Another update

Another day and my arm just keeps getting better. My accident was two weeks ago tomorrow. In the days and weeks that followed, I really had no use of my arm. It hurt, it was swollen and bruised....from shoulder to wrist. I had no strength in my hand. I couldn't open jars or bottles, I couldn't squeeze the toothpaste, or open a door. I couldn't even put my hair in ponytail. It hurt when I twisted the elastic band. I wasn't able to spread peanut butter on toast, I couldn't hold the toast with my hurt hand, the spreading of the peanut butter was too much force.

It was actually pretty pathetic. My sweet husband put my hair in a ponytail for me every day, opened jars, cut my food.

Saturday was the first day I could do the ponytail all by myself and I can now open jars, spread peanut butter and even get my hand up to wash my face. It still hurts, not nearly as much. It is still swollen, but only at the elbow, I can wear my wedding rings and they are loose. The bruising is limited to my hand, in an odd way.

I took some pictures to compare my injured arm to my good arm and you can see the difference. Here's the bruising:

side view of the healthier arm:
side view of the arm that is improving:
front view of the healthier arm:
front view of the other arm:
The elbow is such an odd joint - much like the ankle, there is a lot going on in there...many moving parts. I go back to see the dr tomorrow and again on Thursday. He will ultrasound it, massage it and get things to release. It always feels better after I see him. I have full range of motion in my shoulder, my elbow is limited. Its strange and honestly is just getting annoying.

I ran 12 miles yesterday and the arm did okay. I did spin class this morning and it felt better than spin class last week. Progress. By Sunday, I expect it will be just about back to normal. I am resting it as much as I can. Tomorrow I'll give it a little test swim to see if there needs to be an adjustment to my stroke. I think it will feel good to get in the water, its been over two weeks.

I have been looking for the reason, the lesson in this. "why did this happen?" That has not been productive to me. I am focusing on getting better, on healing and having a positive attitude.

Because I become obsessed with things, I was googling injuries and Ironman. There are lots of pros and cons to racing after an injury. My favorite was one that said "just go do it, you never know what is out there waiting for you and you never know what is around the corner. If you can, you should". So I will.

During that google search I also found this quote that I just LOVE:

"Not everything is a lesson, Ryan. Sometimes you just fail" - Dwight Schrute
I don't feel like I failed. I just fell. That's it. When you fall, you get up and you keep moving. I only have to keep moving for a few more days....Sunday....sweet sweet Sunday.