A recent patient presented to the Evergreen Health Emergency Department following a fall with ongoing wrist pain. After waiting for six hours, she was diagnosed with x-rays with a broken wrist by the emergency physician on call. The on-call physician personally reached out to Dr. Galle to see if he could see the patient emergently because she was supposed to start radiation treatment for early stage breast cancer the day of her fall.
Luckily for the patient, Dr. Galle was able to make time in his schedule to see her the following morning. After reviewing her images from the night before, Dr. Galle agreed that surgery was the best course of treatment for her broken wrist. He scheduled her the following Monday so that her cancer treatment was impacted as little as possible.
“I was so grateful to be seen right away by Dr. Galle and to be scheduled for surgery just five days after my fall. I only had to delay my radiation treatment by a week or so. It was completely by chance, but I’m so happy I was assigned to Dr. Galle.”
This particular patient of Dr. Galle’s underwent a surgery on the wrist known as an open reduction and internal fixation. This includes making an incision on the wrist to realign the bones of the wrist so that they can heal in the correct position. Unfortunately many cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy can have complications when combined with surgery such as delayed wound healing and subsequent infections. This is why the timing for this particular patient was so critical to get her wrist treated in an expedited fashion in order to only minimally affect her ongoing cancer treatments.
The patient recalled her experience at the Proliance Eastside Surgery Center in Kirkland, Washington, being positive. The location was convenient, close to the Evergreen Hospital but out of the hustle and bustle of the hospital. She especially appreciated the cute coffee shop in the entrance of the Proliance Eastside Surgery Center building.
“The anesthesiologist was very helpful. I will never forget him explaining to me that the nerve block was going to wear off in the middle of the night. So even though I might not be in discomfort, he recommended I take a dose of pain medication before going to bed to help manage the pain overnight.”
Post-operatively, she recalled that the first day or two after her operation she did experience some pain, but by the third day she was much better. Additionally, the patient was pleasantly surprised at how quickly she was able to start moving her hand and wrist. Within a week she was in a splint and working with the Occupational Therapy team to get her range of motion and strength back. Her mobility came back surprisingly quickly, which was a relief since she had broken her dominant hand.
“Dr. Galle really listened to me. I had a pin sticking out of my hand to help hold my bones in place and the skin around it was getting red. It was really adding to my stress level, so I asked if I could possibly have it removed early and he was willing to do it for me!”
As part of some wrist fracture patterns, an open reduction and internal fixation can include many different fixation types such as plates, screws, pins, wires, etc. Most of the hardware is placed under the skin but infrequently a pin can be included that travels through the skin on its way to the bone. These pins are meant to provide extra fixation to the fracture in the early stages of healing. While the ideal timing for pin removal is very much in debate, in this patient it was clearly causing undue distress and so it was an easy win for both Dr. Galle and our patient to remove it as soon as possible.
“Dr. Galle did a great job. My wrist feels perfect, and you would never know I had broken my wrist except for a very slight scar. I have nothing but good things to say about Dr. Galle, his staff at Proliance Hand Wrist & Elbow Physicians, and the Proliance Eastside Surgery Center.”
Dr. Galle understands the importance of treating patients in conjunction with other care providers to ensure the highest level of care and best end results. His strong connections with Eastside hospitals and primary care providers help patients get back to their lives as quickly as possible.
