Re: taking my arm off
Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 3:01 am
hey man,
i have a lot of the same thoughts. i'm sitting at about 17 months from my accident, i've had 2 surgeries - one to re-enervate a muscle in my shoulder (supraspinatus) and one to re-enervate my bicep. only the shoulder worked. a lot of the time, i wish that i could go back and avoid those two surgeries, and the loss of the muscles they took those nerves from, and just have the arm off.
honestly, where i'm at right now is that i don't have to wear a sling just to hang out, thanks to the shoulder surgery (and you should look into it, i also think you should see my doc, Catherine Curtin at Stanford. She's awesome and closer than Mayo.) I can walk around all day with my hand in my pocket and no-one notices anything. i do use a sling for cycling, snowboarding, ultimate, soccer... the main thing keeping me from amputating is that i don't want to look funny in long-sleeved clothing for the rest of my life. seriously. it's vain maybe, but whatever. so, i'm not scheduling surgery... but i'm not getting any tattoos on that arm either right now, you know?
i think your doc is full of ____ about having to take it easy. you aren't at any greater risk of infection than you were before. you are at greater risk of hurting your arm, since you can't feel it, but it will heal just the same as always.
i ride and have a house in tahoe. i'm in the bay area, being unemployed, until i start grad school in january. shoot me a text if you want to go for a beer and gripe about being an angry cripple.
-brian
(510) 456-6637
i have a lot of the same thoughts. i'm sitting at about 17 months from my accident, i've had 2 surgeries - one to re-enervate a muscle in my shoulder (supraspinatus) and one to re-enervate my bicep. only the shoulder worked. a lot of the time, i wish that i could go back and avoid those two surgeries, and the loss of the muscles they took those nerves from, and just have the arm off.
honestly, where i'm at right now is that i don't have to wear a sling just to hang out, thanks to the shoulder surgery (and you should look into it, i also think you should see my doc, Catherine Curtin at Stanford. She's awesome and closer than Mayo.) I can walk around all day with my hand in my pocket and no-one notices anything. i do use a sling for cycling, snowboarding, ultimate, soccer... the main thing keeping me from amputating is that i don't want to look funny in long-sleeved clothing for the rest of my life. seriously. it's vain maybe, but whatever. so, i'm not scheduling surgery... but i'm not getting any tattoos on that arm either right now, you know?
i think your doc is full of ____ about having to take it easy. you aren't at any greater risk of infection than you were before. you are at greater risk of hurting your arm, since you can't feel it, but it will heal just the same as always.
i ride and have a house in tahoe. i'm in the bay area, being unemployed, until i start grad school in january. shoot me a text if you want to go for a beer and gripe about being an angry cripple.
-brian
(510) 456-6637
Keep the Fire