Hugh At The ER

So, last night we went roller skating. You can guess the rest. Above, Hugh is looking at the copy of the xray on his broken, right wrist. The carboard box and gauze tape is the temporary splint and sling provided by the staff at the roller rink. If you're squeamish, I recommend you NOT look at the next photo we took of his injury just before hospital staff put on their official splint and sling.

Hugh's injury is such that it requires a metal plate to be inserted as an internal cast until the bones heal and the hand regains it's normal shape and function. (He could have chosen to have a normal cast but there was a high risk of his hand not ever working right at the end of six weeks, so this seemed the better approach.) He's going into surgery tomorrow afternoon for the repair and will have about a 3" incision made on the thumb side of his wrist to insert the plate. They will also do reduction, which is what they call the pulling and pushing on the bones to shove them back into their normal place.

He can use his hand, in fact is encouraged to use it, as much as his pain tolerance allows as soon as the surgery is over. The plate will remain in if he wishes or he can have it removed later.