I Dislocated My Elbow (Weeks 1-4)

Throughout my entire life I have been very lucky to not have injured myself in any way. On November 9th I was doing a photo shoot for the equestrian section of my blog. Unfortunately it got cut short when I fell off and ended up going to the ER for a dislocated elbow. 

In the moment I honestly didn’t know what had happened. I didn’t know if I broke my arm or what, I just knew that when I looked down it didn’t look right and it most definitely didn’t feel good. 

As I’ve been going through this experience, I wanted to share what I’ve learned: the real, the real funny, and disappointing stuff because you never know what to expect or how to plan for these situations until you’re in them. There isn’t a “I hurt myself 101” class even though honestly, there should be! 

Today’s blog post walks through the first four weeks of my healing process and what I learned/went through to hopefully better help and prepare anyone who goes through any type of injury where they do not have access to a part of their body that is in charge of most of their daily routine. 

1. Medical

Man oh man is this one the most frustrating part. It’s definitely my least favorite to talk about but it’s the most important. When I dislocated my elbow, I was unfortunately in the interim period (still am until the New Year) where I did not have insurance yet. When you switch jobs, there are certain enrollment periods that you have to wait until to sign up for the new health insurance. 

When you switch, you are able to utilize a program called COBRA that basically allows you to continue using the same insurance policy of your previous employer until you have switched to the new insurance. Only problem is, no one tells you how much that is going to cost. After I gave my two weeks I asked that question, only to find out it would basically be $500 a month – aka $1500 total – Who has that??? I figured it would be in my best interests to just wait until my new insurance. I share all of this for the following reasons:

• If you are planning on switching jobs, do your research prior to find out what the COBRA payments will cost and work that into your new job negotiations. There’s nothing worse than finding out afterwards!
• If you are ever in the same situation as me, know that there are many payment plans available for self pay patients and when you say you are using the self pay method, it is usually cheaper than what comes up if you just say you have “no insurance.”

Lastly, if you have to go to the ER, depending on what you have to get done, know that there are multiple bills coming to you. I had bills from the ER facility itself (hospital), the radiologist (X-Rays), and the actual physician who fixed my elbow. For me personally, the cheapest bill was the radiologist and the most expensive was the physician. From the date of your ER visit, expect at least a month to almost two months of processing time to get the physician bill (they have more steps to get everything processed for some reason). 

For me personally, I had to find out what the total costs would be for everything from a self pay option vs. a COBRA covered option since I didn’t initially purchase the COBRA insurance. With a self pay option, you can create a payment plan, with the COBRA option I didn’t feel like I had that since there is a final date that you had to be signed up by to back fill any previous expenses.

I recommend doing the following: 

 

• Call the hospital and their billing department a week after your visit (this gives you some time to get in a new routine with the injury and allows you to decompress after all of the anxiety and shock of what has happened. Find out how many bills will be coming to you and get the phone numbers for each because most likely they won’t be in the same building because that would be convenient. Ha!
• Call the billing center for your physician (or whichever bill takes the longest to process constantly). This is a tip from the actual billing department. The employee said that even though calling doesn’t always speed things up, it can still get you a quicker answer if you call and get the information directly, vs. waiting for it to come in the mail. 
• Evaluate what the total cost would be of all of your bills with self pay vs. COBRA. Sometimes, even if the self pay option of all of your bills is slightly more expensive, if in the long run it is easier for you to manage and doesn’t put you into a ton of debt up front, it’s a better option!

2. Doctors

Oh ,doctors. Doctors, doctors, doctors! This was the second most frustrating part but it doesn’t have to be! I had just moved back home (but still technically a new city to me in some ways), didn’t know any doctors in the area, and I had to quickly schedule a follow up appointment one week after my trip to the ER. 

I unfortunately had a bad experience with my first doctor. I hate to say that there are some bad doctors out there but there are. To me, it felt like he was trying to instill some fear in me and he didn’t really care about me. 

I HIGHLY recommend the following:

• Don’t rush into scheduling your first appointment. I did because I was worried and afraid of messing up or delaying the healing process in any way. Instead, take the first few days to calm down and relax and get yourself back in order. Then, ask around to people you know or trust. After the bad appointment had happened, I THEN asked coworkers, my friends at the barn, my parents, who they recommended and ended up with a great recommendation. You don’t always have to try to figure out everything on your own. Trust me!
• If you are feeling uncomfortable in a doctor’s office or patient room SPEAK UP! I honestly wish I would’ve told him to his face that the way he was communicating to me wasn’t working.
• Take a notebook with you. Since I was so upset during my visit I could barely remember what he had told me to do. I had to call back and was lucky enough to get some notes from the front desk person because he was out the next day and so was his nurse and the notes he had emailed me were just the prescription I had to take. In other words, not helpful. If you can, I also recommend bringing someone with you. That way, if you are afraid to speak up you have someone who can or if you are so worked up about being at the appointment at all, you have someone there who can make sure you have all of the information you need. 

