Orthopedic surgeon - physicians who study orthopedic surgery after their medical training..
Ok, so you broke your leg or arm. I broke my leg, so will try and give you a bit more information.
Date broken: 3 April 2007 afternoon
Rollerblades
Doctor have a look
Ambulance to Hospital
Injection for the pain
temp Plaster of Paris(Gips) - Back slab
This is where you need friends and family. My female friend drove with me for moral support, while my brother organises the toothbrush.
As I stay in Burgersdorp, a small farming community, we have this impressive huge X-ray machine. Normally there is a shortage of 'plates', and the only person to operate this machine drive here once a week, if there is x-ray plates.
The hospital staff always have time for a friendly chat.
Next day: Mom and brother bring clothes, books and snacks for my trip to Bloemfontein.
As I'm on a Discovery Hospital plan, all the paperwork need to be done before the wheels start to roll.
Broken leg - Too old for Roller blades??
Back slab - Plaster of Paris
In Bloemfontein at the Rosepark hospital.
Profesional and Friendly
X-Rays - See Broken leg Pictures
90 Minutes operation
Hospital plan patients must be booked in
Lift back home the next day
As a steel rod is inserted into the bone of the leg, you don't need a full plaster of paris, but only a back slab to protect the leg. The leg is then tightly bandaged to the back slab.
At the start you'll have a fair bit of pain, but the doctor will give you a prescription for pain pills. The leg is swollen from the break as well as the operation, so you can't really feel pain anywhere specific.
After a day or 3, the plaster of paris dug into my heel. (When the doc shape the plaster to fit the shape of your leg, some 'folds' are created on the inside of a bend.) See photo, to the right where I point with the scissors at the fold. That looked exactly the same on the inside and "ek het gekak". So, I just cut it out with a "chicken" scissor.(Structural the plaster of paris still functioned as it should).
Pain - Sort it out.