16.10.09

NewB



So, I gave in. I've read up on a few blogs in my day. But not once did I ever think that I would have the time, or take the time even if I did somehow have the time, to share my thoughts with the world. Sometimes that leaves me in a tough situation, having lots of thoughts or feelings built up that I don't know what to do with.

I am at a point in my life that I have chosen to term a "quarter-life-crisis," assuming that I will live to be in my 80s. For the first 21 years of my life, I was pretty certain that I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to graduate from college with a 3.9 GPA, score a 35+ on my MCAT, and head straight to a good medical school where I would choose to take a focus in surgery. A lot of things have made me second guess this structured and very difficult route. Quite frankly, I am too immature and have not lived and experience enough in this world to start down such a path.

On Monday, I was riding my sweet new ride on the trails with my good buddy and roommate Andy. I talked him into taking me out, because my new bike had yet to see the glorious Tucson trails. We had gotten through the most technical, and pretty tough parts of the starr pass trails, and I had become comfortable (maybe too comfortable). On a pretty easy section of the trail going downhill over some rock slabs, my left hand bounced off the handlebars. This sent me flying to the right, over my handlebars, onto the rocks, with all of my weight being put onto the thumb side of my right palm.
I gathered myself, pretty sure something was badly messed up with my hand, and got back on the trails again quickly to get out of the desert before the sunset. Thanks to Andy for waiting up for my slow ass during the remaining 8 or so miles to get off the trail. After hours and hours in the ER that night it turned out that I had badly fractured my trapezium which is a small, but very important bone when it comes to being dextrous.
I will try to explain my F'd up hand... the bone under the thumb (to the left) should be in one piece, instead of 4, and my thumb should be sitting ontop of that bone, closer to my pointer finger. It turns put that the doc "has never seen anything quite like this... pretty unique" - that's not a good thing...

Thanks to my amazing hand surgeon, Dr. David Seigel, I was able to get into the operating room less than 48 hours after the incident to get this mess straightened out. I learned that I would be given an axillary block, which is a type of local anesthesia that blocks all sensation to the arm. The anesthesiologist said he would take it easy with the drugs that were meant to knock me out, so I was psyched that I would be up for my own surgery. Dr. Seigel gave me a mirror in the OR so I could get a good view of the operation.
45 minutes, and 3 pins later, it was over. It felt great too, until the axillary block wore off......

Now, I am frustrated and concerned. I am frustrated of course because I wake up every morning to the sight of my bikes that I can't ride. I can't move my right thumb at all for 8 weeks which of course makes me feel very disabled - getting dressed takes like 10 minutes, cooking oatmeal takes a bit of planning ahead, and taking notes in class doesn't happen anymore. BUT, dealing with such an awesome and caring surgeon has really given me a boost of inspiration to continue pursuing my goals.

That's where the concern comes... It is not completely certain that my thumb will heal to full strength and function. If it does, it is very likely that I will have arthritis in that joint within 20 years. That scares me. Especially since I do have aspirations of being a surgeon. Thats where I stand today with all of this.

Percocet = pass out soon. Thanks for tunin in.

BA-out.




2 comments:

  1. As Robert F. Kennedy once said, "Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."
    I'm excited for this blog. Keep this shit updated.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You and me both on the bench Ben. Have a quick recovery man!

    ReplyDelete