And the Doctor Asked...Where Is Your Skull Piece???

Back in the States and off to the doctors!  Head and Shoulders!

On Wednesday I saw the orthopedic doctor who took one look and my shoulder x-ray, and gave me an interesting perspective on the damage.  He said there were more than 4 breaks, the ball of the bone was completely broken off and parts were shattered.  We could easily see the 4-6 inches of metal brackets used to hold the rest of the bone together and reattach the humorous to the ball.  Apparently, in the States the injury would have been a candidate for a shoulder replacement, but because I am so young (!!! He said that - so funny because I am feeling SO old), reconstruction is still an option.

Try not to laugh - do a Google image search... 

Next step, physical therapy.  He gave me a referral, and I asked how long it would take.  ONE YEAR.  I almost fell over.   What??  I told him I had been thinking about a month.  Nope.  Not even close.  I was like,  "Um... that is not going to work for me.  I am a bike commuter, and I need to be able to ride in July."  Good news was he said I would be able to ride my bike.  I just won't be able to lift my arm higher than my shoulder for about a year.  There is going to be some really long pit hair going on, but that is cool.  Apparently the hot new thing in CA is bleaching and coloring your arm pit hair.  NO JOKE.  Are you ready Seattle?!

Toni and Lisa - Adam's mom and sister.
Taking such good care of me.

Thursday morning Toni and Lisa took me to see the neurologist.  We had no idea what to expect.  Would I be in the OR next week?  Turns out the doctor is on the conservative side.  He said that the surgery was elective - apparently a lot of people live without portions of the skull, and the surgery involves risk... stroke, heart attack, blindness, paralysis, bleeding, infection, death...  By the time he was done with the risk, I was electing - No Thank You.  He also said that based on my meningitis, he would wait six months from the original surgery to do the replacement.

Then he asked where my skull piece was.  I looked at him funny, and he seriously asked, "Is it in your stomach?"  Then I looked at him crazy.  I know I have an insatiable appetite, but I did not eat my skull piece.  I don't think.  My memory is not so great, but I really don't think I ate my skull.  Was it dipped in chocolate?

Toni pulled out the stack of X-rays, and he started going through them.  When he found my head shots he noticed that the skull was fractured in multiple pieces.  There was more than one piece.  I then suggested that I thought they were probably in the trash - not in my stomach.  He showed us a few things on the x-ray (hematoma and big blood splotches on my brain), and then looked me in the eye and said, "That doctor saved your life.  You would have died without the surgery."

What?!?  One more reality check.  This ordeal has been a little more serious than I though.  I really want to go back to Buenos Aires and give my brain surgeon a hug.  Maybe HE ate my skull pieces.  Maybe they are in HIS stomach.