Hi, my question is in reference to my mother, and I thank you in advance for taking the time to offer any opinions you may have!
About 2 months ago, my mother was accidentally tripped at school by one of her students. When she fell, she fell into a bookcase and spiral fractured her distal humerus bone. A local orthopedic surgeon performed emergency surgery, inserting a rod, screw etc. to fix the fracture.
It has now been 8 weeks since the surgery, and my mother continues to be such intense pain that she can’t sleep, and often fights back the tears that have never easily come to her.
She has been in physical therapy for 4 weeks now, and her pain has not improved. When asking her doc about the pain, he has almost blown her off saying it was a bad break and that it takes time.
Now for the pain management side of the issue. She has tried Darvocet, Tramadol, and Hydrocodone. She has to be fairly careful in this area, as she has a very touchy stomach, and hiatal hernia that have been big problems for her in the past. Her GI docs have strongly warned against anything that could possibly irritate her stomach lining (ibuprofen etc…).
So in summary, we have a very active 59 year old woman with a high pain tolerance who (8 weeks out of surgery) continues to have pain so intense in her arm that she every day insists that it has to be broken in other places. The two big questions are: 1.) Is this pain abnormal, or is it simply just this painful to recover? and 2.) What alternatives could she try to get her pain under control?
Thank you to any of you kind people who can offer some help, my mother and entire family are thankful!