Broken Arm Again - 3rd Time the Charm?

[Borek]

next winter's wood is cut and split

Wow. Evo and axe. Maine massacre.

 

[turbo]

Wow. Evo and axe. Maine massacre.

Naw! I'll let her use my hydraulic wood-splitter instead of an axe. I'm going to stand very far away while she fells and bucks up the trees with my big Huquevarna saw, though.

 

[Moonbear]

Lovely, I just got a call from the doctor's office saying they just looked at my x-rays again and it appears to be a REALLY BAD fracture (gee, no kidding) and NOT TO MOVE IT! They don't know what to do though yet, so I am supposed to NOT MOVE IT until I hear back from them. I told the nurse I CAN'T MOVE IT, because there is so much pain and swelling.

Oh no! They didn't even splint it for you? Surely it should have been immobilized before sending you home? Actually, shouldn't they have checked the x-rays before sending you home? It sounds like you have some of the WORST doctors out your way! I've never heard of someone with a likely fracture being sent home before the x-rays are read and a splint and compression bandage put on to immobilize it until the swelling goes down enough to cast it.

 

[Moonbear]

Naw! I'll let her use my hydraulic wood-splitter instead of an axe. I'm going to stand very far away while she fells and bucks up the trees with my big Huquevarna saw, though.

Just let her shove her arm in. Cheaper to just amputate it than to keep patching it back up.

Evo, when you get it patched up this time, ask if there's an extended warranty offered on their work. It sounds like you could use one.

 

[turbo]

Oh no! They didn't even splint it for you? Surely it should have been immobilized before sending you home? Actually, shouldn't they have checked the x-rays before sending you home? It sounds like you have some of the WORST doctors out your way! I've never heard of someone with a likely fracture being sent home before the x-rays are read and a splint and compression bandage put on to immobilize it until the swelling goes down enough to cast it.

I'm tellin' ya, Moonie - Evo would be better off with redneck ER. The city-grads that come to Maine to intern are often just going through the motions.

 

[tribdog]

breaking your arm once is sad. Breaking it again, in the same manner and in the same place while doing the same thing is...well, not that smart. If you keep falling into a ravine, quit standing near the edge. I used to cut my hand ALL the time, then I turned the knife around and started holding it by the handle, ta dah, no more cuts.

 

[rewebster]

I think its Kansas, right?---Kansas has got to be one of the flattest states in the US, but still..."The Trench of Sighs"


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_of_Sighs

 

[Evo]

Send her up here. I'll splint her with some sticks and baling twine (no frou-frou casts!) and she can live in the junked Olds Rocket 88 down back near the beaver bog (no old GMC pickup or Ford station wagon for Evo - the other two accommodations available - she gets the presidential suite). I'll chain her up and give her enough slack so she can get out to take care of "natural" functions. If she's good and doesn't re-injure herself, she'll get regular food, water, etc. When she's healed up, I'll ship her back (after the garden is weeded and next winter's wood is cut and split). I don't take payment from major health-care plans, but the Maine redneck barter system should defray costs as long as she pays for the air-fare, gas, etc. I haven't had the Rocket 88 rented out for a while so I can afford to give up that revenue stream for the sake of a PF sister. By the time she's ambulatory, I expect the garden to be weed-free, then we'll start on the firewood. The turbo-spa will whip her into fighting trim in just a couple of months.

Naw! I'll let her use my hydraulic wood-splitter instead of an axe. I'm going to stand very far away while she fells and bucks up the trees with my big Huquevarna saw, though.

:!) :!) I get to use the Huequevarna?

 

[Kurdt]

She wants to see the wizard but hasn't quite got her transport sorted.

 

[wolram]

Send her up here. I'll splint her with some sticks and baling twine (no frou-frou casts!) and she can live in the junked Olds Rocket 88 down back near the beaver bog (no old GMC pickup or Ford station wagon for Evo - the other two accommodations available - she gets the presidential suite). I'll chain her up and give her enough slack so she can get out to take care of "natural" functions. If she's good and doesn't re-injure herself, she'll get regular food, water, etc. When she's healed up, I'll ship her back (after the garden is weeded and next winter's wood is cut and split). I don't take payment from major health-care plans, but the Maine redneck barter system should defray costs as long as she pays for the air-fare, gas, etc. I haven't had the Rocket 88 rented out for a while so I can afford to give up that revenue stream for the sake of a PF sister. By the time she's ambulatory, I expect the garden to be weed-free, then we'll start on the firewood. The turbo-spa will whip her into fighting trim in just a couple of months.

