Earlier this month, I forgot I’m 51 not 21 and was running up the garden path to the house when I took a dive, ultimately landing chest and face first in the porch. Quite literally seeing stars and, long story short, my shoulder is fractured in two places and I had a nasty chest contusion. Still all quite painful nearly 4 weeks later. We’re trying to avoid surgery and manage it conservatively and have just started gentle physio which is making the arm sorer than it’s been since the fateful night. To be honest, until this point, the chest pain has been worse than the arm.
Despite the pain, I’m also "sleeping’ propped upright to protect the fracture whilst it heals and boy is that affecting my general fatigue levels as what sleep there is isn’t particularly restful. I’m feeling very wiped out by it all and due back at work next week, but not 100% sure I’m going to feel up to it at this point. To cap it all, my dear old Dad is in a bad way in hospital back home and that’s preying on my mind at night a bit too. August hasn’t been a particularly fun month!
I’ve a Haem appointment next week along with a Physio and Fracture Clinic one shortly thereafter (getting the most out of my National Insurance contributions!) and mean to ask whether the Myelofibrosis will affect healing in any way. However, I wondered if any of you fine folk had been unfortunate enough to find yourself in a similar position since diagnosis. Was the road to recovery an easy one for you? How did you manage the poor sleeping, etc?
Hi @CosmicHobo.
What a few weeks you have had!!! It all sounds extremely painful alongside everything else you have going on.
I hope others can share their experiences. I have also copied in the @BloodCancerUK_Nurses as they may be able to answer your questions.
Please keep us updated on how things are for you
Hi @CosmicHobo,
Gosh, I am so sorry to read about your accident! I do hope you begin to see improvement with the physio. I would guess it is still early days in some respects and hopefully in the coming weeks you will begin to feel stronger and in turn you will be able to get more rest.
Are you on any treatment for your myelofibrosis? A compromised immune system may slow the healing process down slightly however it sounds like you are doing all the right things to help your body heal. I would have a chat with your consultant about how you are feeling in case they have any suggestions which may help.
I do hope you will be feeling better soon, do keep us updated with how you are getting on.
Heidi J (Support Services Nurse)
Oh @CosmicHobo that sounds so, so painful and you raise interesting questions that I had not thought about before.
The easy answer is that I do not know how easy recovery would have been without my Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL)
Since my diagnosis in 2003 I have been diagnosed with scoliosis and osteoporosis in 2012.
I have broken and compressed more vertebrae than I can count (I am now 5 inches shorter that I was. I have broken an arm and both arms (humerus) near the shoulders.
The humerus breaks took me about 8-10 months to fully get over and the physio was painful, but I believe needed for me to get full mobility back.
I have a hiatus hernia and reflux so i need to sit up some nights.
I have found what works for me is 3-4 pillows and the the top one sort of hugging my head and I am sleeping better.
I do not get a good nights sleep if I have things playing on my mind either.
I do not function well without my sleep.
My fatigue is sometimes helped by gentle exercise in fresh air, I am a walker, carefully, these things can happen so quickly.
I really feel for you in that pain.
Be ever so kind to yourself and I do not know if I have helped at all.
Please do keep posting how you are doing.
Oh goodness, poor you @CosmicHobo, that all sounds horrible. I’m so sorry to read you’ve been dealing with that for weeks on top of living with Myelofibrosis (MF). Not sure I knew you had an Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN), so I’m doubly sorry to read that. Thinking of your dad too. You sound far more chipper about the last few weeks than I would be!!!
While I can’t suggest anything to help the breakage, not being a doctor, I’m wondering what you’re doing about the pain? I imagine you’re not meant to mix and match painkillers if you already take a blood thinner—my haematologist recently reminded me to only take paracetamol for pain as I already take daily aspirin.
Something I can recommend for inflammation though, after badly spraining my ankle during the pandemic, is CBD in tincture and lotion forms. I can share some research showing its efficacy if you’re interested. Blood Cancer UK had some information about cannabis which I can’t find now. Although cannabis isn’t legalised in the UK, CBD is the non-psychoactive part of the plant and can’t make people stoned. I find CBD is incredible for reducing the heat and bruised sensation of inflammation. I also take the tincture as it can reduce internal inflammation and lessens my anxiety. My other half relies on it in lotion form to reduce his various aches and pains. Perhaps it might help with yours too, while your bones mend?
Anyway, I’m sorry you’ve been holed up with that nasty injury during the sunniest part of the year. Take time to recover gently away from work, I’d say. If you find out anything about bones healing differently with an Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) I’d be fascinated to know! Get well soon.
