No healing is ever painless. I know, because the last two years of my life have been all about healing emotionally and psychologically. I am nowhere near being healed, but there has been progress, and major moves towards taking ownership of who I am now.
Physical healing is no walk in the park. My week began by doing a medical merry-go-round. The GP put me on three weeks sick leave, and then referred me to an orthopaedist for more specialised consultancy. He is legally not allowed to recommend anyone, but he did say that no clinic is allowed to turn me away it is an emergency case and cannot wait for the standard six weeks waiting period allowed to new patients, but other than that I was on my own. The regular clinic I go to was closed for the summer holidays, as were the next six clinics I called. Geez, have all orthopaedists in Berlin gone on a mass walk-out? It would certainly seem so.
My next move was to head straight to the hospital in my part of town that has a large orthopaedic department. I was in the cab already when the suggestion was made to head to the orthopaedic centre in out in Gatow. At this point I was desperate, so out to the Orthopaedic Centre in Biberburg I went. And stayed. In spite of the initial reluctance of the receptionist to take me in, I was given a slot, and waited no more than 15 minutes before I was called in for the initial consult.
A new set of x-rays were taken, to compare them to the initial ones from the day of the accident. Bottom line: The hairline shoulder fracture has not worsened, but will take at least six weeks to heal. In the meantime I am to begin physiotherapy immediately, am forbidden to take public transportation (danger of standing and being jerked around which could damage the shoulder further), and definitely no sports. My tennis coach was most unhappy when I broke the news to him… The best part of the visit was being told to take off the sling! I have to deal with the pain without over stressing the arm and shoulder. Basically I have to wear an imaginary sling and not raise my arm more than 90 degrees, not that I can.
The next challenge was to find a physiotherapy centre that would take me in on short notice. The recommendation of the orthopaedic centre was to choose a place close to home, and in my case it would have to be walking distance. Lady Luck was on my side and I found a place a few minutes walk from home and they gave me a slot for this afternoon.
Ouch, ouch, ouch.
The therapist is really nice, chatty and gentle, but that didn’t really lessen the pain. The next couple of weeks will be hard work, and I even have homework, but that is part of the healing process.
FrogDiva Thoughts 