Create 2024-08-21-my-clavicle.md

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+layout: post
+date: 2024-08-21 10:00:00 -0500
+tags: post, personal
+title: A Retrospective on (a portion of) Recovery
+---
+
+I broke my clavicle on July 17, 2024. I was coaching kids soccer and as an almost 40 year old, I probably shouldn't be going all out on the field against six 10 year olds. But I did and the consequences of pushing myself (and the team to step of defensively) was that I got tripped downfield and landed full force on my right shoulder.
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+As an aside and to tell more of the story, I landed on my shoulder, tucked and rolled into something the soccer moms on the sideline said was a "graceful summersault", and popped up to continue playing for another 5 minutes before taking a break on the sideline ("my arm kinda hurts") and coaching another 45 minutes. My wife told me later that my shoulder looked a little funny ("your shoulders aren't the same shape anymore") and took me to urgent care where an x-ray confirmed that I had broken my clavicle on my dominant side. The "other guy" (my daughter, in fact) got off with a fleeting pain in her ankle. Figures.
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+I am now (today, August 21) five weeks into recovery. The doctor said that it depends on the person, the type of break (mine was a displaced fracture to the end of the collar bone), and the interactions of muscle and bone beneath the surface o the skin. Based on what I have seen now, I am likely only about halfway at five weeks and I have additional follow ups for both Physical Therapy and Orthopedics. Originally, I was given estimates like active recovery for at least 4 weeks, an average of 6 weeks, and can take up to 12 weeks. Ugh.
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+Thankfully, only a few of those weeks were in a sling. More for comfort and stability than the healing process, the sling helped early on for me to remember not to use that arm and others to know not to touch it. I still use the sling in crowded places, long walks, or days where fatigue might be a consideration.
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+I am recovering, but the road has not been without its difficulties. Being without my dominant hand has led to some fascinating consequences I have never had to deal with because this is the first bone I have ever broken (hence the fact that I thought continuing to play after my fall was OK); I had the thought a few days after the break that I should document the road to recovery, but alas, I didn't because I couldn't do much with my right hand and I was at the time lacking in focus, enthusiasm, and creativity in how to do such a thing without my dominant hand.
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+But better late than never.
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+The first weeks of recovery, I was in an odd state of enthusiasm to try to "figure this out" and malaise because I felt broken.‌ I tried to write, cook, and use my computer trackpad with my left hand, quickly realizing that the outcome would be fruitless because of the short timeframe of my recovery. For context, my aunt suffered a stroke over 30 years ago that left her without access to her dominant side; she has spent that time adapting to use her left side for everything. She offered some advice about gaining coordination on your non-dominant side and offered some of the tools she uses, but in the end, there would likely be little progress over the course of a few weeks.
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+I was lucky enough to have my Orthopedics and Physical Therapy appointments within a couple weeks of the original break. I have now had a couple of each with additional x-rays, exercises of varying difficulty, and future appointments made. Had I not gotten in when I did, availability was pushed out into August and I would have been in the sling this whole time, likely stunting my recovery time.
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+I now type this sentence with both hands and I am largely out of a sling. There are specific positions I still am unable to achieve and certain motions with resistance that cause me pause, but standing at a desk and typing on a keyboard isn't one of them. Fatigue is still a thing, but less often than originally and I am progressing in my Physical Therapy.
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+The thing that I was most concerned about at the beginning was my shoulder mobility moving forward and while I am making progress in that regard, I am still concerned about it. I am an active person who likes to climb and swing, run and play, and do crazy things with my kids for fun (perhaps a behavior that led to a broken bone at 38). Nevertheless, I am happy with my progress and am feeling confident that I will be able to put this episode behind me soon.