08 December 2014

dislocated

before-after

yesterday i dislocated my shoulder.

this was the most painful experience i have ever had in my entire life. seriously. and i have a high threshold for physical pain. my jaw and neck muscles are sore now because of all the almost-screams i had to do to make the pain a little more bearable when they popped the shoulder back into its socket.

see those x-rays? the after x-ray is how normal shoulders are suppose to look. the before x-ray shows how my shoulder was dislocated. i'm not a doctor so to me the humerus (upper arm bone) is all way around the socket and it took a huge amount of excruciating pain, loud grunts, almost-screams and pulling and twisting to get it all the way back to its original place.

the doctors in the ust emergency room were incredibly patient with me and very skilled too. i came in at around 10:00 am and was out around noon a bit groggy, my right arm in a sling, prescription for pain killers and the clinic hours for their consulting doctor who i intend to see on wednesday.

i was advised to put an ice pack on my shoulder the first two days and a hot compress for the next two to keep the swelling down. so far there is no pain so i don't need to take the pain killers.

i'm still alive and singing ...



ps:
so how it happened: i was practicing riding the mountain bike with clipless pedals. i was slowing to a stop already but my right foot would not unclip from the pedal. i reached out to the nearby window with my right hand but it was too far but my hand caught the window sill already. the position was wrong and i was too far into the fall so my shoulder gave way. i know better the next time ...