Tuesday, May 20, 2008

You should see the other guy

Yesterday was spent tending to the immediate medical and financial issues: sutures in my nose out at 8:20; my arm and wrist evaluated at 10:30; lunch with my valet and companion for the day, my Dad; and then a long, recorded chat with a nice guy from Progressive Insurance.

Doubtless the most bizarre (and, save lunch, unwelcome) agenda I've had for a Monday in... well, in ever, probably.

The stitches came out without incident.

News from the orthepedic surgeon's office was mixed: surgery isn't called for at the moment, but x-rays and CT scans show that the top half of the recepticle part of the wrist joint is pulverized into a cloud of tiny bone fragments. Right now, the joint is really well aligned (thanks again to the expert care in the ER), but there's little to keep these fragments from moving. If they do, my best option may be to have pins, a plate, or some other immobilizer surgically installed so they fuse as optimally as possible. As the surgeon put it, "Right now, I'm not sure we could do better surgically, and there's always a chance we could do worse." But that could change. The doc called it an unstable fracture. While I don't normally associate fractures with stability, given the economy of medical lingo, if they're going to highlight its instability, it means something, right? So we'll be tracking this one closely.

I go back in on Thursday to have my cast removed, new x-rays to see how things are progressing, and a tighter fitting cast molded, after the swelling in my arm comes down.

And as for "the other guy," Matt from Progressive will be paying the Ducati a visit today. As he put it, "it doesn't take much to total a bike" like it, loaded with carbon fiber components and imported parts. I expect to hear from him later today with his appraisal of the Rooster's condition, and its future.

In the meantime, I'm home resting, building bones and giving my back (which feels like it's been used for a shot-putter's target practice) time to mend.

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