Broken Arm: Loose Ends

My daughter had a follow-up appointment with her surgeon the other day. It was not quite two weeks since he cut into her arm.

The long and short of it is that she's recovering right on schedule. (She fell off a horse and sustained a serious break three weeks ago, and had surgery on February 3.)

We're all encouraged by her progress. She goes back for another follow-up appointment in a few weeks.

A few loose ends:

When we went in for the operation on February 3, the surgeon drew us the sketch at right; his felt-tip pen applied to a non-absorbent surface accounts for the smudging. I can't remember why he drew this. The lower circle is the elbow and the rectangular part jutting up is the forearm.

He told us at the time of surgery – or at least,  I thought he did – that he would have to insert a metal plate in Dana's arm. But no such plate was needed; we learned that at the follow-up appointment. He did, however, have to insert a couple of screws. Obviously these are a surgical type of screw; there is no screw head and the whole thing is beneath the surface of the bone.

Dana was fascinated to see the incision, which is healing quite nicely, the doctor said. It's still rather ghastly in appearance, with bruising and discoloration around the edges. There should be minimal scarring.

As she came out from the anesthesia following the operation, one of Dana's slurred comments was, "I need to get my homework done." Algebra, no less. We think your teacher will cut you some slack, we said.

Are these kids under pressure, or what?

Dana is aching to get back on a horse. She says she wants to get in the saddle even as she's healing, and have someone lead her around an enclosed arena at the most leisurely of paces. But at this stage, the risks are too great. If something were to happen – if she were to fall again, and on that same arm – well, the consequences are too horrible to even think about. So we ain't lettin' her do it just yet.