Unfortunately, I do not have the x-rays taken at the Johor hospital where I could still lift my upper arm, and swing my forearm left to right like the loose minute hand of a damaged clock. Yes, it was still dislocated when I took the x-rays at the Johor hospital. The doctors there gave me 2 shots of morphine, I fell asleep, then woke up to 2 male nurses tugging and pushing on my injured arm trying to relocate the elbow. Man, that was 5 seconds of consciousness in hell, I passed out after that. About 2 hours later, I woke up to a relocated elbow, and saw that my open wound was cleaned and stitched up. I haven't had a chance to say thank you to the hospital staff in Johor, so here it is, thank you!
But it wasn't over. I still had bone fragments floating about in my elbow. Honestly, I very much preferred to be warded, and have my surgery done in a Singapore hospital. And that is exactly what I did. I arrived at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) Accident & Emergency Department in the evening, with the help of Eric and Yi Yang.
Here's what the doctors at the SGH saw. Notice the area circled in red, that is the biggest chunk of bone that was broken off the head of my radius bone. I'm not sure where the other 2 bone fragments went to. According to my doctors after viewing my CT scan results, one of the bone fragments went up into my triceps. But the x-rays were not able to capture that.
Top down view. Notice the same big bone fragment on the left. The 'object' on the right was actually the x-ray picking up the open wound.
I had my surgery 2 days later, on 19 December. Luckily the surgeon was able to save 2 of the bigger bone fragments, and fixate them onto the radial head with 2 titanium screws. The third piece which was too small to be saved was discarded. This next x-ray was taken 4 weeks after the surgery.
From another angle. You can tell that the bone is still not smooth at the edges yet. The radial head typically takes about 6-8 weeks to mend, the second phase where the body reshapes the edges of the bone to smoothen it can take anywhere from 6 to 60 months.
During my second medical review at SGH, I complained to the doctor that I was experiencing some pain in my right hand. So I was ordered to take some x-rays...
Great, I had 2 more fractures to worry about. The broken bone captured in the x-ray below is called the scaphoid. It is notorious for the low blood supply to its area, thus requiring very long healing time (up to years!). And in some cases if the bone doesn't mend, the broken bone fragment can die off, in a medical condition known as Avascular Necrosis. Awesome news.
And the doctor diagnosed me with a fracture of the base of the fifth metacarpal bone. Or in laymen's terms, a fracture at the base of my pinky bone. I can't figure out where the fracture is, but it's there because it hurt when I pressed on it.
What could be worst after discovering this news? Well... There was nothing the doctors could do. I was told to let the fractures heal with time, hopefully. I really hoped that the scaphoid bone fragment wouldn't die, that would be disastrous and not bode well for my future.
About 16 weeks later, I went to a private clinic in Gleneagles Hospital, and took a few more x-rays. The radial head looked much more smoother, and the scaphoid was healing well. Phew! Sadly, I only have physical copies of those x-rays, so I can't show them here. Use your imagination.
The injury has been a humbling experience. It is now about 20 weeks after the crash, and after torturing rehabilitation exercises everyday, adjusting my diet to include more calcium, I am happy to say that I've regained about 90% of the use of my right arm. 90% because the arm is still not as strong as before, and I am still lacking about 5 degrees hyperextension. The next 10% will take years to regain though...
But I'm happy, the hard work paid off. Signing off with my titanium-calcium right elbow, ride safe. :)
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