About a year ago, when mom was in chicago, I fell and injured my left wrist, I admit I was drunk at the time and barely felt it. I woke up the next morning and it was 3 times the size it should have been. Mr Norinew (my father) was really into his work and wouldn’t take me to the hospital and sign consent to treat papers, I was only 17.
The other night, I was out late and the cold set in. I have since been to the ER where they gave me a brace and a pain reliever that didn’t do shit but make me sleep, and to an orthopedic(sp?) specialist who gave me something a little stronger for the pain and wants to do an MRI on said wrist but I have to take out all of my body jewellry for that, I have 5 piercings, most of them new. but he suspects that when I fell I ripped a ligament in it which means possible surgery
Well, which is worse, the possibility that your trendy peircings could close up, or the possibility that you could lose the use of that wrist/hand? You need to take care of this, you know you do. I’d also say that maybe you need to quietly address a few things on the homefront, as well. I don’t know you or your family beyond this message board, so I’m not going to give much more than a “bare bones” observation. I will ask you this though, do you think getting that drunk was worth it now? (Yes, I’d ask anyone who told me what you just did via this message board the same thing.) I think it’s time for some soul searching, and for you to begin to actually take responsibility and face problems and find solutions. I know when I was 17 if I was that hurt I’d have gone to the hospital on my own (had a friend drive me, taken a bus, walked, whatever it took) and made them get ahold of my parent from there if it came down to it. I’d not sit and suffer with a hugely swollen wrist. Look beyond the lack of sugar in my words, and to the hopes that you learn from this and get stronger. Maybe you have already begun to do what I’ve suggested, and just didn’t feel the need to mention it. Maybe you really did only want to come here to lament the possible loss of your jewelry. If so, then it won’t be hard for you say to yourself “I’m where I need to be right now.”
Adding in case it isn’t clear. By going to the hospital on my own and making them contact my gaurdian I’d be forcing the gaurdian’s hand, and MAKING them come sign the consent forms. I’d let the hospital advocate for me, and get them to see it really is needed.
yeah I know all of this now but it’s just hard to deal with my poor discision back then and the possibility of losing almost 200 bucks woth of piercing in the process
Yeah, but two hundred dollars is peanuts compared to a lifetime without use of your hand/wrist which you might possibly face if you don’t get it taken care of. (Worst case scenario.) It could affect your lifetime income, and definitely your quality of life. (Having to go through life doing everything with only one hand?! There are so many things we do without thought that require both hands/arms.) Life is painful at times, and I do empathize. (I’ve been young and made bad decisions myself in different areas.) Good luck with your wrist in any case, I hope it’s fixed withoug complications, and you get full use back.
Two hundred bucks is peanuts. The surgery for your hand may run into the tens of THOUSANDS, and you need to make sure that all your bases are covered before having it.
Also, go back to your piercer and see if they have a solution, like maybe plastic inserts or something to keep the piercings open for a few hours.
I second and third all the advice here. You may well need occupational therapy for that wrist/hand post op. If surgery is done.
Please get this looked at–you are young, but trust me–arthritis can set in to that wrist. You could live with chronic pain from this.
What are piercings to that? Not much. The MRI takes a few hours–why can’t you put the thingies back? Or ask what to do re this issue at the place you had the piercings done? You are not the first to have this kind of conflict.
Good luck. And it must be said-Dad sounds a schmuck.
BMEzine has information on the body mods vs MRIs issue. In short, see if you can get non-metallic jewelry in there for the duration of the MRI. Even if you can’t, all may not be lost - depending on the piercing, the amount of time it has to be out, how well it’s healed, etc, you or your piercer may be able to replace the jewelry (or a smaller version of it) after the MRI.
This is true, so go get the MRI done, and find out what kind of treatment you need to get your wrist healed. When I asked the opening question in my first post I wasn’t thinking of the possibility of plastic inserts, and was thinking of “if she needs surgery, she’s likely going to have them out for hours, and they could close”.
Buy some cheap acrylic jewelry if the piercings are so new that they couldn’t be left empty for an hour or so. Just don’t be like a former class mate of mine, who pierced his ears but then wasn’t allowed to wear earrings for baseball (why baseball and earrings are exclusive I never found out), so he replaced his regular earrings with…broomstraws. His piercings were two weeks old and he put broomstaws in them. He claimed, of course, that they were sterile, because he’d dunked them in rubbing alcohol and burned the ends with a lighter. What an idiot.
(I’ve been young and made bad decisions myself in different areas.) Good luck with your wrist in any case, I hope it’s fixed withoug complications, and you get full use back.