Tried to go to Dr. Loeffler this morning, as everyone told us he was Da Man. Unfortunately, Da Man only works three days a week and has all sorts of interesting patients; my wee fractured radius doesn't stand a chance. They referred me to the guy across the hall: Dr. Robin Lockwood. Sounds a bit like Robin Hood, come to think of it. And the address: 1111 12th Ave. Cool, gotta give that a try. Derek took me there in the rental car.
Turns out Dr. Robin L is a somewhat older gentleman, brusque and amusing (yay!), and he explained the X-rays to me. Fracture starts at the inner edge of the radius just under the wrist and then "zigs" upward, kind of like a number 7. Doesn't go all the way through. Aligned, so no problem it having been in a splint for four days.
He took my (left arm) and, after I had washed it, he put on it a "goth glove" of white gauze with a hole cut out for the thumb, and with the fingers mostly exposed. He took out soft cotton batting and cut and fit some to cushion the thumb all the way around. He then took out a couple of packs of what looked like fiberglass boat repair tape, wet it, and started to wrap the forearm, firmly but not too tightly, and worked up to the wrist, then back down, cuffing the edge of the "glove" up over the bottom of the cast, then wrapping that half an inch inward from the edge, to present a lovely finished rim at that end. Same general procedure at the upper end, cuffing the "finger covers" back so as to leave the fingers free from the knuckle upwards, and finishing that edge about 0.25 inch in.
The cast heated up as it started to set: he molded and squeezed it firmly with his hands to try to make sure the support was in the right place and that there was enough width and free space to not torture me or cut off the circulation.
The cast also started to tighten as it set, which worried me a little, but Dr. Robin Lockwood said, "No worries, I make a cut along the side so that you can relieve the pressure a bit if necessary," and he pulled out what looked like a small rotary saw with no blade guard -- eeeyah! -- and started to slice into the cast at the outer edge, beside my hand. Did I seem a bit nervous? He laughed and demonstrated that although the blade cuts fiberglass, it doesn't cut the fleshy part of Dr. L's hand. It appears to be a Sammons Preston Orthopaedic Cast Cutter, like the one pictured here (NOT my picture):
And voila, I am in the cast... the pain meds? Just Advil. That's actually better for me than the vicodin the E/R had prescribed.
If the pressure becomes intolerable or my fingers start to swell too much, we can use a screwdriver in the slit he cut to relieve the pressure a bit. The slit does not go all the way up the cast, only halfway. Got to say, it still hurts... pressure points at the palm and the point of the wristbone, but it's OK for tonight.
Derek baked two of his artisan loaves tonight: one for us (the one that stuck to the pan :-) and one to thank Maury and Ginger for their help and kindness -- so, you guys, if you're reading this, we'll cart it over to your boat in the morning!