Wrist

On July 24^th, Greg was at an Optometry Convention in Jackson attending lectures to fulfill his continuing education requirements.

I went hiking in Grand Teton National Park.  It had been raining, but the rain stopped when I got to Jenny Lake. I took the shuttle boat across the lake then hiked up the beginning steep part of the trail with a long line of people.  .  A person coming down reported seeing a bear with cubs on the far side of the river. Most of the people were headed for Inspiration Point.   However, at the top of the climb, I went the other way to up the beautiful, Cascade Canyon.   It was a beautiful, perfect day.

I hiked up about 5 miles, then stopped to eat my lunch. At that point, I started back down, and decided I could go a little faster now.  That was a mistake.  I carefully placed my feet as I hiked down the steep, rather rocky trail.  Eventually the trail flattened and the trail was smooth through a wildflower adorned meadow.  As I looked up at the flowers and waterfall on the mountain, I tripped on a deviously placed rock and fell hard on both hands.

I was surprised to hit my face on the ground.  I rolled over to sit one the ground and looked down at my painful right arm.  The hand was twisted to the left.  I knew it was broken.  The other arm looked okay, but hurt a lot and I was afraid it was broken too.  My knee was bloodied and bruised. 

 I waited for someone to come by to help me.  Within one minute a man and his adult son came around the corner.  They were so kind and concerned for me.  The younger man had a splint in his first aid kit!  He splinted the arm and made a makeshift sling for me.  They asked if one of them should run down and get more help, but I was sure I could hike out okay.  The stayed with me to make sure I was okay.  Many people offered to help as I walked out.  One lady offered to lead me out on her horse, but I was afraid I couldn’t get up, or hang on because both arms were injured.

Finally we got down and took the shuttle back across the lake.  The older man drove me in my car back to Jackson as his son followed in their car.  The went 40 miles (round trip) out of their way to help me.

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We thanked my Good Samaritins, then Greg took me to the hospital there in town.  They x-rayed both arms a told me it was a bad break and would need surgery.  They put it in a cast.  My left arm was not broken, but it was severely sprained.  It’s slowly getting better, so now I am able to type this with my left hand.

The next morning we drove home to Pocatello.  Although I had had no trouble hiking 5 miles back, the next morning I could barely walk because of the bashed left knee.

On July 31^st I had the surgery.  The wrist was shattered, one of the worst the doctor had seen.  Evidently I have osteoporosis.  They put a plate under my wrist, a pin to stabilize one of the bones, and an external fixator to hold the bones.  I will have the external hardware for six weeks. 

The doctor is very skilled, and was pleased with the alignment when he was finished.  I should get most of my function and strength back.  However he warned that I will almost certainly have arthritis in the wrist eventually.

 I started some mild finger therapy today.  I am doing great.  I’ve even been going to work.  We hired one of my friends to be my scribe at work.

Through it all, I have had very little pain.  I attribute that to the excellent splinting job so soon after I fell. 

Hopefully, be mid September the fixator will be removed, and life will gradually go back to normal.

From now on, when I go hiking, I will watch out for meadows, and I will use trekking poles!