Harder to Recover from an Injury after 30

Harder to Get Back After a Fall

I’ve never broken any bones. I’ve sprained my ankles many times, hurt my thumb and strained by back doing a deadlift. When I went to the doctor after a month of pain in my thumb, he reminded me that I’m in my 30s and it’s harder to recover from an injury than when I was in my 20s.

Last Friday evening, it was cold and snowy in Prague. I was out at a business dinner and headed home early, around 20:30. About 30m from the tram stop, I noticed my tram heading to the stop. I started to hurry, but as I sped across the road, I tripped or slid or something and went barrelling forward. I don’t remember much about the incident, except that I lay sprawled on the street and my purse had flown a good 2m away from me. When I tried to get up using my right hand, which is my dominant hand, I couldn’t use my right hand to help myself up .

As I rolled onto my left side to help myself up, a helpful stranger rushed to my aid. He helped me up and got my purse and walked me to the tram stop. He tried to help me make the tram but I couldn’t hurry. The tram left when we were about 5 steps from the door. He asked me if I was okay and I said yes, so he wished me a good night and walked away.

The Pain Gets Worse with Time

As I stood there, I became aware that my shoulder was in a lot of pain, and I needed to hold it up with my other arm. I also started to feel a tingling in my arm. Not knowing when the next tram would come and given the pain in my shoulder, I crossed the street back to the bus shelter and sat down. This allowed me to rest my arm on my purse and release some of the pressure in my shoulder.

As I sat on the tram, the pain got worse. I called a friend and she was available to meet me a few stops away. Since I arrived at the tram stop before her, I found a shopping cart to elevate my arm on. I had never been to the emergency room before, and I had a new health insurance plan that I have never used, so while waiting, I called the insurance  for a recommendation of where to go for treatment. In the meantime my friend arrived, and she arranged a taxi to a hospital about 10 mins away.

Experiencing Emergency Rooms

When we arrived at the Na Františku hospital, the insurance had called ahead so they knew that we would coming. I had to complete all the paperwork and was then taken for x-rays. The x-rays were excruciating. The technician kept moving my shoulder into different positions and I didn’t make a sound, but I was gritting my teeth and tears were streaming down my face from the pain. It didn’t occur to me at the time to ask for painkillers, and no one offered me any.

A short while after, the doctor explained that there was there were no fractures or breaks in my arm or shoulder. He told me that I should rest and use a sling and would feel better with time. I then asked him if it was normal that I had tingling in my arm and couldn’t fully extend my fingers. He examined my fingers and made a call. Then he told me that I should immediately go to the neurology department of a hospital. We called another taxi and headed off to the military hospital in Prague. I filled out the paperwork and didn’t have to wait long to see the doctor. He asked some questions and did a quick examination before prescribing two medications for a pinched nerve. He said to follow up with a doctor in one month, and if there is no improvement, the next step will be an EMG.

The longest week of the evening was actually waiting for the doctor to write my prescriptions. It took over 30 minutes. Other than that, everything went very smoothly. The receptionists and doctors all spoke English, which was amazing and unexpected (the friend who accompanied me speaks Czech). All three taxi drivers, and the hospital staff were all very kind. In all, the visits and travel took about 3 hours. 

Functioning with One Arm Hurt

Sleeping has been the most painful activity over the past week. That, along with difficulty lifting my arm makes me wonder if I have a tear in my rotator cuff. The rest of the time I feel a dull ache in my shoulder and a persistent tingling in my hands and arms. I take ibuprofen and paracetamol before bed but not otherwise, and I don’t know if they help. In over a week, I’ve seen little improvement in my hand function.

I’ve gotten quite adept at using voice to text for my proofreading and copy editing work. My friends have been great and have come by with food, to chop vegetables, to do my hair and just to keep me company. I’ve done some cleaning but it’s slow and imperfect. There are some things I just can’t do right now like comb my hair, peel vegetables  and wear clothes that require me to lift my arm. I’m thankful for frozen vegetables, eggs, hummus, frozen food (some of which I’d made myself), oranges, cheese, yogurt, tomatoes, which make eating easier. My left arm is also getting quite sore, but I can get help for most things, except one.

My biggest frustration right now is my inability to work out. I was really looking forward to going back to the gym after taking a month for travelling and the Baha’i fast. Next week, I intend to wear my sling and go for a walk in the park every day. I need to do some sort of activity at least. Maybe I can even do some lower body bodyweight exercises, but I don’t want to cause further damage by my impatience, so I will wait for a doctor’s checkup to confirm that it is safe. Waiting patiently and working slowly…