Typing with one hand

Thanks to all the well wishers who have sent me kind notes after I cracked my radius head (elbow) after a nasty snowboarding accident. I’d been going down the mountain fine all day, did some jumps and never felt better. That apparently was my downfall (no pun intended). At the end of the day I hung out in the snowboard park with the young Beijing grunge snowboarders. After I glided over a box (about two feet off the ground) I slipped off and apparently my entire body weight came down on my right arm, shattering the radius in the forearm where it connects to the elbow.

It was the snowboarding gods saying, “How dare anyone the age of forty enter the domain of the young. Out you go now.”

So while the last two years when I’ve had to help other family members with cervical spine and lumbar spine issues by using my tech geek powers with MRI, CAT scans, Xrays, DICOM images and researching surgical options, its finally my turn on figuring out how to hack my own body back to shape.

Now, in China getting your arm shattered and needing surgery on the eve of Chinese New Year is about the worst timing one could have. China’s medical system is not one you’d choose anyway, but with top doctors and staff on holiday it’s even more dubious. SOS International, the international expat medical care specialists there, did a great job on triage and trying to setup alternatives, including flying to Hong Kong for surgery, their usual recommendation. But even Hong Kong, with higher standards, would likely have a lesser crew because of holidays.
Thanks to my wife and generous friends with expert connections in Malaysia, we were able to combine our CNY homecoming visit with seeing an excellent orthopedic doctor and surgeon in Kuala Lumpur at a hospital that caters to foreigners and medical tourism. You also see the benefit of a multicultural society, as the Malays and Indians don’t mind working while the Chinese have a week off. My surgeon was Malay and the anesthesiologist Indian. Attending staff were a mix of the ethnicities. The hospital had all the modern amenities including live Xray on my arm during surgery.

In the end, the doctor used three nonmetallic BioScrews that will be absorbed into the bone and be part of my body. There’s also a wire for now to stabilize the whole elbow area and will be taken out later.

After surgery, my rowdy nephews saw the new cast and asked, “Is your arm fixed now?”

I told them it had three screws and now it would be a cyborg arm.

They thought that was really cool.

PS: Since typing with one hand is not very efficient, check out my Twitter feed or Facebook page for more frequent updates. I had not really been convinced of the case for Twittering and microblogging… until now.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, February 10th, 2008 at 5:57 pm and is filed under Asia, China. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.