I took a fall about 8 weeks ago and broke my shoulder. This means that I have not had much use of my left arm since then.
The good news – I did not need surgery
The bad news – It is going to take about a year of therapy to get back the full use of my left arm.
Farm chores with one arm
There are not a lot of jobs around the farm that can be accomplished with one arm…
The things I can do:
- Feed grain to goats
- let goats and chickens out in the Morning and lock them up at night
- clean chicken roosts
- Fill horse water buckets using hose
The things I cannot do:
- DRIVE a car
- Feed hay to goats and horses
- Clean goat houses
- Clean horse paddocks
- Provide water to goats and chickens (the hose doesn’t reach them)
- hold a goat to trim hoofs etc
- ride a horse, or even properly groom it.
What Happened
I have no Idea how I fell. One minute I was standing on a step stool, reaching up to fasten a solar light to the new goat shelter… The next thing I knew I heard a crack as I landed on the ground.
Luckily I had my phone in my pocket, because I was alone in my pasture and unable to get up off the ground. I was able to call an ambulance.
It took about 20 minutes for the ambulance to arrive, but they were fantastic. They drugged me up enough so that I could handle the long drive to Hospital. An x-ray and CT scan confirmed that the proximal humerus was broken in 4 pieces and one of them was displaced.
Follow up
There was a communication issue between the Hospital, the on call Ortho, and My GP office that resulted in no one referring me for follow up. No one would give me any information, and basically said “don’t call us, we will call you…” Finally I made a complaint to Alberta Health.
The complaint got things moving and I was referred to the Royal Alexander Hospital to have shoulder replacement surgery. The surgeons there decided that it might be safer to see if my fracture would heal on its own. The referred me to the Upper limb clinic at Sturgeon Hospital. I finally had my first follow up visit at the 6 week mark. At this point I finally received the instructions that I should have been given within the first week. I had to change to a different style of sling and spend my nights in a chair instead of a bed. I had to utilize gravity to keep my shoulder aligned and allow it to heal.
This week I attended the Upper limb clinic for the second time, and was given the OK to start physio. The displaced bone fragment is attached now, not in the right position, but good enough.
Cruise
I had an Alaskan cruise booked with a friend, for 3 weeks post injury. We decided to still go. I would not be in any worse pain on the cruise ship than I was at home – and the scenery would still be great.
My traveling companion was happy to assist by fastening my clothes for me and cutting my food – LOL. We had a great trip..
Great Neighbours
I am very lucky to have amazing neighbours. One drove me to and from medical appointments and provided soup and snacks. Another brought me dinner every night for a week and sent her kids over to look after my animals.
I have now found a wonderful German student to help me out. She is on her gap year and travelling around Canada as a Woofer. (See WWOOF) She does work around the farm in exchange for room and board. She plans to stay with us for October and November.
1 comment