I don’t know how to write about this really. I was going down a couple steps of my RV and leaning to my right to get a good look at the beautiful sunset to my left and tripped and fell and broke my wrist. 😱😭

I don’t know about others, but when I break something I know immediately. I think it’s a combination of feeling the break and the shock that went through my system. It was if my whole body was shocked. Of course I had landed on my outstretched right arm and I rolled onto my shoulder and laid there a moment and got up slowly. I knew immediately it was broken and I held it in place as I went back inside the RV.
I’m not sure of the sequence, but forever the recorder of history, I made sure to take a picture of my wrist on my couch before I put it in a makeshift splint.

I think I called the RV Park and ask them where I could go to ER and it ended up being in Cottonwood which is almost 20 miles away. Susan, one of the managers here came over immediately. She’s about my age and quite a sweetheart. I found a magazine to use as a splint and she helps stretch out the wrap so that I could wrap around it. Once I had it that way, I really didn’t have any pain . But if it moved out of position at all, I knew it!

We began discussing options on how to get to Cottonwood. I knew I would not call an ambulance because I could not imagine insurance covering it for a broken wrist! 🙄 Uber was suggested but then that would be expensive and that wouldn’t take into account how I’d have to get back. Susan, quite the sweetheart, offered to pay for Uber for me!! 😯 I told her that was extremely sweet of her but not necessary. Neither she nor her husband could drive after dark. A young couple had just come in today near me and I got to know them. They were outside walking their dog so I asked them if they could help. They wanted to but they had been in the hot tub and had had a couple drinks. That still wouldn’t have solved the problem of how I would return.

I’m sure I had adrenaline helping So eventually I just got in the truck and drove myself over. Since it was getting dark, after rush hour, there wasn’t that much traffic. However on highway 260, Camp Verde must be planning on the city really growing because they have seven roundabouts through the countryside on the way to Cottonwood!!! Seven! Every single mile and then every 2 miles. So that’s a bit challenging when you’re driving with one hand, but it went well. I called Susan as soon as I got there because she was concerned. 😊

Treatment

Treatment was more traumatic than the break itself, and I am not kidding! 😔 I went through the initial check-in immediately, then waited a half an hour to have the triage by the RN. Then back out in the waiting room for another half hour before they had a bed available in the ER. It was a busy night.

Waited about another half hour and x-rays were taken of my wrist and my elbow at bedside. I wanted my elbow checked as well because it took quite an impact, too. My makeshift splint had to be removed because the magazine was too thick!. Yikes.

It went pretty well but she was having trouble with the computer on the bedside x-ray machine so she had to come back and redo one of the elbow shots. In order to do that I had to turn my hand a little bit and that was excruciating! Just that little bit of rotation! I even suggested that she just skip it but she could have said she couldn’t. 😯

You know, when you have had kids by mostly the natural method, you are used to pain that continues and how to deal with it. Well I sure needed to take every skill I had when the doctor came and described where the break was and what the treatment would be.

Diagnosis was a distal radius fracture of my right hand. The tip was broken off straight across, about a half inch section.

The good news was that it was not offset which would be harder to put back in line and may need surgery. It was in line but it was tilted so it would have to be manipulated back into place. In order to do this there would be numbing and blocking agents injected into my wrist so that then he could manipulate it. In retrospect, I think it would have been a lot less painful if he just went at it and did it quickly and it was over. Honest to God.

Trauma all over again

I have no idea how painful this was going to be!! The doctor used the portable ultrasound and I could see the actual break and the uneven level of the bones. He was using it as a guide on where to inject the fluids. He said it was going to hurt. They start with a low size needle for the initial numbing material. Well when that came in to my wrist, I don’t know how to describe it. I could actually feel the flow and it was extremely painful and felt like it was penetrating every tiny spot in my wrist and pushing out against my skin. And it seemed to go on and on and on. It was awful. The break didn’t hurt that much! Then they use a much bigger needle and put the rest of the fluid in deeper. At first I didn’t feel anything for a while and then it started to feel just like the initial fluid did. It went on as well but not as long. He said I did very well. As if I cared! I actually felt more traumatized than when I fell!

