Today was my 2 week post surgery check up. I have done four naughty things in these 2 weeks - which is pretty minimal for me really... So was looking forward to seeing the x-ray to find out if I got away with it - I did :-)
Dr Anderson, the talented ortho doc who put me back together, thought things looked great (whew ;-). I have six screws in the plate and one "floating screw" in the middle which is not attached to the plate but holding some bone shards together. The three screws on either end are anchored into solid bone. One bone shard got away and is floating like a smiley under the pulverized section.
The middle of my collar bone is a mix of my bone shards, bone graft powder from a cadaver and putty. The middle has zero structural integrity. He told me if the screws came out today everything would fall apart. As the ends are strong and the middle has no integrity whatsoever weighting it will snap off one of the ends from the plate or pull screws out. The bone has not had a chance to form properly around the screws. He said I am a very high risk with this in combo with my personality (what did he mean??). I will make a superb recovery if I look after myself or I will be a disaster and back in the OR. It's my choice.
I am not to do any kind of weight bearing on my shoulder for 6 more weeks. No lifting ANYTHING for 6 more weeks.
I get my bone growth stimulator tomorrow and have a DEXA bone density scan on Monday. My last bone density scan was in 2004 and I was diagnosed osteopenic so it will be interesting to compare. I had blood drawn for my annual endocrinology review today too. Just need to go to the dentist to complete my overhaul...
Here is the last visual record of me with non-bionic shoulders. Bernice snapped this shot the day before the race and my smoosh.
