Injuries and Complications

Laurance is now a few months into his apprenticeship and in January 2017, he's started the school portion of it.

Tafe for him is over a 2 hour drive away. Thankfully it's only one day a week.

Now that his apprenticeship is in full swing, we've reduced the number of days we golf.

We typically have a bit of a practice on a Tuesday once Laurance is done work for the day. We play comp on Thursdays and Saturdays and most Sundays.

I was on my way to meet him for golf on a Thursday when my golf bag slipped off my shoulder. Like a hero, I tried to catch it (can't drop the clubs and risk hurting them) and caught my thumb on the strap fully hyper-extending it. I heard a pop and didn't think much about it and played my full 18.

It wasn't until about 12 hours later that I decided maybe I better go to the hospital and have this checked out...the pain hasn't gotten any better and the swelling hasn't gone down.

I was seen almost right away. They did an x-ray which showed no break in the thumb. The swelling made it a bit more difficult to do a proper ultrasound so that had to wait a few days. They put a splint on it and home I went. They told me that if the pain was still bad after a few days, to book an appointment at Nepean in the plastics clinic.

It's been about a week now since the injury and my hand isn't getting any better. I can't play golf, I can barely get myself dressed and making dinner is proving to be rather interesting.

I booked an appointment with the plastics clinic. They put me in a plastic brace that restricted movement in my thumb completely. Then they sent me for an ultrasound.

The ultrasound didn't really show much...it showed there was stress to the ligament but that was about it. They couldn't see if it was a partial tear or not.

On the follow up appointment with the plastics clinic, they figured based on the ultrasound that it is more than likely a partial tear. If it was in fact a partial tear, keeping it imobilised for a few weeks, it would fix itself. I was told that if after another 3 weeks I was still in pain from it to go back to see them.

Now, don't tell my doctors, but I was still playing golf a couple of times a week. I wasn't playing comp, but I was out having a hit. I learned how to play one handed golf. If I wanted to play, I had to adapt and change my game.

3 weeks went by and still no change. Something has to give.

I went back to the clinic and this time they've opted to send me for an MRI which I got an appointment for within a few days. I booked my follow up for a week after the MRI to get my results.

We're now 3 months since the injury.

I sat down in the exam room and the Dr looked at Laurance and I and asked what we had planned for the next day. We both had a bit of a puzzled look on our faces and that's when the Dr said, we need to get you in for surgery to repair your thumb. You've completely severed the ligament and the only way to fix it is to do surgery.

Alrighty then. We get back to the car and Laurance calls his boss and tells him what's going on. Now, his boss at the time Damian was awesome. Family always came first. He was tough on Laurance but fair and was always a great support for him, and for me too.

In I go for surgery. They finally wheel me in at 2:30pm. Surgery should be about an hour and a half plus a couple hours in recovery and I should be home in time for dinner.

I've always had a hard time waking up from anesthetics so sometimes being in recovery can take a bit longer than expected. I start coming to and there's a nurse sitting by my bed. I asked where Laurance was as he was told he'd be able to come sit with me in recovery. Then I asked what time it was.

It was 10pm. Laurance had been pacing the hospital trying to get information.

I was angry. Why wasn't my husband in here with me? Why wasn't he updated? What was going on?

They told me that the area I was in was off limits to visitors. I told them I really didn't give a flying F&CK and that I wanted my husband in there with me and I wanted him in there now.

The nurse talked to the Dr and they allowed him to come in.

Laurance had a total look of panic on his face when he came in. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw me, but why was I hooked up to monitors and why was I on oxygen?

Well, you see, both of my lungs decided to partially collapse because I'd had a bronchial spasm in the middle of the surgery. That then put me on the verge of cardiac arrest.

That now explains why I'm hooked up to all these monitors and why I'm on oxygen.

Laurance looks terrified. I'm still drugged out and trying to make sense of what's going on and what's being said to me.

One a plan was put together, I sent Laurance home. There was no point in him staying there all night. He could at least go home and sleep in our bed and be comfortable.

They moved me to an observation area so that I could be more closely monitored for the night. The next morning, they moved me to the respiratory ward in the hospital.

What was supposed to be a routine surgery, wound up being a week in hospital getting my lung function back to normal with oxygen and breathing exercises. I kept getting moved from the respiratory ward to surgical and back again.

Laurance has been going to work and coming to see me every day after work. Nepean is about an hour away from Wentworth Falls which made for some very long days for him.

It's now been a week and I'm finally getting released. Laurance got to work and for the first time in a week, he hasn't looked like a lost cause. He told Damian that I was getting released and the first thing Damian said to him was finish the green you're mowing and go get your wife and take her home. So he did.

I'm now in a cast almost up to my elbow. I go back to the clinic a week later to get the cast off and be put back in a plastic brace.

I still have no use of my left hand. It's been months since I've been able to move my thumb or do anything "normal" people can do. Things we take for granted like pulling your pants up, making dinner, putting your hair in a pony tail.

I get the stitches out and I'm back to the clinic every week for almost a month.

Not long after the surgery and double lung collapse (which happened in early May), we find out that the house we're renting is being put up for sale and we have to be out of it by mid October.

By the time I get to start using my hand again, it's September. We now have about 6 weeks still to find another house to rent, get moved and do all of this without me re-injuring myself.

My MIL asked us to come live with her and my FIL in her house in Blackheath. It was going to be a tight squeeze, but we'd be helping them out a great deal by being there.

Neither one of them very mobile or in good health. We put most of our stuff in storage and moved in with his parents. Laurance continued with work and tafe while I cared for his parents full time.