Thanks @Duncan, @Heidi-J-BloodCancerUK , @Erica and @Nichola75 for the words of support and helpful advice. There’s lots to think about there and I do intend to chat about it with my Consultant next week. This community is always so helpful!
As for being chipper, I do my best but confess, especially over the last few days, that at times my spirits do take a bit of a beating. That said, all you can do is try to pick yourself up, dust yourself down, and start all over again, eh?
Yep @CosmicHobo My thoughts and feeling go up and down, in and out so yes, try and pick yourself up, dust yourself down and start all over again, saying that I need to go out and get a bit of fresh air and exercise to clear my head a bit, be very kind to yourself, it’s natural @CosmicHobo
Oh I hear you about experiencing down-beaten days, and sorry if it seemed like I was minimising feeling like that. Believe me I know those days well! Feel it all, I say, as we’re usually only 1 sleep away from a different day which for me can often feel like a bit of a reset (no pun intended).
I was thinking about duvet days which in Wales is called cwtching—resting comfortably with all your favourite stuff around you in a cosy place. I’d be tempted to cwtch up until those bones are mended!!! Time for takeaway and food delivery apps if they’re available
Oh bless you
Can you take sick leave from work? Sounds like you need some time to heal and get your head around dad too. You have and are having a traumatic time at the moment.
I have had a fractured shoulder humerus along with a dislocated other shoulder.
I had to rest my fracture for 6 weeks
I used a V pillow to put my arms underneath when lying down and rest my neck. It stopped me moving in bed
Another tool could be useful is a pillow raiser that you can lower to where it’s comfortable
Sleeping up right isn’t full filling but it gives a bit of respite and rest
Physio is painful unfortunately I had a frozen shoulder and had to have the scar tissue broken under GA and I had to move it every hour straight after surgery
Shoulders seem to take a long time to heal
A family member broke theirs in two places didn’t want an op and was very painful most of the time even a year on
My humerus still aches 14 years on
Thanks for the tips, @2DB. I am off work at the moment, at one time predominantly due to the arm and chest pain and whilst that’s still a bit of a factor, it’s now more because I’m still not sleeping very well (only 3hours last night, for example). It’s 5 weeks tonight since I took my unplanned trip and I had hoped to be back at work next week, but I think I’ll take advantage of the extra week on the fit note and stay home to rest.
In general update, Physio is going well, albeit painful as we introduce new exercises, but they’re happy with progress to date. At my Haematology appointment earlier in the week, my consultant confirmed that neither the Myelofibrosis nor peg-interferon which I take should impede healing in any way, so that’s good to know! Bloods were ok, though I’m mildly anaemic for the first time.
Speaking of peg-interferon, there appears to be a supply problem as the licence for manufacturing has transferred to another company, and the resulting manufacturing disruption is expected to last up to a year. As a result, they’re trying to ration supplies nationally and, as my bloods have been relatively stable since starting it 4 years ago, I’m moving to injecting myself every 3 weeks rather than weekly and we’ll monitor progress to see if there’s any adverse effect from that. I thought that may be of interest to any other peg-interferon users out there who haven’t spoken with their team recently.
So sorry to hear all you are going through @CosmicHobo. I do hope things improve for you. Apart from anything else having so little sleep must be very wearing. I have had myelofibrosis for over 30 years and I also have osteoporosis and mild cerebral palsy which affects my mobility. Unfortunately I have had repeated stress fractures in my feet over the years as a result of these three conditions that I have. However this year it has gone to another level! I fractured my knee cap in January. I didn’t fall or twist it, I just was going down a step and it broke in half. Agony! I needed two operations with metalwork to hold it together. Then in June I slipped in the shower and broke five ribs. I am still recovering. I am not saying this to worry you. Please bear in mind that having had myelofibrosis for so long my bone marrow is increasingly fibrotic and what with osteoporosis and my disability too, it makes fractures more likely. I wish you well in your recovery. Willow x
Crikey @Willow, you’ve been having a time of it this year! Hope you’re slowly mending from all that, it does take a toll on you emotionally as well as physically.
I’m being sent for a DEXA scan next month given I’m 51 and had a fracture, which is routine. I’m pre fibrotic currently and hopeful there won’t be any signs of osteoporosis, but I figured it would do no harm to have the scan anyway. Back to fracture clinic on Friday to see how the shoulder is doing and though I’d (perhaps naively) hoped to be back at work tomorrow, I think I’ll take the other week I still have to run on the fit note as I’m pretty wiped out (I guess the new anaemia may be contributing to that a bit now I think of it) and still a bit sore.
Ah well, it all keeps me out of mischief and I’m enjoying my rewatch of ‘The West Wing’!
