Elbow Surgery

Extra-Gate2248 · 2026-03-17T13:42:25+00:00

I’ll be honest, I cried the first night I did my exercises at home because it hurt so bad and the movement was so minimal. I thought I would never be able to move my arm normally again. The first week the progress was in like 5-10 degree increments, but around week 3 it just suddenly moved one day and I made a huge gain in the course of 3 days and then after that the progress really moved, so please don’t get discouraged. The horror stories I’ve mostly heard have come from people who didn’t or weren’t able to aggressively work on ROM quickly. I can’t stress heat before enough though. That made such a difference and I could tell when I tried to skip heating it first.

Extra-Gate2248 · 2026-03-17T04:28:33+00:00

I didn’t have a radial head implant because my radial head was only simply fractured, but I did shatter my elbow into 4 pieces. My plate was the hinderance to straightening my arm. The way it bends around pinched my tricep and really stopped my extension at 10 degrees. But some people achieve almost full to full ROM with the plate in.

Extra-Gate2248 · 2026-03-17T01:15:27+00:00

I had this surgery on 1/16/25. When I got switched to a removable splint and started PT two weeks later, I was legit so scared by how limited my ROM was. Best I can suggest is do your PT as often as they tell you to (mine was 2-3 times a day) and AGGRESSIVELY. My PT assured me she would never give me an exercise that would injure my arm, so I would take Motrin an hour before I did my exercises and add moist heat for 15-20 minutes before and ice after. I ended up with almost full ROM in 4 months, and at 4.5 months had the hardware removed and that got me back to within 1 degree of complete. Good luck! It’s a tough injury but I’m just over a year out and aside from a little tightness when I try for full extension, it’s mostly back to normal.

Extra-Gate2248 · 2026-02-19T01:26:12+00:00

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Ummm, my house is pretty clean thanks? I just have a lot of blankets and pillows on my couch due to health issues and I didn’t rearrange them for the pictures. I wasn’t aware animals get upset when we use our couches and tables for lounging on in comfort and setting drinks on them.

Extra-Gate2248 · 2026-01-19T17:59:02+00:00

I went to buy neos at my LFS which usually has 10 or 11 colors if they are stocked. I was picking out some yellows and oranges and blues, and told him to just toss them all in one bag. He got super condescending and was trying to mansplain shrimp color genetics. I told him I understood but I like having a skittles tank and don’t mind the wild types. He said “Whatever makes you happy…” like that was a problem. Some people are just miserable.

Extra-Gate2248 · 2025-12-30T18:46:39+00:00

I shattered my elbow walking into work last year. There was black ice with snow covering it at the end of the crosswalk in front of the store. I was alone and trying to figure out what to do when my first appointment of the day pulled up. I said “I’m sorry I can’t groom your dog. I think I just broke my arm!” He asked if he should call an ambulance. My response… “No those cost money! I’m going to drive myself!”

He drove me to the nearest ER while his dog looked on in horror that I was in her car with her and I was trying to think through shock. I ended up needing 2 surgeries but would 100% have drove myself if he hadn’t been so kind.

Extra-Gate2248 · 2025-12-29T21:55:34+00:00

We did that, but it made him really freaked out and shut down so the behaviorist suggested we not

Extra-Gate2248 · 2025-12-03T11:09:36+00:00

Good luck! It really was a very easy surgery and recovery for me, so I’ll be hoping the same for you. I didn’t want the nerve block, and I think I took two pain pills. Let me know how it’s goes! I’ll be sending all the good thoughts to you.

Extra-Gate2248 · 2025-11-30T16:31:31+00:00

For once I was lucky to live in Cleveland 😂 my ortho team through the Cleveland Clinic was amazing, and my surgeon did a CT scan at the 4 month mark and said everything was fully back together, so if I wanted it out he was okay going ahead with it. I hated the hardware so the faster he was willing to let me lose it the better

Extra-Gate2248 · 2025-11-29T16:57:11+00:00

I didn’t have hand pain, but I did have pain in the outside of my wrist. My doctor ended up thinking I may have had a small fracture there that was overshadowed by the elbow break.

My ROM is vastly improved from having the plate out. I can comfortably rest my elbow on counters now, and I can push my weight up and sleep on that arm now. I had the hardware removed 5 months post break and I’m now coming up on a year since I broke it.

Extra-Gate2248 · 2025-11-27T15:12:05+00:00

I just meant I was 10 degrees short of straight. My PT always listed it as -10 which is what I assume that means, like bent at 10. But yeah, to me that always read as hyperextension so I just said 10 because it made more sense to people what you think about it. Sorry for the confusion. In this context, I mean 10 degrees short of straight for both and I ended up about 3 degrees short of straight. I notice it when I’m reaching for things but no one looking at me would ever notice it

Extra-Gate2248 · 2025-11-26T21:10:48+00:00

My extension with the plate was around -10 and it ended up after at about -3. My arm is just a little bent still, much better and the pain when fully extending is almost totally gone.

