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I fell today and now have almost no use of my hands!


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I put up a low (2ft.) flexible vinyl fence today around the legs of a 10x10 portable awning to keep the 2yo contained in the sandbox area while I was working on sewing the trampoline net. The phone rang and when I went to step over the fence my foot caught and I fell forward onto the patio. I instinctively put my hands out in front of me to catch myself so my hands\arms caught the full force of my fall.

 

Thank goodness dh was home because I couldn't even get up on my own! Everytime I tried to put weight on my hands to get up I had shooting pains in my wrists and up my arms. My left arm and wrist is worse than my right. I can move my fingers just fine but I can't apply force to anything and I can't rotate my left forearm without a lot of pain. I can't even pick up a glass (can't apply enough force to grip it) with my right hand...I have to hold it with both hands to get it to my mouth.

 

I don't think anything is broken because I don't have any swelling and the pain is tolerable unless I try to rotate my wrists or apply pressure. I think I just sprained everything really bad. I feel so helpless though. Dh and dd8 made dinner because I couldn't even chop stuff up for the casserole. When it was time for bed I couldn't even undress myself and I don't know how I'm going to put my bra on in the morning!:tongue_smilie: I took care of going to the bathroom alone but not without a bit of trouble and a lot of pain. I certainly have a new appreciation for those who have limited or no use of their hand(s). The simplest things become impossible or at the very least, difficult.

 

Well, it's 2:40 am and my Tylenol (which I had to wake dh up to get for me because I couldn't get the lid off) is numbing some of the pain so I'll try to go back to bed. Think of me today while you fasten your bra or tie your shoes!:tongue_smilie:

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I agree - you need to be checked out, with x-ray. Hubby fell and stopped himself with his one hand not holding a briefcase - it was wrapped for a sprain but after an x-ray it was found he'd broken the tip of a bone in the thumb socket - needed surgery to get into that tiny area and had two steel pins sticking out of his hand for a few weeks to hold things in place as a mere cast wouldn't have worked. There ate a LOT of tiny bones in your hand/wrist area!

 

Please go in (does your local Urgent Care have x-ray? cheaper than ER) asap - if something is broken or swelling in the wrong place you could end up with permanently messed-up hands :-(

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WOW! I am so sorry. I had read something along the lines about shock?? You absorbed the shock with your hands and you could have done alot of damage. I hope you can go get that checked out really soon. I hope you feel better and fractures don't always show up right away so a visit would be great for you. Good luck hope you feel better soon!! :grouphug:

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Okay, I'm going to have dh take me to the Dr. today. When I woke up this morning I could hardly move my left arm at all. I couldn't even twist the cap off the toothpaste lid without a lot of pain. I couldn't even pull my pants up.:glare: The worst part about this is that my two oldest girls are leaving Sat. for FL, so it will just be me and the 3 youngest next week...:scared:...hope I'm at least a little better by then.

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Okay, I'm going to have dh take me to the Dr. today. When I woke up this morning I could hardly move my left arm at all. I couldn't even twist the cap off the toothpaste lid without a lot of pain. I couldn't even pull my pants up.:glare: The worst part about this is that my two oldest girls are leaving Sat. for FL, so it will just be me and the 3 youngest next week...:scared:...hope I'm at least a little better by then.

 

I am very glad to hear you're going to the doctor!

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I took a bad fall on some ice this winter, and sprained a wrist. If you want to try some self care before you decide whether you need an x-ray, try soaking the area in an epsom salt bath. I was amazed at how much it reduced the discomfort. For me, I was able to determine that the injury was probably just a sprain and avoid the ER.

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Okay, I'm going to have dh take me to the Dr. today. When I woke up this morning I could hardly move my left arm at all. I couldn't even twist the cap off the toothpaste lid without a lot of pain. I couldn't even pull my pants up.:glare: The worst part about this is that my two oldest girls are leaving Sat. for FL, so it will just be me and the 3 youngest next week...:scared:...hope I'm at least a little better by then.

 

Glad you are going to the doctor to get things checked. Let us know how things go there:grouphug:

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Okay, I'm going to have dh take me to the Dr. today. When I woke up this morning I could hardly move my left arm at all. I couldn't even twist the cap off the toothpaste lid without a lot of pain. I couldn't even pull my pants up.:glare: The worst part about this is that my two oldest girls are leaving Sat. for FL, so it will just be me and the 3 youngest next week...:scared:...hope I'm at least a little better by then.

 

Oh, I'm glad you're going to the doctor. I broke both my forearms about 6 years ago, and the pain you're describing sounds like what I had. (I wasn't sure they were broken at first either.)

 

I hope yours aren't though! But if they are, feel free to pm me if you want to talk to someone who's dealt with a double-arm break. It does make life tricky for awhile.

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Fractures don't necessarily result in swelling, and that much pain/loss of use is significant.

 

 

:iagree:I fell and fractured my elbow when I caught myself on my hands and had almost no swelling. The took x-rays and told me then that there were soooo many small bones in the wrist, that I could have small fractures not showing up. The doctor treated my wrist as if it was broken.

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Fractures don't necessarily result in swelling, and that much pain/loss of use is significant.

 

:iagree: My DD fell in the same way while rollerblading. I let it go two weeks because there was no swelling and the pain was tolerable. We finally went for xrays and her wrist was fractured. And she could move hers better then you say you can. Get xrays.

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Oh my goodness...I'm so sorry I didn't update!

 

Well, I went to the doctor and got x-rays. My left elbow has a hairline fracture and both wrists are sprained. The doctor told me I didn't have to get a cast if I kept my arm in a sling, so I opted to do that. I have to keep splints on my wrists. The palms of my hands and all the way up the under side of my wrists is black and blue...it looks awful! I ended up having to take some pain medication yesterday and today because the pain is actually worse now than it was when it happened. I hate taking it though because it makes me loopy and I can't remember anything. I was talking to my mom on the phone yesterday and had to put the phone down to get one of my dc to help me put my sling on...I forgot she was on the phone! She had to call me from her cell to my cell to tell me to hang up my phone.:tongue_smilie:

 

Thank goodness I can still move my fingers so at least I can type and write, but I hate not being able to do all the things that need to be done. The dc have been great though; making sure things are being kept up with.

 

Thank you all for your concern and thoughts. Again, I am soooo sorry I didn't update. I really did forget that I had posted about it! Thank you Parrothead and Jean for sending me a pm to remind me. :blushing:

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