That is cruelty, she should have INTERNET privileges.

 

[Evo]

Oh no! They didn't even splint it for you? Surely it should have been immobilized before sending you home? Actually, shouldn't they have checked the x-rays before sending you home? It sounds like you have some of the WORST doctors out your way! I've never heard of someone with a likely fracture being sent home before the x-rays are read and a splint and compression bandage put on to immobilize it until the swelling goes down enough to cast it.

They have absolutely no idea what they are doing. So funny to get the frantic call this morning "DON'T MOVE YOUR ARM!"




I feel so sorry for the guy with the broken foot they sent home with nothing, not even a prescription for pain killers. And there was something wrong. He had numbness and fell when he broke his foot and almost passed out in the waiting room. AND THEY SENT HIM HOME! He said he didn't feel right and asked to lay down, but they closed at 8:30PM. I wouldn't be surprised if he was having a heart attack. I can't believe that they didn't send him to the ER. He was in his 50's and rich, from his clothes and watch, so this wasn't some uninsured bum.

 

[Moonbear]

I feel so sorry for the guy with the broken foot they sent home with nothing, not even a prescription for pain killers. And there was something wrong. He had numbness and fell when he broke his foot and almost passed out in the waiting room. AND THEY SENT HIM HOME! He said he didn't feel right and asked to lay down, but they closed at 8:30PM. I wouldn't be surprised if he was having a heart attack. I can't believe that they didn't send him to the ER.

He could have been having a stroke! He should have been taken straight from there to an ER, not sent home. They need to know when a case is beyond what they can handle, and send those to the ER. Okay, that's it, you're not allowed to go to Urgent Care anymore when you break yourself...only the ER from now on (though, I'd really prefer you just stopped breaking yourself...what happened to your safety harness to keep you from sliding into the ditch of doom?)

 

[Evo]

He could have been having a stroke! He should have been taken straight from there to an ER, not sent home. They need to know when a case is beyond what they can handle, and send those to the ER. Okay, that's it, you're not allowed to go to Urgent Care anymore when you break yourself...only the ER from now on (though, I'd really prefer you just stopped breaking yourself...what happened to your safety harness to keep you from sliding into the ditch of doom?)

Oh geeze, it could have been a stroke! numbness on one side, he was rather slow and disoriented. Kept saying he couldn't feel anything on his right side. I kept talking to him because he just seemed to be needing help. A couple of other people in the waiting room noticed and began questioning him.

 

[Moonbear]

Oh geeze, it could have been a stroke! numbness on one side, he was rather slow and disoriented. Kept saying he couldn't feel anything on his right side. I kept talking to him because he just seemed to be needing help. A couple of other people in the waiting room noticed and began questioning him.

They're going to have one heck of a malpractice lawsuit to deal with if someone with that obvious of stroke symptoms (not to mention a broken foot) was sent home without treatment. Even if it wasn't a stroke, the symptoms are ones that should not have been ignored.

 

[GeorginaS]

Good heavens, Evo. That's to cover everything about that Urgent Care place. I hope that guy with the foot had someone with him who had enough sense to get him to ER.

But, you, Evo. Yes I'm talking to you. Did you go to your doctor today and get stuff done? Like splinting and whatnot and, at the very least, good drugs?

Also, I'm sorry you wiped out again. Stop it. Please?

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

They're going to have one heck of a malpractice lawsuit to deal with if someone with that obvious of stroke symptoms (not to mention a broken foot) was sent home without treatment. Even if it wasn't a stroke, the symptoms are ones that should not have been ignored.

I wouldn't wait for someone to have a lawsuit.

Evo you should report these numbskulls. Are they the same place you went to last time that sent you home after your surgery even though you had an infection?

 

[JasonRox]

He was in his 50's and rich, from his clothes and watch, so this wasn't some uninsured bum.

Exactly how I don't want my health care system to run. Anyone and everyone can get help here.

I had to go see the doctor today and only waited like 15 minutes. Long wait times only exist in busy hospitals, which would happen anywhere in the world.

 

[Saladsamurai]

You should put a trampoline in that ravine Think about it for a second. . . you get the visual yet?. . . I do!


But seriously. Get the trampoline.

 

[turbo]

That is cruelty, she should have INTERNET privileges.