Now let’s talk about questions to ASK your doctor. I had NO idea what I needed to do or say and I wish I did. Below are some of the questions I recommend:

• How Long Am I In My Splint (or cast or etc.)  

This is definitely a case by case situation. For my dislocation, I had a splint and I wasn’t sure exactly how long I needed to be in it. 

• What can I do while in my splint? What exercises can I do? 

I was just getting back into running before this happened and I had no idea what I could and couldn’t do. I didn’t know if anything would move around or hurt if I took the splint off to exercise. The last thing I wanted was to workout and sweat in it since I had to stay in it during the day and night. 

• When should I start moving my arm?

After a week or so, the doctor had told me that I needed to start slowly extending my arm back and forth to start working the muscles so that I could get back to normal. Since everyone’s injuries are unique, I highly recommend asking this question!

3. What I Learned + Items To Buy

I had no idea what I would not be able to do once I dislocated my elbow, on my dominant side I might add. Whichever side is your dominant side, I’m going to tell you right now that your other side is stupid! It’s not like really stupid but it’s still trying to figure life out! Ha! This brings me to my first tip:

• Even if you are not injured, practice things with your non-dominant side!

I know this sounds silly, but honestly I am going to make my child practice doing everything with both hands and legs one day because you truly do not realize how dependent you are on one side of your body until you cannot use it. Practice everything from end to end: brushing your teeth to wiping your butt (yes I said it because it’s hard!). I promise you’ll thank me later!

• Ask a friend or family member to help you with everyday life tasks such as putting your bra on, putting your hair up, wrapping your arm, etc.

In the beginning you are not flexible at all nor does your arm positioned in a stiff splint allow you to move around a lot. My mom had to help me put on my bra for the first few weeks, help me put up my hair and she would help me wrap my arm every single day. 

Pro Tip: For the bra, I did have some success with tucking in the bra hook on the side that I couldn’t reach into my pajama pants and using my good hand to reach around and hook it together. I didn’t get it every time but I did get it a few times. 

• Your regular clothes might not fit well over your splint, cast, etc. 

I had NO IDEA that a lot of my clothes weren’t going to fit over my splint. Things either fit good or they were too snug and uncomfortable – plus I didn’t want to stretch out my clothes for a few weeks. Not worth it! Here’s what you do:

1) Look at your closet and picking out some of your most loose fitting clothing possible and creating some outfits out of that.

2) Ask your friends if they have anything that you could borrow in the meantime.

3) Make a trip to Walmart and get a few versatile pieces that will work. 

I highly recommend tip number 3! I went and purchased a stretchy sweater for like $12-$14 – if it’s not stretchy it won’t fit I PROMISE! I got a basic jacket from the men’s section. Men’s clothes are automatically more baggy and loose fitting unlike women’s clothing. I found a jacket first from the women’s section two sizes bigger thinking it would fit and the sleeves still didn’t work over the splint. I also got a cute applique shirt from the pajama section. Pajama shirts and comfy and soft – making them ideal to slip on and wear during the healing process!

 

There are also certain styles that work really well with a splint or cast (potentially) such as: balloon sleeves, bell sleeves, camis, sleeveless anything if possible and large t-shirts. 

When it comes to footwear, sneakers or anything with laces won’t be your friend. Not only will it be challenging to get your socks and shoes on, but add laces into the mix? Forget it! Grab your favorite pair of flats from your closet or invest in a decent pair from the store (they’ll go with anything no matter what!). You can easily slip them on with one hand. 

Also, I recommend investing in a pair of pants that slip on. Zippers and buttons are hard, just saying!

• Invest in a few bathroom essentials to make showering quicker and easier. 

You will want to have the following bathroom items to make the process easier:

1) A long back brush or foot brush. This is a game changer!

2) Shampoo bottles with pumps. You won’t be able to lift the bottle and pour it in your hand with one hand. 

4. Conquering Fear

Even though this technically could’ve gone into the section above, I felt that it needed it’s own section. 

I was absolutely terrified to start moving my arm. This was my first injury ever in my entire life and I was so worried that I was going to do something wrong or make it worse and lengthen the healing process altogether. I let my fear control my life and no one should ever let that happen.

Even though my parents were telling me that I’d be fine, I still didn’t believe them. I’ve had a few instances in life where I just needed one other person to tell me something for me to believe it. So today I’m hoping I can be that for you. 

YOU CAN DO IT! You CAN move your arm! You don’t have to move it much, just a little. Things take time. I know you’re afraid and so was I. But I promise, you will be amazed at how your body will heal and take care of you. 

 

I hope this helps anyone who is currently going through something like this or could possible go through it in the future (which of course I hope you never do!). I will be sharing a post for the second half of my recovery soon so that you can have even more tips to help you!

Now I have to ask, have you ever injured yourself? What tips and tricks did you learn/have passed down to you by friends and family that made your healing process easier? I’d love to hear them and hear your thoughts about this post in the comments below!

Photography: Shannon Castaneda Photography