I may not remember much of what the doctor said at the first visit, but I remember my second visit, when he told me that I may not ever be able to straighten my arm completely.  Here's to proving him wrong!  I can straighten it almost all the way, and that's without any physical therapy.

Also, further proof that I'm healing, I can finally put my hair into a ponytail.  I'd been trying one-handed for a while without much success.  But since the break, I haven't been good about fixing my hair either, so no matter what, it was messy.  I got frustrated one day and tried to get my boyfriend to help me pull it up - that was pretty entertaining but didn't get me any closer to the ponytail.  So glad I can do it myself!

It's been a while since I've posted.  I've been trying like mad to catch up on all the things I meant to have done by now.  Still a bit behind but not as much.

Through this ordeal, I have discovered a few things about myself.  I'm sure this is common.  One thing I've learned is that I'm a bad listener when I'm in pain.  I didn't quite realize this until talking to my mom and a few relatives about a week ago.  In the ER, I remember what happened, but not much of what people said.  Other than the doctor telling me that my arm was broken, I barely remember anything people told me.  What I did remember about my injury were the things they wrote down and gave me as part of my discharge information, such as "the break is here" and "you need to follow up in four days with an orthopedic doctor".

Anyway, flash forward to the appointment with the doctor.  My mom was there at that point, and thank God, because she remembered everything he said.  She and I were talking to my family last weekend, and they were asking about physical therapy and so on.  My mom remembered all the details, including the fact that the doctor had used the phrase "extensive rehabilitation" and "it will take three months to get your range of motion back."  I just looked at her, and said, "did he really say that?"

I'm not exactly sure how to work on this, but I guess being aware of it is the first step.  I feel like I deal with pain well; I mean, I don't think I'm a wuss.  Unless I have a migraine, I really don't even like taking pain killers, mostly because I don't like the way they make me feel.  I'm not a fan of feeling drugged up.  So I'd rather just deal with it.  Maybe I'm not as good with pain as I originally thought.

Getting from place to place in general can be difficult for the one-armed.  But thanks to certain events, traveling in certain venues has been made more difficult for everyone.  Honestly, if you can avoid traveling until you heal, you would probably avoid a lot of trouble.

If not, there are certain things to keep in mind.  First of all, if you are going on a short trip, your best bet is to pack as light as possible, and go with a carry-on with a shoulder strap.  Stay away from roller bags; you lose your good arm and will have to let go of it to do anything.  If you need a roller bag, you would be best to check it so that you're not dragging it with you through the whole airport.  With any carry-on that can't fit under your seat (kudos if you can pack that light), you're going to need help getting it into the overhead compartment.  This is one of those times that you'll have to ask for help from someone.  People tend to be most helpful while boarding and deboarding the plane, because while boarding they haven't gotten annoyed by their fellow travelers and while deboarding, they're so happy to be leaving the plane that they momentarily forget about any annoyance.  Anything that you are going to need during the flight should be taken with you to the seat at this point; good luck getting any help during the flight.

Do make sure that your carry-on is the right size.  Airports, especially those that charge for checked bags, are going to be a lot more picky about what types of carry-ons they will let people have.

For longer trips, where you must pack large bags (or more than one), you might want to consider a baggage pickup service.  A few services exist.  Some ask you to categorize your bag as small, medium, large, etc. and then charge a flat rate for different delivery times, such as Luggage Forward, while others charge per pound based on delivery time, such as Luggage Free. I was able to find a few services by just googling "Home baggage pickup". This might be the way to go if you have a lot of luggage and are not likely to have help with it at your destination airport. It will probably not be cheap, especially if you want them to pick up your bag shortly before you plan on leaving for the airport. Basically, in that case you're doing overnight delivery of a large item. You do the math.

There are also shuttle services from hotels and certain locations to the airport. If you don't travel during a peak time, your driver may take pity on you and give you a hand with your bags. But don't count on it during busy times.  In fact, if you're banking on altruism (and nothing else), avoid busy travel times.

Whatever you do, don't wait until the last minute to figure out how to handle bags or you're liable to encounter problems and expensive services.

Your next issue is with security.  All the removing of shoes and clothing items can be difficult for people like us.  If your airport uses the coded lines, you might consider using Family & Special Needs, or if you're feeling adventurous, Casual.  STAY AWAY FROM EXPERT!  Minimize the number of things you have to mess with when you reach security.  If you have a coat or hat, take it off when you get into the airport and cram it into your bag.  Wear shoes that are easy to remove.  When it's your turn at security, place your items on the belt and then step back to do any clothing removal.  This will keep annoyed passengers from commenting on your slowness.  Step back in line when you're ready.  You should be able to zip right through the rest of security.

These are the major issues at the airport.  As for minor issues: avoid buying anything inside the airport.  I'm bad about buying a book or a magazine to read on the plane.  If you must have something to read or do, get it before going to the airport and pack it in your carry-on.  If you're like me, you'd have trouble getting your purchased item into your bag with two hands.  Just stay away from news-stands, bookstores, candy shops - whatever your craving is.  Get to your gate, have a seat, and relax.  You've made it pretty far.

Hopefully things will be easier for you when you get to your destination.  At least you won't have to mess with security again.

My arm seems to be healing.  It used to be so swollen around the elbow that it didn't look like I had an elbow at all.  That's gotten better.  I do sort of worry that the pain is worse now than it was but I'm also probably using my arm more than I should.

Of course, I still can't straighten my arm all the way.  Instead, I range from about a 90 degree to a 140 degree angle... sort of like a Barbie doll.  Poor girl has spent the last 40 years unable to straighten her arm.  No wonder she looks so sad.  Always looking to the side, afraid someone will notice her freakishly bent arms.  I feel her pain.

