Humerus Fracture Operation - Getting My Plate

There are two main forms of reconstructive surgery for a broken humerus that I had explained to me, a humerus rod and a humerus plate. The general gist of each operation goes as follows:

Humeral Rod

This procedure involves drilling through the upper arm and clavical to open up a gap so the rod can be slid down the inside of the humerus. Holes are then drilled through the humerus so screws can be affixed to the rod, securing the break

There is a great photo of the resulting effect on this press release, however, this involves further trauma in order to open up the bone to insert the device.

Humeral Plate

A humeral plate is simply inserted into the arm having made an incision between the bicep and tricep, avoiding the radial nerve and screwed in place to stabilise the break... as model by yours truly below:

Needless to say, the incision to insert a humeral  plate is pretty funky:

As the pictures show, my surgeon decided that not submitting my arm to the further trauma of a humeral rod was for the best and instead opted for a humeral plate. The resulting surgery took in the region of 2 hours and was considerably uncomfortable at first... no surprise there. The most uncomfortable sensation however, was nothing to do with my arm, but hip. You see, they decided that a bone graft was required to stimulate recover within the gap between the bones, and took a piece of bone from my hip, known as an iliac crest harvest. The resulting scar (don't click if you're squeamish) and the sore leg that came with it, were pretty horrific.

Plenty of morphine, tramadol, diclofenac, paracetamol and 3 nights in a private room (beats sharing with "the poor old dear who had obviously left her marbles somewhere back in 1973 who refuses to sleep" again!) and I was released with an appointment to see yet another professional who we will dub: Little Miss Physiotherapy.

Broken Humerus - Time For Surgery

It's hard to believe, approaching the day of my operation, that it has already been over two months since I initially broke my arm with little to no signs of real healing or union as the doctors like to call it. It's Sunday evening, I've been called in to St Bernard's Hospital (yes, the view is actually that nice, from some rooms!) a day early, as the Dudley Toomey Ward already has a bed for me (in a private room no less) and they don't want to lose it (to someone who requires overnight treatment comes in through A&E for example).

I'm issued with theatre stockings (help stop deep vain thrombosis (DVT) setting in) and a gown, offered a bite to eat and reminded that as of midnight there is to be no consumption of solids, and no fluid as of 7am... the fasting starts, the time for surgery is upon me!