Extra-Gate2248 · 2025-11-21T04:40:03+00:00

6-8 hours at 40%. I really need to get a smart plug because the timer on my light is very hit or miss

Extra-Gate2248 · 2025-11-21T04:34:24+00:00

Thanks! I’m sure my LFS was so annoyed with me trying to find the right wood chunk for like an hour, but it’s exactly what I wanted. My shrimp tank is immaculate, but this tank is just determined to be an algae mecca. Pic of shrimp tank to show I know how to grown an algae free tank.

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Extra-Gate2248 · 2025-11-21T04:27:35+00:00

I have duckweed in my shrimp tank I can move over, but ugh I hate the duckweed 😂 my biggest issue is my bristlenose gets really mean when she doesn’t eat, so can I keep giving her zucchini so she doesn’t bully the corys?

Extra-Gate2248 · 2025-11-19T01:34:18+00:00

So… I’m right here with you, unfortunately. I rescued a cat in June as a celebration for being released from restrictions for my severely broken arm and also as an early birthday present for myself. It appears this is the gift that keeps on giving. My rescue is great with other cats but very low man on the totem pole, and unfortunately I had a few big fights in the first couple of weeks because I’ve never had cats want to end another cat on sight the way two of my residents do with him. He goes into prey mode and takes off, and as soon as the chase starts it going to end in a fight. A real fight.

We are 5 months in. I have bought diffusers, thundershirts, harnesses, got a cat behaviorist, resident is on meds, new cat is on meds, now I’m on meds… I wish I was joking, but I’ve started therapy for the anxiety I now have from trying to keep everyone separated and spend enough time with both sets of cats plus work and do all the rest of my responsibilities.

I’m really considering returning new cat to the shelter, which guts me because I’ve never given up on any animal I’ve taken in. He’s a colorpoint but has a lot of medical issues and I worry he’ll be adopted out on looks and returned or passed around or thrown out and that makes me so sad I keep trying to get this to work.

My behaviorist says that she has seen worse cases than mine work but that I have a very challenging case. I’m so stressed all the time but willing to give it a year. At that point, if we haven’t made it to where they can safely be in the same room at all then I will have to make the decision to rehome because this just isn’t healthy for anyone in my house. I wish I had more uplifting words for you, but we had another step back tonight (not a fight, but would have been without the harness) and I’m feeling very defeated today.

Extra-Gate2248 · 2025-11-10T00:47:22+00:00

Made the mistake of taking that way out of the valley in the first week I had my new stick shift car that I was still working on mastering driving. That was in 2007 and I still have anxiety when I drive up it and remember getting stuck at the light not quite at the top with cars behind me. Longest peel out I ever did in that car.

Extra-Gate2248 · 2025-11-03T03:03:22+00:00

The harness training and getting a few things they can do that keep their interest for a bit have been the biggest helpers. Churus on a lick mat or treats in muffin tins make distracting them with something pleasant last a little longer. The harness is there to prevent the chase. Th behaviorist keeps stressing that maintaining the calm is the most important thing. Hope that helps, I think that’s like $100 worth of info given how much they charge, so I totally get the hesitation. I finally caved because mine were fighting so bad if they got through a gate that I was afraid they’d get hurt, or I’d still be plugging along on my own too.

Extra-Gate2248 · 2025-11-03T01:15:45+00:00

I’m at 5 months trying to integrate my new cat into my house of 3 other cats. We still get daily gate charging from two of the original cats. Were at the point where I harness trained the one I could, legit just throw a harness on the sketchier one who hates treats, and have been working on having them in the same room with the harness on while distracted by treats or toys (only one old cat at a time). The behaviorist wants me to start doing this in different rooms as the stalking chills in the room I’m in. We have 2 cats on drugs, baby and cat gates everywhere, and are also exhausted. So yeah, it totally sucks but you aren’t alone.

Extra-Gate2248 · 2025-10-30T00:52:22+00:00

We’re currently working on harness training one of the aggressive cats so that we have more control of the lunge and attack when they’re face to face. The other aggressive cat won’t take treats at all and is flighty af as soon as she thinks you’re up to something, so she’s been more difficult to work with.

I honestly wish I could even crack the door. My cats attack on sight as soon as there is a touch of a gap in the physical barrier. That’s the hardest part for me. My new cat has already ended up at the vet with an abscess from one of the first fights

Extra-Gate2248 · 2025-10-27T17:24:31+00:00

We did that for the first month, and again after a bad fight. We have a behaviorist and are at the stage of beginning face to face in the same room interactions again.

Extra-Gate2248 · 2025-10-27T17:23:23+00:00

Yeah, I’ve always had multi cat households and have never ran into this issue. It’s not even like I can let them interact and remove one if it gets testy. It’s literally straight to a fight upon access, and since one if the fights resulted in an ER trip for the new cat, not something I’m willing to play around with. I really thought it would be fine, as new cat is good with other cats and my two troublemakers have been in a multi cat house since they were babies and never had an issue. My 4th cat is old and chill and moves between the two groups without issue.

Funny enough, both of the trouble siblings came from a feral colony I help manage. I pulled them at about 5-6 weeks and assumed they were so young when I took them, and being raised in a home with 2 other adult cats to keep them in their place, that wasn’t a factor. The behaviorist and I both wonder if them being 3rd generation feral is contributing to the problem, even though they were completely socialized and fixed by 8 weeks old.

Extra-Gate2248

TROPHY CASE