Paul and Tracy's Main Blog

Since coming home last weekend, Tracy has been very focused on trying to maintain the movement in her arm that the operation has given her. This is not an easy task, made worse by the swelling in her arm, and the layers of bandages covering the wound caused by the operation. As with much phsyiotherapy, she has also been supported by the "occupational therapists" who have made her a couple of splints to help. Now, I should point out that all the occupational therapists we have encountered throughout Tracy's recovery have been relatively young and female. Which is odd, considering their work, which had it been done in Germany between 1939 and 1945, would have qualified them immediately for long leather trenchcoats, small round glasses, a limp and a high rank within the SS. And I thought it was the physiotherapists that were the sadists of the health service...

Let me elucidate. Tracy has 2 splints which have been made by the occupational therapists. She has to wear one of them constantly - it was initially the more comfortable 'straight' splint, but that was obviously too easy, so now it's the much more painful 'bent' one. Every hour she has to remove the splint and either peform her physiotherapy exercises (think going through the motions of a serious binge-drinking session and you'll get the idea) or switch to the other splint for 10-15 minutes or so. Then revert back to the main 'bent' splint.

Now, the word "splint" is probably conjuring up images of a simple strap-on contraption like this:






Which is fine, because that's what it looks like. The straight one. Only it's actually still slightly bent as Tracy's arm doesn't quite go straight. Or even as straight as the splint. The straps are there to force her arm to straighten as much as the splint is. Which is a bit like trying to bend your arm backwards. And then hold it in place against a plastic mould.

And that's the easier of the two.

The "bent" splint is actually in 2 parts. An upper part, which cups round her upper arm, and a lower part that cups round her forearm. These are then joined, when her arm is bent, by a strap that attaches to velcro on each part of the splint. The strap is slightly elastic, so the technique, demonstrated by the gestapo (sorry, occupational therapists), is to bend her arm as much as it will go, then some more, and a bit more still, before pulling on the strap (stretching the elastic) and attaching it to the splints (causing her arm to bend a bit more still). She manages to put this on herself, by pushing her arm against a wall cupboard until she's in a lot of pain, before attaching the straps. Or she'll ask me to do it, knowing that as I can't feel her pain, all she has to do is try not to scream too loudly...

Here's a picture of her wearing this fetching piece of modern-day medieval torture equipment:






Oh, and she's expected to sleep with the above splint on as well. Which is clearly impossible. She does manage a couple of hours of wearing it, whilst I sleep, though. Last week when she went for the 1st post-operative checkup she had movement from 50-100 degrees. We're hoping she can retain that, and possibly even gain a bit more. She's certainly trying...

Other news...

Apart from the above, we've not much else in the way of news. Mr Yellow-Mini Man, who came to see the house and was so keen, has still not put an offer in (yet). Time is running out, as we're fed-up with waiting and have decided to take the house off the market if we don't get an offer by the end of the month.