It’s been a busy week with appointments. I had an illeoscopy and electromyography (EMG) at Blodgett Hospital this past Monday, March 13. I have periodically had blood in my stool these past several months. Fortunately, nothing was detected and I’m given a clean bill of health.
Then I had an appointment at Mary Free Bed orthotics and prosthetics department to remodify both of my elbow ratchet braces. They were causing pressure sores on the bony part on both of my wrists. I met with Cisco (cool name,eh?) who flared out the edges of each brace.
I tested the elbow braces later that afternoon for two hours and they passed with flying colors. No pressure sores. Cisco kid did a great job and was a friend of mine (referred to the lyrics of the song by war if you did not catch that joke). Refer to the attached photos to see how cumbersome these braces are.
I have no shortage of braces. Starting from the ground up, I have ankle foot orthothis (AFOs) I wear at night. These provide support and flexibility by lifting my feet while I am in bed. These prevent recurrence of drop foot, which I previously had surgery for.
Next, are the Saebo dynamic hand and wrist splints. These are designed to keep my wrists and fingers extended. I primarily wear these when in bed. My hands start to spasm after a few hours and need them taken off. Another problem is my left wrist, which has an ulnar deviation (bending outward toward the pinky) because of the constant pull of the tone. That makes putting the split on extremely difficult. You can see these splints in the last photo.
I also have Benik support wrist braces when I’m in the wheelchair. Overall, I look like a video game warrior after donning all the gear. But it’s necessary to maintain the stretch of the muscles and joints to prevent them from contracting.
Leave a Reply