So this happened to me as well last week. I'm right handed. Many things in life are impossible with your left hand. I'll leave it at that.
Random Thoughts X (The 9th Regeneration)
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CycloneErik
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Yeah, shaking hands with your left hand is awkward.
2 weeks into class and I'm already considering switching major lol. I have absolutely no clue what to pick
I have often thought about that. I would be nearly useless if I couldn't use my right hand. Some would argue that is already the case!
Snowcraig bleeds cardinal and gold. That's actually a white cast. He's working on bleeding gold next.
I bleed cardinal. The gold is more of an oozing....
I would try to talk with someone in rehab first. Maybe when you break the news to him, you can also go over the plan to not only get back to normal, but to make it even stronger.
It is surprising what you can teach yourself to do with your off hand. For example, when in college I had a job where I had to use a lefty's computer (the lefty is a friend of KC's). Some people who used it would move his mouse around and struggle with the buttons reversed. I decided right away to just use my left hand. It came in handy a few years ago when I got carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand. I just switched my mouse around while my right hand was immobilized.
On a more humorous note, I have a coworker who is missing most of his left arm (congenital). He always blames his poor hand writing on him being "a natural lefty."
The dude can do just about anything with one hand. Very impressive.
On a more humorous note, I have a coworker who is missing most of his left arm (congenital). He always blames his poor hand writing on him being "a natural lefty."
The dude can do just about anything with one hand. Very impressive.
That is not good. I'm sorry for your son and your family. If it helps, these are the things I learned from my ACL surgery. That knee is now way better than my other knee.
1. Do your extension exercises. I spent time almost every night for months with my heel propped on a pillow or soup can straightening my leg.
2. Once it's adequately healed, they'll ask him to build up his hamstring muscles. Walking, especially downhill, and curls will be recommended. I guess strong hamstrings help stabilize the ACL more than anything other muscle.
3. The surgery isn't terribly painful but there will be times in the couple of days afterward where it hurts pretty bad. Stay ahead of the pain with meds for those first few days. He shouldn't need more than ibuprofen after that.
4. The leg will heal to where he can walk pretty quickly. However, don't swim for quite a while.
5. I had a cadaver ligament put in my knee. My wife was pregnant at the time and I wanted to heal as quickly as possible. This allows you to heal just at the ACL. You can also take part of a ligament from elsewhere in the body (which would mean needing to heal in a second place). They may recommend he do this because there is no chance of rejection and it may heal better and stronger for somebody that plans to still be doing athletics competitively for a while. I was in my upper 30's and realized my Olympic dreams were dead.
6. It's kind of an arthroscopic surgery so the scars will be gone in about a year and they are pretty small.
7. When I had the surgery, I chose to be put under. In retrospect, I would think about staying awake for it and watching it on the screen.
Best of luck and, probably the most important thing is to listen to, and follow the instructions of, the physical therapist.
This is good advice in general. In addition to getting behind and not being able to catch up once acute pain kicks in, studies suggest that patients who are having their pain consistently managed heal quicker. I wonder if it has to do with the body taking measures to deal with pain rather than using those resources in the healing process. It might also have to do with people who laugh and smile healing quicker as well. It is hard to feel good about yourself when you are in acute pain.
I recently had surgery on my right hand. Everything was difficult. I had a picc line in my left arm and a cast on my right hand.
When I showered, I had to put a bag over my right hand and "press and seal" plastic wrap on my left arm. I couldn't bend my left arm or grip with my right hand. It was like showering with a pliers and a baseball bat and was awful. It did heal though.
Aren't you going to DMACC first? If so, declaring a major is pointless. Your AA is typically just a general degree unless you're going for something specific like nursing. I didn't declare a major until my first year at ISU.
As someone who's been through post-surgical rehab way too many times, here's my 2 cents of advice for him even though neither of you asked for it!
PT rehabbers KNOW what they're talking about, and they don't hate you or want to hurt you, even though sometimes it may feel that way. You may hate them, but do what they tell you to nonetheless. And if you can safely do more, DO it. Full function doesn't come back without hard work.
That said - I hope the surgery and rehab are both successful. Good luck on the journey...
In my wife's position, one of her biggest challenges is getting some teachers to incorporate more structure and better classroom management skills into their classrooms.
Yay for red fiberglass casts! I sported one from toes to knee for six weeks about 18 months ago. I'm so glad we can choose bright colors now.
Flip side: Boo for casts on right hand - had to break down & buy an automatic to get me to work because my car was a stick. That's probably not the kind of stick you're fretting over, however.
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