Internet privileges?! An important part of rustic luxury is freedom from modern distractions. The Olds does not even have a battery in it, so the AM radio won't work, either. Nothing to distract from the soothing croaking of the frogs, buzzing of the mosquitoes, yipping of the coyotes, growling of the bears... Ah, the great outdoors!

 

[Moonbear]

Exactly how I don't want my health care system to run. Anyone and everyone can get help here.

The source of payment for care doesn't prevent the incompetents from opening a practice. Unfortunately, it is part of why health care costs increase, because the incompetents are the ones driving up the malpractice insurance costs.

I'm curious, though, because I don't know how this aspect of it works in Canada. What are the options for the patient and/or their next of kin in the case of malpractice? Are there restrictions on lawsuits? Who pays if there are actual damages awarded? Does the government cover that, or is there private malpractice insurance like in the U.S.?

In the situation Evo described, with the symptoms that guy had, method of payment is not an issue here either. He should never have been allowed to walk out the door. An Urgent Care center is not an Emergency Room, so really wouldn't have been able to treat a stroke victim. Nonetheless, they do have the responsibility and obligation to call an ambulance and have him transported to an emergency room, where an emergent case (i.e., possible stroke) would receive treatment regardless of insurance. They are supposed to function as after-hours gatekeepers, essentially. They can treat the non-life-threatening problems that arise during inconvenient hours and you don't want to wait until morning to call and schedule an appointment with your regular doctor that might not be until later in the afternoon the next day. For example, a toddler screaming in the middle of the night with an earache is not something parents want to wait until the next afternoon to get treated, though it could otherwise wait that long. In the case of a broken arm, getting it stabilized and splinted and checking that it can wait for an orthopedist appointment for proper casting can be provided. More serious, life-threatening problems get referred to an ER. For example, stroke, heart attack, or even the case of a broken arm where blood flow is compromised by the fracture.

 

[tribdog]

The source of payment for care doesn't prevent the incompetents from opening a practice. Unfortunately, it is part of why health care costs increase, because the incompetents are the ones driving up the malpractice insurance costs.

I don't think it is the incompetents driving up the malpractice insurance costs as much as it is the courts awarding millions of dollars to a bunch of sue-happy crybabies. Doctors do an amazing job 99.9% of the time and don't deserve to be sued for honest mistakes. I can't do anything perfectly 99.9% of the time. I'll bet I have to retie my shoelaces at least 2 or 3% of the time. I was brought up taught not to blame someone who makes a mistake as long as it was an honest mistake. If doctor's didn't get sued over so many stupid things and didn't have to pay insurance costs then health care cost would go down, doctor's salaries would go up and more competent people would become doctor's. The incompetents would be weeded out by the market.

 

[mgb_phys]

Not sure how it works in Canada, haven't had to use any here.
In the UK they introduced walk in clinics to try and deal with a shortage of GPs (family doctors) but they are still operated/staffed by the national health service. They are just quicker because you are triaged by a nurse and then a doctor looks in on you if needed.

The is also a nurse staffed helpline as an alternative to calling 911 for minor problems, it received a lot of bad press because to avoid litigation they went through a long prescribed script/disclaimer before any answer - this famously involved asking 80year old women if they might be pregnant or injecting illegal drugs.

Suing the NHS has become very popular now that no-fee lawyers are allowed, they are seen as a soft touch since being 'for the people' they didn't defend themselves as strenuously as a business might. They amount paid out though is still hugely less than in the USA.

 

[Evo]

Exactly how I don't want my health care system to run. Anyone and everyone can get help here.

I had to go see the doctor today and only waited like 15 minutes. Long wait times only exist in busy hospitals, which would happen anywhere in the world.

There are no wait times. It was me, him and a wife that brought in her husband. I was sitting in the waiting room waiting for my daughter to pick me up, she had left so she wouldn't have to wait, I told her I'd only be about 30 minutes (x-rays and doctor consultation).

The guy that wasn't feeling well was sitting in the waiting troom after he was done waiting for his wife to pick him up since he was too dizzy to drive (he was also finished in less then 30 minutes). The wife and husband were waiting for results from his blood tests.

 

[~christina~]

I hope you'll be fine. By now I'd think you'd have a body chart and x's on the parts that have broken before.

Are your bones weak? (It's odd to break things whenever you fall)

Which type of fracture is it? =>http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/1096.htm multiple choice

I think the only time that I had close to a remotely stunning fall was that time that I posted it on PF and luckily, I was in my puffy down jacket that cushioned my top half of my body. I had a rip on jeans since my knees did most of the sliding. I don't know how I slid across concrete. (ah, it was raining)

 

[Evo]

No, I keep re-breaking the same place because they have never set it properly and it's weakened.

