The Sutures come out...

Yesterday was my visit to Dr. Altchek's office where my suture was removed. I had one of the nurses take a couple photos (one before and one after).  In the first image, this is what my elbow looked like after they cut away the partial cast, gauze and ace wrap. A bit swollen, and bruised, but overall better than I thought.  The 2nd photo is after the nurse cleaned up the elbow and removed transparent bandages.  (That blue "string" is the "Suture". If you haven't had surgery before, the suture is basically the thread they use to hold the wound closed.) To my absolute surprise, removing the string/suture was nearly painless.  Gotta give the doctor insane amount of credit, as you can barely tell where the incision line is. (Sure I can feel it.) Hopefully it will heal looking as clean as it does now. (And finally, I get to shower w/o a bag on the arm.) I did ask the nurse to take a photo of Altchek's bike in his office, but I'm told his bike wasn't there, but was home. Oh well.

After that, I was fitted with what I would call the Robo brace. Very cool to look at. Works well too. Essentially, it allows me to move my arm up and down, and allows my wrist to rotate, but it limits the movement b/n 15 and 105 degrees. That's almost a straight arm to just past 90 degrees. Not so bad.  I took a photo of my Robo brace when I got back to the office. Now I can wear real clothes again! Still have to use this contraption (and sleep with it) for the next 3 weeks, at which time I'll start my physical therapy.



































Well, I'm excited to get back to my training program tomorrow, now that I can sweat and not worry about getting the incision wet. Will focus on keeping weight off the right arm, but plan of hitting it hard.

In the meantime, wishing you all success in achieving your training and nutrition goals. If you don't have any, now's a great time to start. Nothing major, just simple baby steps works best.....  Supplement recommendations for this week? Astaxanthin and high quality medical grade Omega 3 Fish Oil.  (I take 2 types- Omega XL, and Carlson's.) Go google it. Absolutely has changed my life. Be back soon....