So the past week has been a good news bad news story. Last Monday we saw our 3rd ortho trying to figure out the wrist pain that has had ds (16) off his left wrist totally for the past 5 months. (Modified training for dec and jan, and No apparatus work whatsoever since the last weekend in January.) Good news is this doc listened a little more and dug a little deeper and we know what he's done to the wrist. It is a surgical fix- and ds confirmed with ortho that it should be good to train on after. Ortho wants 2 tests done then we will schedule surgery. Ds was thrilled. Until we got date back on the contrast mri. It's 3 months out. Then talked to ortho office about surgery dates. They are booking 8- 11 months out, and won't book the date until after the mri. So a minimum of another 11 months plus rehab. Plus the 5 he's already been out means about a year and half with no skill work. I'm thinking that's just too long to get back into it.
His goal was always figure out the wrist- get back in the gym, get back to full training and then make a choice. It sucks that wait times (both to get to this point and to go forward) are going to be the deciding factor!
Also sucks that it is going to be another 16 months plus of not being able to open doorknobs, do up buttons, ride a bike, paddle a canoe, spot kids while he coaches, type with both hands, and so many other things too.
So sad right now!
OMG!!!! buttercup I FEEL YOUR PAIN!!!! Your poor son!
this was my son a few years ago! He hurt his wrist at 13. We did the 'stupid mom' method where just work through it, if is still hurts in a couple of weeks we will go to check it out. We got it xrayed- nothing...the ortho said it was probably a sprain......wait 4 weeks......after 4 weeks, no change and he had the same pain so the ortho requested an MRI which we got the following week.......back to the ortho a week after that, and he said the MRI showed inflammation so he put him in a sling and no usage for a few more weeks.....(8 weeks post injury)....no improvement.
I then took him to a hand specialist and took him the MRI results where the specialist said the MRI quality was garbage and he could not see anything. Instead of ordering a new one, he assumed it was a TFCC injury and casted him above the elbow for 4 more weeks.....we came back after 4 weeks and the Dr. removed the cast and within seconds my son said....'its the same Mom'..... OK, we are about 4/5 months into the injury. I demand a new MRI and the Dr. agrees so we get it done 2 weeks after that! (everything is a week or 2 right???). After getting the final results which showed an old fracture of the ulnar styloid, and inflamation all around it, the specialist says the probability if the fracture to heal is low, so he said to give it a few more months, or quit gymnastics. We asked him for surgery and he said he would never operate on a 13 yo...he tells my son to look for a different sport.
6 months after initial injury and no improvement, my son was going to gymnastics and he was able to do very little. Add in a coach who had NO experience with injured athletes and, well, you could imagine the mental abuse he got....That coach routinely would tell him he was a liar and was making up injuries. He would send him to the side with a list of conditioning and then would focus on the others.
I made him try other sports since I refused open wrist surgery. He tried several things but kept going back to gymnastics.......I eventually found an excellent surgeon who specialized in hand wrist/problems and he performed arthroscopic surgery and fixed it up in 20 minutes. This surgery was 11 months after the injury. After 2 months of serious rehab, he was trying to get back in after 13 months. ( 2 full seasons in the crapper) We then changed gyms....
I think my son would have made it through this injury had he a more understanding and experienced coach. I think this is so critical when athletes get injuries, especially the 12/13/14 year olds. Unfortunately for my son, he tried to come back but just did not have the mental stamina to 'come back'. Plus he had grown 4 inches and gained some weight.....All of which made 'coming back' harder. A good coach would not have cast him aside but would have tried to keep him menatlly engaged.....I should have taken him out of the gym when it was obvious the coach was behaving badly........maybe its just me still trying to blame....
He 'retired' at 15 and is now coaching at his new gym. He has learned tons in the 9 years of gymnastics, especially what kind of coach he does NOT want to be........But i still hold a tiny bit of hope for him to go back....he could specialize easily and he is still so young.
I really feel for you and your son and all that he has gone through. It is such a frustrating injury and it seems like it will never get better. It will......
Feel free to PM me.....if I can offer any help I would be happy to.
