A little over a year ago, I managed to aquire a compound fracture of my radius about 4 inches distal of my elbow. This required reconstructive surgery, a plate, and 6 screws.
I have worked at The Home Depot for 2 years. It is a manual labor job. I have gained seniority there and I have worked my way up a little. The job requires heavy lifting. I can manage most things but I simply cannot do others. I am not on a doctor’s note, currently.
Most days, my arm hurts bad after work. Almost everyday, sometime during the day, it will cramp up and throb for about 5 minutes even if I am at rest and have been so all day.
What my question is, is there anything that can be done uninvasively? Pain medication? I don’t have time or money for physical therapy or additional surgery. I simply accept that my body is permanently damaged.
If I were your patient, what would you do? I think pain medication would be the best bet but I want to know what most physicians would do before I pay a copay and he or she says to deal with it.
By the way, I have tried tylenol of every kind, aspirin, motrin, and naproxen. None help with this.
Thank you for your time.