Parkwood Again?

I feel and broke my dislocated and broke my shoulder. I wish I can say it was a dramatic incident or the result of a sports injury. Nope I lost my balance and fell against a door frame. It was a careless error that took place in a few seconds but I have paying the price for a since mid February.

After I was loaded into the ambulance I arrived at the hospital within 2 minutes. The pain was out of this world. When my shoulder was x- rayed I was close to screaming as the technician had to move it to get the perfect picture. The pain was so intense I thought I was going to die. No position was comfortable without some pain. My screams could be heard outside the door. Finally I asked for something for the pain. I still can’t believe they didn’t offer something to shut me up. I had to ask for something. The doctor explained that it would take about 20 minutes to come into effect. It took forevr to calm me down and take the edge off. It turns out I am a screamer. The pain was so intense!

Before the shoulder could be replaced, an intravenous for the pain medication needed to be inserted. The throbbing pain made me ask/tell the nurse to ‘hurry up’ with the intravenous. Once the doctor put the bone back in the socket the pain decreased to the point that I began apologizing for my behaviour. Within the hour I was feeling much better. I thought I was on the mend and would be healed within 3 weeks but a few days later the doctor called to say I had broke my shoulder and I should see a specialist. Surgery was required to put the bone fragment back. Any and all surgery has it’s risks. However that was not a concern of mine. I was just happy to have the pain go away. Over time the pain has gone away but it got much worse before it got better.

The surgeon stressed that I was not to use the shoulder at all. If I was going to do it I had to pay close attention to his instructions. That meant NO shoulder rotations or weight bearing. My first question ‘was could I use the walker?’ That was met with a barrage of questions from the surgeon, basically asking who is going to take care of you during the recovery? I live alone so that was a tough one. I can do it I thought. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Arrangements had to be made for 24 hour care since the my balance is questionable at the best of times from the stroke. Actually it is the cause for my fall in the first place. My options boiled down to Parkwood in London or my home hospital ‘St Marys Memorial Hospital in St Marys. Even though I know Parkwood is a place where very good things happen. I didn't want to go back. I wanted to be at St.Marys near my family and friends. However I knew Parkwoodwas best.

It was extremely tough. I wasn’t sleeping and the emotions from my past visit to Parkwood kept rearing its ugly head. My drug induced haze had me expecting Mike to come into my room at any minute. After a few days I became exhausted and crying and couldn’t stop. I was convinced that the answer was leaving Parkwood and going to my home hospital.

I had the great pleasure of meeting a woman who made all the difference in the world. She gave me a shoulder to cry on and convinced me a good sleep would do me a world of good. I ended up transferring and becoming one of three other roommates. Her room was a ‘party room’ because of the positive, ‘younger’ women. My undying gratitude goes to Cathy, Gene and Marg, who welcomed me and showed that being positive about the future was better than dwelling on the past.