I had a feeling (kind of a throbbing, sharp, unrelenting pain) my arm might be more than sprained or bruised so I drove to the nearest urgent care facility for a professional diagnosis. Within minutes of meeting with the doctor she informed me that my arm was most likely broken. She then stepped outside the room to speak with the radiology technician and I heard her summarizing my medical situation. She closed with, “When I told her that her arm was most likely broken she got really sad.” Hearing her say that made me realize I really need to work on my responses. I wasn’t sad, just disappointed. I had hoped positive thinking would prevent me from having a broken bone. Here’s a ‘secret’ Rhonda Byrne, I’m pretty positive positive thinking didn’t work this time.
After the x-ray she returned with some news, “You are a very stoic woman. Turns out you’ve got a humerus head fracture and need to be seen by an orthopedic surgeon immediately. If you were an older, elderly person we would do nothing, just throw it out, but you’re young so we need to do something. Pain meds?” I respectfully declined the offer for pain medications and hurried home, arm in sling, to research humerus head fracture.
As it turns out, this injury is most common among elderly people. In fact, according to U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, 70% of humerus head fractures happen to people 60 years and older. So, in addition to not properly diagnosing my situation, I have an injury that frequently occurs in nursing homes. My urgent care doctor was right. I’m sad.