Another Bump In The Road

Well as any story goes, there are hiccups, or challenges to the main character that must be overcome, which always is resolved before the final credits roll!, As our story begins, Deb was taking Trent last Monday to the groomers at Petco, for a much needed bath, nails, teeth. You know, basically the works as far as dog grooming goes!

Upon entering the store, Deb immediately started to the back, as that is where the last groomer was located at a different location. Needless to say the groomer was in the front of the store and she walked right by. After returning to the front of the store she had to wait to get checked in. As she was ready to move forward, Trent saw another dog, got excited and ran full speed to make a friend!

Deb, off balance, as she had begun walking forward went straight down, shattering her right elbow on the cement floor. Petco called me and explained her injury; I immediately went to look for a ride to Petco to take her to the emergency room. She probably should have called 911 but didn’t. After five pain filled hours in the ER, she was given an X-ray and some pain meds, then splinted and told she would need surgery soon(within a week).

Tuesday we headed to Pittsburgh. As we have Highmark health insurance, we needed an in network provider. She was able to get an appointment with a PA at an orthopedic center. We took a cd with X-rays on, and that helped as no further X-rays were needed. Even though overbooked, the surgeon was able to see Deb and immediately scheduled surgery for Wednesday.

Wednesday morning we arrived at 10:00am for surgery at Allegheny General Hospital. We went to the third floor as instructed and waited to be called back. They took Deb back, getting her ready for surgery. They called me back and we spoke with the Doctor doing the anesthesia. A few minutes later they wheeled her off.. I heard 2 1/2 to 3 hours probably for surgery so I went and had lunch, ran a few errands and was back an hour and a half later to discover she hadn’t gone into surgery yet. An hour after I got back to the hospital, they took her back to surgery. Then, two and a half hours later, the Doctor came out and said that everything went well. I did get a text update during the surgery that the patient was doing well.

Well one more week in a splint and hopefully therapy will commence. We always share pictures during the blog…so here it goes.

Deb’s input: Tim started this blog post the week I had surgery. Unfortunately, I was a bit to out of it to proofread and publish it. It took me about 2 weeks to feel well enough to start moving around and doing a few things. I have to say I gained a greater appreciation of the challenges that Tim faces every day. Working with only one arm, especially your non-dominant one is extremely difficult. I felt like a child again, learning how to feed my self, do dishes, etc.; writing was especially difficult. I am terrible as a lefty.

Now that it is two weeks after surgery, the splint and sutures were removed. I can use my right arm a little, but no lifting anything with it. It is now in a brace and I at least can use my right hand to write. Baby steps for sure. Physical therapy starts tomorrow. Hopefully that will go well and we will be able to start traveling by mid September.