I can imagine such a handicap has severely limited her progress in life, though I do think that she has been able to overcome it on some occasions.  Wasn't she a doctor once?  I think that's amazing, especially considering her past struggles with math.

Yes, I am talking about whips.  The weapon of choice of Zorro and Indiana Jones.  I've never seen anyone use two hands to use a whip.  So me and my one-handed brethren have a place in the whip-wielding world.

Unfortunately, I'm not quite certain how one learns to use a whip.  According to the wikipedia article on whips, anyone interested in learning to use a whip should seek instruction from a professional.  So apparently there are professionals out there, but how to find them.  A google search of "whip training" does not bring up much.  I found one website that talks about how dangerous whips can be in untrained hands and then offers a link to purchase instructional videos on whip-play.  Um... so they're dangerous but you don't want to have someone there to supervise?  Hope the first section on the video tells how to deal with whip injuries.

There are also apparently training whips one can purchase, which often come in snazzy colors like blue, green and red, and are made of softer materials than real whips.  I'm sure they would still hurt. 

I'd have to say my favorite hero with a whip is Indiana Jones, and we know that he also sustained at least one injury while learning to use the whip - that scar on his chin (which we saw happen in the 3rd movie).  I also have a scar on my face - on my cheek - which I don't remember how I got, but perhaps it was from early whip-training.  And he also has a PhD, which of course makes him my grad school hero, since he obviously survived his dissertation.  Can't you see all the similarities between us?  So I just need to get my PhD, learn to use a whip (not necessarily in that order) and I'm well on my way to being the next Indie.  And thankfully, these are all things I can achieve one-handed.

If you, like me, have small hands and have never heard yourself make the sound of one-hand clapping, this activity may seem daunting.  Don't worry, it's very easy.  In fact, it's one of the first things I learned after the accident, probably because I wash my hands a lot.  Don't worry, I'm not a germ freak.  I'm just paranoid about getting sick - I know, it sounds like the same thing.

The motion is similar to one-handed clapping.  Obviously, you'll want to wet your hand and get some soap.  I've only done this with liquid soap, but it might actually be easier with a bar.  Now fold your hand as though you are trying to clap.  This will get the soap onto your palm, so keep doing this to work up a lather.  Next, you want to wash your fingers.  Use your thumb to get the fronts of and in between your fingers, and then use each finger to wash the finger next to it - so use your ring finger to clean around your pinky, middle finger for ring finger, and so on.  Rinse; repeat if necessary.  Your hands are now clean.

Drying is a bit more difficult.  If you are using a real towel from a towel rack, leave it hanging up and just wipe your hands down the towel.  When you're out in public, you are probably more likely to encounter paper towels.  If the towels are in a large roll, you can sort of replicate the real towel drying.  If they are single sheets, you would be better to just use the electric dryer.  Yes, I know people usually avoid this contraption, but it's what gives me the best luck.  Since you're only drying one hand, it doesn't take long and unless you're at an upscale establishment or have your own scrub nurse, you probably won't have someone to dry your hand for you.  Besides, people usually look at me funny when I ask for assistance with such things (though they may have just been trying to figure out why I was riding a unicycle).

You'll definitely be using your good hand and arm a lot more, so it's important to take care of it.  More on that later.

Less than a week ago, I broke my radius, the big bone in my arm.  Since then, there are many things I've had to learn to do with just one hand/arm because many two-armed activities are painful or just plain impossible.  As a way to bring some humor to my situation and work on my mad one-handed typing skills, I thought I might share this experience through a blog.  I'll be talking about the many things you can do one-handed and talking about my progress in healing.  Apparently there will be a long rehabilitation for this break and I thought this might help me get through it.

To tell you a bit about myself, I am a grad student in social psychology.  I'm currently working on candidacy exams/projects, which I was hoping to finish up this summer so that I can go on to propose my dissertation.  Hopefully that will still be possible.  I also have two jobs: one teaching college classes and the other as a part-time data analyst.  My data job is not as easy now (at least the part where I perform analyses and write up reports) since my typing speed has been greatly reduced, but I can still do data entry at my original speed (thanks to the number keypad). I don't think teaching should be affected too much.  Fortunately I'm right-handed and it's my left arm that is broken, so I'm very thankful that I don't have to relearn writing.

You may wonder how I broke my arm.  I was actually on my way to campus to return some library books from candidacy exam #1 (3 more to go).  It was such a beautiful day and I hadn't used my rollerblades in a while, so I thought I'd take them out for a spin.  I had barely made it a few feet out of my apartment when I lost my footing (either from the heavy backpack or simple bad luck).  My legs flew out from underneath me and when I came down, I landed with all my weight on my forearm.  I don't remember hearing a crack or anything, but when I tried to straighten out my arm and experienced a lot of pain, I was afraid it was broken.  So, I walked (or rather rolled) back into my apartment, grabbed an ice pack, changed clothes (with one arm - my first one-armed activity) and drove to the hospital.  Yes, drove - my friends made fun of me for that one but I didn't want to take the bus or el and I was worried a cab would be expensive.  Actually driving isn't too difficult with one arm.  Changing lanes is a bit iffy, especially in Chicago traffic and parallel parking is, to quote Monty Python, "right out".  Thankfully I was able to avoid all of that.  My only difficulty was leaving the hospital; getting my seatbelt on with one arm in a cast was more difficult than I expected.

Anyway, after waiting for a little while and having four excruciating x-rays taken (good luck holding your arms in the angles they need without getting a little teary-eyed), they told me I had a distal radial fracture, so up by the elbow.  They put on a temporary cast, gave me the number of an orthopedic doctor and a 'script for Tylenol-3, and sent me home to my one-armed life.