 

[~christina~]

No, I keep re-breaking the same place because they have never set it properly and it's weakened.

That's bad..so I assume that this is the same arm that broke the last time, when you tripped over a barbell?

 

[Evo]

That's bad..so I assume that this is the same arm that broke the last time, when you tripped over a barbell?

No, from what little the doctor told me today, it's my humerus which would explain my lack of humor at this point. Apparently it is also pinching a nerve and/or cutting off blood supply to the rest of my arm as I have numbness and swelling from above my elbow down to my wrist. They got me an emergency appointment at an orthopedic surgeon Monday morning, but if it feels worse tomorrow, I am going to the emergency room.

The Evo Child and I tried to find a pharmacy with a sling that straps the arm to the body since the doctors's office was out, they told me to go buy one. Seems that no one has them in stock. I guess I should buy some duct tape and tape my arm across my upper abdomen.

GREG IS STILL MOVING THE SMILIES!

 

[berkeman]

No, no duct tape -- that's for us professionals!

Here's directions on making an arm sling:

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-an-arm-sling

You can use any fabric material -- I made my spare triangular bandages out of an old sheet (cut it into medium-size rectangles).

Numbness is bad. Are you icing your upper arm near the break? Try that, and see if that helps. I'd say to use a compression bandage as Moonbear suggested earlier, but it may be too late for that now, and may just aggravate the numbness and poor circulation at this point. If the swelling is causing the numbness, then ice and elevation (lay down) will hopefully help enough to get you through the weekend.

If your lower arm and hand stay numb or start to go blue, head to the ER please.

 

[berkeman]

No, from what little the doctor told me today, it's my humerus which would explain my lack of humor at this point.

OMG, I'd say you still have at least a sense of humor!

 

[Moonbear]

No, from what little the doctor told me today, it's my humerus which would explain my lack of humor at this point. Apparently it is also pinching a nerve and/or cutting off blood supply to the rest of my arm as I have numbness and swelling from above my elbow down to my wrist. They got me an emergency appointment at an orthopedic surgeon Monday morning, but if it feels worse tomorrow, I am going to the emergency room.

Uh oh! That's a really common fracture location for the type of fall you described, and yes, it can impinge upon the blood supply to the forearm and hand. It presses into the brachial artery, and if it's close to the elbow, there's not much collateral circulation to the rest of the arm to make up for it (higher up the humerus closer to the shoulder, there's collateral circulation so if you pinch off an artery, you still get blood supply to the forearm and hand, though you can lose some to the upper arm muscles). If I was on my own computer right now, I could send you pictures of the bone and the place where the fractures occur (I'll be giving lectures on that in two weeks).

And, absolutely, if it gets worse, go to the ER. You don't want to chance that the broken bone cuts the artery.

 

[Evo]

Yes, the fracture is right above the elbow.

I want you as my doctor! They probably killed the poor guy that broke his foot.

They made me drive over to the urgent care clinic to get a copy of my x-rays and radiologist report and when I got to my doctor, he already had the report and they swore he would not have it, even though they are the same business.

I still want to know what made him say "wow, this is really interesting" when he read the report. I thought he'd tell me since we sing together in my visits. I forgot to ask.

 

[Moonbear]

Yes, the fracture is right above the elbow.

I want you as my doctor! They probably killed the poor guy that broke his foot.

I'm afraid I'm not licensed to actually practice medicine, I can only teach other people how to do it. I hope the people with that other guy had the sense to take him to an ER when they sent him home from urgent care. They can do a lot for stroke victims nowadays, but they have to get treatment quickly. If it's delayed, the damage is so much worse and some of the neuroprotective drugs they can give to prevent permanent damage won't work if treatment isn't within a very short window of time (I think it's 4 hours maximum).

 

[GeorginaS]

Where did you ask about doctor malpractise insurance in Canada, Moonbear? I have an answer for you and I can't find where I'm supposed to answer you. Maybe I'll just message you. How's that?

 

[Tsu]

...neuroprotective drugs they can give to prevent permanent damage won't work if treatment isn't within a very short window of time (I think it's 4 hours maximum).

3 hours

Geez, Sis - with that kind of fracture, how the hell are you even typing?

 

[Borek]

Geez, Sis - with that kind of fracture, how the hell are you even typing?

Aren't Sisters supposed to be tough as nails?