I have a scar on my arm that looks a lot like the scar Frankenstein has on his forehead. It's on my right arm and people tend to notice it a lot. Some people really have a tough time with it, especially after I show them the small scar on the other side of my arm where the bone broke through my skin. I like my scar, it's been with me for half my life now and I wouldn't give it up if I could.
I got my scar playing street hockey in the church parking lot. I knew immediately that my arm was fucked. I'd broken my left arm twice before and was pretty familiar with the sensation.
I was hooked from behind and came down with my full weight on the radius and ulna (the two bones in your forearm). The ulna shattered and the radius snapped and popped out of the bottom of my arm.
I also landed on the ball so everyone was yelling at me to get up so the game could continue. When I rolled over the middle knuckle of my right hand was touching my upper forearm so that my hand and part of my wrist were going the wrong way. One of my teammates puked. It took me a couple minutes to really feel the pain, but when I did I screamed bloody murder until I was in the ambulance.
The doctor had to go through the top of my arm (surgery 1) to reconstruct the bones and they put all kinds of metal plates and screws in there to get everything to come back together. Five months later they had to take most of the hardware out so that my bones would grow properly (surgery 2). After the bones were healed they had to get the rest of the stuff out (surgery 3).
The really weird thing is that the scar shouldn't be as bad (good) as it is. The surgeon I had really screwed up. In addition to putting tendons and muscles in the wrong place he couldn't follow the initial incision he made so with each surgery the scar grew. I didn't realize that is was a shit job until a shocked doctor took a look at it a few years ago.
I am really bad at arm wrestling with my right arm. My grip is significantly better with my left arm. I have no feeling in part of my wrist and some of my hand. I have to constantly pluck hairs out of my scar to keep it presentable. And I often lie and tell people it is a wound received in a knife fight.
The best part is that my dad recently sent me an article about the doctor that worked on my arm. He has been suspended from practicing, and the article citied specifically:
“He is no longer allowed to operate on patients 16 and younger and can not perform hand and wrist surgeries.”
Ha. I put the link to the whole article below.
The Article:
http://www.recordonline.com
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