follow up with my orthopædic surgeon the day after. I am perversely looking forward to both of these: a good dose of “keep up the good work!” Is what I’m hoping for.

Meanwhile, if you’re looking for virtual orthopædic fun, check out this interactive 3D model of the human skeleton. Here’s a screen shot:

I’ve isolated the radius bone on the right arm. That nobbly bit on top is what got replaced with a titanium upgrade in mine.