As Day Seventy-One ends, today was the day Jenny got to revisit the Health Sciences Centre since she arrived to Riverview as her primary doctor requested she undergo the more powerful X-ray located there to more accurately see the progress in her right arm. As nearly a month has passed since Jenny arrived to Riverview, I am quite curious over whether or not she would be able to remember anyone at HSC. Jenny is very excited for this appointment because for the first time in her life, she gets to ride on a special wheelchair accessible vehicle.

Typically, Jenny would be accompanied by a Health Care Aide on her way to the appointment but under special circumstance I was authorized to be her escort for this trip. I am honoured because though I am not an employee or a trained Health Care Aide, Riverview staff has trusted me with this responsibility.

When we arrived at HSC, all I had for instructions on where to go were scribbled on the outside of the envelope of Jenny’s paperwork. It was a trek with a few unintentional detours but through it all Jenny was enjoying being pushed in her wheelchair as we had a mini adventure. As we were moving around the hospital she repeatedly asked

“Do you know where you’re going?”

to which I replied

“I have no idea.”

which would make her laugh.

After wandering for around 10 minutes we finally got to the waiting area of where we needed to be. Eventually, we were called and entered the operation room. After a quick glance I realized this process was going to be a lot more difficult than I thought. The bed where they take the X-rays is static and X-ray machine itself only moves in minimal direction. Jenny is not mobile right now enough to adjust for this. In addition, the purpose of the appointment is her right arm but her right arm is extremely immobile. Jenny cannot move it more than a few centimetres in a few directions without extreme pain and cannot move it at all in the other directions.

But with the help of the staff a solution was found and though it hurt Jenny just to hold the position for the X-ray, the X-ray was a success.

The results of Jenny’s X-ray are very interesting as it shows the metal plates bonded onto the bones in her arm and also shows her fractures and microfractures. The metal plates are permanent and will remain in her arms for the rest of her life. I do not know the rest of the technical details, but I know Jenny will have to come back in another few months to see the progress of her bones healing.

I learned something very vital in the follow-up meeting about these X-rays; Jenny’s right arm suffered so much trauma that her body didn’t know what to do and uncontrollably sent all sort of “repair” signals to it to the point that her right arm is actually growing an unnecessary extra bone in-between the 2 main bones in her forearm. This extra bone physically prevents Jenny from completing the motion of turning her palm flat either upward and downward. When one does this action normally, the two bones in the forearm overlap one another which Jenny cannot do. This also explains why Jenny’s right arm is permanently stuck in a “karate chop” position and cannot return back to a normal, resting position. If the arm is attempted to be pushed into this resting position it causes Jenny extreme pain as it puts pressure on the excess repairing bone from both sides. I remember the handful of times I’ve witnessed someone try to turn her arm like this and the yelping scream Jenny would let out because of it. I am now able to make sense of how painful it must have been.

Before we headed back to Riverview, I asked Jenny if she wanted to go visit the hospital wing she was previously in. She was hesitant, because she said she likely could not remember anyone, but eventually said yes. When I brought her to the wing, I recognized many of the staff working and to my surprise, the majority of them instantly recognized and remembered Jenny by name. They were so very happy to see her and some staff even messaged coworkers from different wings (who had all previously been assigned to Jenny once) to stop by and greet her which I found to be an incredible honour. It was a captivating sight to witness all these happy greetings to Jenny during the midst of a morning hospital rush. I kept an eye on the Charge Nurse to see if they wanted us to leave but they were also happy to see Jenny and allowed this brief visit to run it’s course. It was truly a memorable moment to experience.