Yesterday I went back to New York City to get the pins removed from my wrist. There were some small mishaps along the way, but nothing major. We stopped for a great Chinese lunch at a place called “Pig heaven” and it is ironic that both my wife and I had vegetarian meals. On the way to the doctor’s office, after lunch, we stopped by a drugstore to pick some tic tacs, and they cost me $2.50! boy, have prices gone up. we walked over to the doctor’s office and they took me very quickly. They brought me in the room to first remove my cast. The nurse brought in this big machine which was a combination of a table saw and a shop vac. I thought she was going to suck the cast right off my arm. It was not a huge blade, but I asked her if we needed safety goggles to you that. I told it reminded me of my shop class days In high school. Before she started cutting, she slid a small plastic board between my arm in a cast as an extra precaution so I wouldn’t get cut. After she did that, I asked if she had done this before. She said she’s done this for 15 years and it was more for the patient and for her. I replied, “I would imagine.” After cutting the cast in half, she used a device similar to what firemen use called the Jaws of life. Basically, this pried open and separated the plaster. After the cast was totally removed, they took me for x-rays to see if my bones were aligned. Thankfully, they were and my doctor said I was a model patient pertaining to my healing. My wife asked my surgeon if I could start running with her again, and the doctor said sure. Then my wife asked if I could take out the garbage and she just laughed. I am taking that as a “no.” next, my surgeon yelled out to an assistant to get some pliers to pull out the pins. At this point I was debating filming it with my cell phone, but decided it was more important to focus on relaxing as she pulled metal spikes out of my wrist instead of getting a good shot. She grabbed the first pin and started to twist. I felt mostly pressure except for one time when she grazed a nerve. in the second pin came out much easier and was fairly painless. She then covered up the holes with a Band-Aid and examined the wrist again. Unfortunately, she told me she that I had to wait another two weeks before I could start my rehabilitation. She said that I was the come back in two weeks for a checkup and then I can start rehab afterwards. We then left to explore the city and have a good dinner.
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