Two-year update 2

I just read some comments to my Two-year update post. Philip asked how I could be happy not having a straight bone. That's a good question, so I'll respond:

I am happy because I'm not aware of any angle. The last x-ray was taken long time ago, and before the bone had healed. Also, my doctor use to say that the x-ray image was lagging a few weeks behind what was happening inside. It was then strong enough for daily life (perhaps not push-ups). The angle at the last x-ray at week 18 was not that bad, a few degrees, perhaps, but it didn't look completely aligned – that's true.

What then happens in the healing process was that the bone solidifies and the body moves bone material from one side to the other, so that the angle more or less disappears. This is called Remodeling and doesn't only occur after a fracture, but throughout life. It also adapts to stress: a right handed tennis player will have higher bone mass in the right arm.

How much "straightening out" that has occurred in my case is impossible to say without another x-ray, but why take another image (and be exposed to more radiation) when things are going fine? Apparently, the remodeling after a fracture could take up to five years, so things are still happening in there. But today I performed 20 dips on gymnastic rings, not too shabby for a middle-aged former couch potato, who couldn't perform even one only three years ago.

When I feel the humerus bone, it's impossible to tell that it was ever broken and no misconfiguration is visible from any angle. So to my knowledge, it is perfect.

Thanks for the question Philip!