The Hiatus and the Arm
2014-09-20 20:45So I was on a sort of hiatus there for a while, mostly resulting from boredom and burnout. Didn't write because I didn't feel like writing. Well, stuff happens.
My life shifted into busy mode two weeks ago, with the beginning of an intensive online course in computer and internet fundamentals, which is set to wrap up tomorrow. This will help prepare me for the CompTIA A+, Network+, and Security+ exams, which I'm really excited about.
So I'd cleared my calendar, because there must be NO DISTRACTIONS so that I can fully focus and give this course my undivided attention! And so it was that on the afternoon of the second day of the course, September 9 Tuesday, after a long day of studying, I bethought me to go out for a quick jog and get some fresh air. Mens sana in corpore sano and all that.
I took my iPod along and had a nice, leisurely run up to Raleigh Street and back (a one-mile round trip) - or rather, almost back. About three blocks from my house on the return trip, the jog came to an abrupt end when I tripped on a crack in the sidewalk and went right down. I put my right arm up to break my fall, and succeeded in breaking the arm instead. (The iPod, for its part, escaped serious injury.)
At first I refused to believe I'd broken anything and decided to john wayne it, and in fact sat through class Wednesday with a broken arm. Thursday morning, reality (and pain) gained the upper hand, and I went to see my doctor, a gruff, athletic-looking man of about 70, who sent me to see an orthopedist in Beaverton.
Long story short, the official name is Proximal Humerus Fracture on the right side. I didn't have to get a cast because the bone broke near the ball joint, and the two pieces don't usually move very far apart. It has probably begun to knit together by now.
The forearm and hand were largely unaffected; basically everything below the elbow works just fine. The shoulder hurt like hell for the first few days, especially if it experienced any sudden jolt or shock. Bumping into the side of a door could make me let out a blood-curdling howl. The doc gave me some meds to mitigate the pain (which I'm taking sparingly - as much as I need but no more) and slowly it's starting to get better.
The main thing is that I can't move the shoulder (or can only move it minimally) and can't put any stress or weight on it. But it is feeling a little bit better every day.
In other news: OhLife is shutting down - closing the book forever, as it were, this coming Yom Kippur - so perhaps I will divert more of my obsessive journal-writing energies to these virtual pages in DW and LJ.
My life shifted into busy mode two weeks ago, with the beginning of an intensive online course in computer and internet fundamentals, which is set to wrap up tomorrow. This will help prepare me for the CompTIA A+, Network+, and Security+ exams, which I'm really excited about.
So I'd cleared my calendar, because there must be NO DISTRACTIONS so that I can fully focus and give this course my undivided attention! And so it was that on the afternoon of the second day of the course, September 9 Tuesday, after a long day of studying, I bethought me to go out for a quick jog and get some fresh air. Mens sana in corpore sano and all that.
I took my iPod along and had a nice, leisurely run up to Raleigh Street and back (a one-mile round trip) - or rather, almost back. About three blocks from my house on the return trip, the jog came to an abrupt end when I tripped on a crack in the sidewalk and went right down. I put my right arm up to break my fall, and succeeded in breaking the arm instead. (The iPod, for its part, escaped serious injury.)
At first I refused to believe I'd broken anything and decided to john wayne it, and in fact sat through class Wednesday with a broken arm. Thursday morning, reality (and pain) gained the upper hand, and I went to see my doctor, a gruff, athletic-looking man of about 70, who sent me to see an orthopedist in Beaverton.
Long story short, the official name is Proximal Humerus Fracture on the right side. I didn't have to get a cast because the bone broke near the ball joint, and the two pieces don't usually move very far apart. It has probably begun to knit together by now.
The forearm and hand were largely unaffected; basically everything below the elbow works just fine. The shoulder hurt like hell for the first few days, especially if it experienced any sudden jolt or shock. Bumping into the side of a door could make me let out a blood-curdling howl. The doc gave me some meds to mitigate the pain (which I'm taking sparingly - as much as I need but no more) and slowly it's starting to get better.
The main thing is that I can't move the shoulder (or can only move it minimally) and can't put any stress or weight on it. But it is feeling a little bit better every day.
In other news: OhLife is shutting down - closing the book forever, as it were, this coming Yom Kippur - so perhaps I will divert more of my obsessive journal-writing energies to these virtual pages in DW and LJ.