What are your doctors saying about a return to normalcy?
That's the thing- nobody really gives a timeline other than the physical therapist. Will I ever be able to bench 375 lbs. again? I'm skeptical. Will I ever be able to stretch like I used to? Doubt it. Play basketball like I used to? That doesn't seem possible at this point.
The thoracic surgeon is/was awful. I don't remember much from the first few days at the hospital, but I do remember him being rude to my mother. She asked questions to him after my surgery, and each question, he would say "and that's also a question for the nurses." They were normal questions that the nurses would tell my mom "that's a question for the doctor." After that major of a surgery, you'd think he'd want to see me multiple times over a number of months. Nope. Surgery and that was it. When I did make an appointment with him, he didn't do anything other than look at it and claim it's perfect. When my mom asked about things she read online (again, horrible idea) such as malunion, he mockingly said "I'm going to pretend you didn't even say that."
He's the same surgeon who never looked at a single x-ray after putting titanium on seven broken ribs. The ortho surgeon (for my collarbone) was the one who actually took an x-ray of my ribs and saw the issue. Even though my primary care physician and ortho surgeon said they were concerned about the inflammation, redness, and tenderness, the thoracic surgeon still wasn't concerned when I brought those x-rays to him. Sure enough, there was "fracture deformity" according to the CT scan, which is a form of malunion, which is what he mocked my mom about asking. The guy has absolutely no desire to do anything other than the actual surgery. And that doesn't even take into account issues I have had with his office: I receive bills through the mail, yet when I go to their site to pay, the site doesn't work; I had dental work needed to be done from the accident, but they refused to do it since they needed clearance from the surgeon, yet the surgeon's office wouldn't return their call nor complete the one-pager they needed).
The ortho surgeon is good, but almost two weeks ago, he was perplexed as to why I had new inflammation above the collarbone. He had me get more blood work and another MRI, but they came back negative in terms of what he thought could be an issue. So he really doesn't know why that area has so much inflammation and why it only started a few months after the surgery.
The physical therapist has said since day one that this will take a solid 12 months before I feel somewhat back to normal. The doctors never really gave that timeline and really don't seem to know for sure.
Overall, those two major areas have improved, but six months later, you'd think the inflammation wouldn't be so severe and the normal daily things wouldn't still be impacted. Just as bad, I have issues coming from them - my back pain is due to not using any abs and putting all of the stress on my back due to the pain in the front ribs. The issue on the outside of my foot is due to me compensating for the surgery/paint on the other side of my body when I walk. So the sheer pain has subsided for the major issues, but the overall pain has gotten more diverse with other issues.
As much as I love traveling, you know it's not good when I refuse to get on a plane knowing that it won't be comfortable for me. Over the last two weeks, I have started doing light jogging on the treadmill for a short amount of time, but it's uncomfortable.
Even though I start it on 5.7, which is a very slow jog, it feels like everything is bouncing up-and-down inside of me. I know that my kidneys/lungs/etc. aren't actually moving up-and-down like that, but that is what it feels like to a severe degree. After doing just a tenth of a mile, I put it at 6.5 for another tenth. Then, I put it at 7.5 for another tenth. Then, 8.1 for another tenth followed by 8.4 for about .05.
I’m sorry to hear about your pain.
I’m way out of my element here because I know very litttle about trauma or ortho…but I see athletes and gym bros talking about BPC-157. I did have a buddy with a bad ortho injury get it for recovery. I really know nothing about it though.
Thanks. I'll check it out.
What about his neurological issues? Will that return to normal or will he continue in the vegetative state that he has been in?
The only vegetative state you like thinking of me in is the eggplant, which is actually a fruit.
It's a business they choose to do and they are paid well. Though it's likely disgusting, they get paid. So I'd say they're cool with it.
Dumbass.
You're increasingly becoming a lot like 1988 where you bring absolutely nothing to the board.
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