Afterwards my whole body started shaking. This rarely happens to me but it does when I have an anxiety or adrenaline overload. I hate it and and you can’t stop it. I had my Xanax along, thank God and I ended up taking two of them. It lasted about a full 5 minutes before that kicked in and relaxed me. It really was probably one of the worst things I’ve been through. Much worse than the fall itself. Much worse.

Setting and Traction.

It didn’t take long for everything to be numb. The doctor then held my arm vertically between his two hands and using his thumb and fingers just clicked the bone into place. I literally could feel it snap into place and it felt good. Unfortunately, then we realized I still had my long sleeved t-shirt on 🤪. So we were able to get the T-shirt off relatively easily (and I had a shirt on underneath. ) So then he had to redo it and I felt it click into place again. That was the good part.

My arm was then suspended in traction on a t-shaped pole like one used for IVs. This one had little mesh coils on it that you fit your fingers into. Then it tightened around them as you pulled down or as you let your weight pull your arm down. Remember those woven Chinese handcuff type things that you put a finger in from each side? Then when you pulled you couldn’t get it out but if you pushed your fingers together you could? Same exact idea. 🤔.

The splint maker, Cody, who’s wrist I was holding while the injections were being given, then came in to put on a splint, not a cast. The splint would keep my wrist stable but would allow for swelling. It was a long white material that was put over a cotton wrap on my arm. It looped from the top of my hand around my elbow to my palm. It was then wrapped into place with a regular wrap. He said he can get carried away and it can be too tight too so to let him know. It did seem tight and painful so he rewrapped it a little looser. The material itself is interesting. It had little puffy squares on it about the size of those 4-in tiles on bathroom walls. That has the setting agent in it. He just wet the outside of it and as it soaks in, it hardens. Of course they did monitor my blood pressure and oxygen level through most of this. I never once looked at my blood pressure. I thought it might be sky high. And I never asked either which is unlike me but I had enough stress 😬 the RN told me it was not bad, considering.

As the splint hardened, I was then outfitted with a sling. Went through the checkout materials with the RN, Margarita who was in her 50s.

I walked slowly back out to my truck with my purse and t-shirt in hand and jacket have fun and over my shoulders. Back home, Matthew was finding a fast food place that was still open at 11:00 p.m. . It was a Sonic and they are good! I have not had anything to eat or drink since the fall and I hadn’t eaten since about 3:00 in the afternoon. So I drove to Sonic, ordered a big breakfast burrito and a large diet coke. A bit tricky opening the package with one hand, but I managed. Then I drove home through seven roundabouts again and arrived home at 12:30 a.m. .

Wrap Up.

It’s now the third day since it happened. Surprisingly, this was hard to write about. Everything is taking a lot longer of course and takes a lot more thought. I do not go down ANY steps without a good grip on the railings. I am skittish about the steps on my RV now. 😬

I was fortunate in that I was able to do all the great hikes that I had set my heart on when I came here. I would have been heartbroken had this happened before then. I also had taken care of a lot of things that needed to have been done and I had been putting off. I did take my LP tank and have it refilled. There’s no way I’m going to be able to do anything with that for at least 2 months now! I just washed and styled my hair. Doesn’t sound like much but it takes two hands! I just stripped the bed , did the laundry, and remade it. I can’t imagine how long that would take me to do with one hand. I did do the dishes with one hand last night and became quite creative. I’m dressing simpler as well so I don’t have so much clothing to maneuver. Thank goodness the weather has really warmed up and has been sunny and warm. But I have to acknowledge that I have had a bout of depression every day. It’s just hard to deal with.

The staff here are so solicitous and concerned, it’s been heartwarming. They moved the person who was supposed to take my place yesterday to a site they rarely use so I could stay! I’m glad I’m going to be able to stay here until March 9th. I’m going to need every day of that recovery.

I have a follow-up with a doctor in a week. If the swelling has gone down enough they can cast it. I was told they usually wait two weeks before the swelling, but I have to have this taken a look at before I have to leave the area. I’m hoping we’ll just change the splint if necessary so that I can use my right hand to at least stabilize the steering wheel so I can drive. I can drive the truck now with one hand but I’m not going to take that chance when I’m hauling the fifth wheel. S***!

I like to believe that everything happens for a reason. I hope in retrospect, I’ll be able to discern the reason.

love to all of you! Take care of yourselves. Hopefully the next blog will be much more upbeat. There is a lot I have to catch up with. 👍💕