Busted Wrist

About four days after the surgery last week, I realized two things:

1. Not being able to take off the cast at the end of the day is getting really old, and didn't feel good.
2. The drugs are reminding me why I stopped drinking; I don't like what they do to my mind & body, but I need 'em to cut the pain

Thus, I was looking forward to my follow-up appointment today; I'd caught the train down on Sunday, and thanks to a nice promotion - in Via 1 First Class

After a quick ride across the Dundas street car, I arrived half an hour early for my appointment and was shown into an exam room almost immediately.
An ortho-tech came removed my cast, removed the wound dressing and showed me to the sink and said I should clean up.

That didn't go very well - the first time I tried to bend my wrist, my whole body convulsed in pain. Same for trying to make a fist. It hurt. After a few more jolts like that, I smartened up, pulled a chair over the to sink and Mahomet went to the mountain via many soaked paper towels. I was in agony. It took a while to get most of the red antiseptic off and clear up any odoriferous zones. As I regained my composure and tried to relax the spasming mass that is otherwise known as my left arm, the ortho-tech came back and trimmed the ends of the sutures and explained that rest will eventually dissolve away.

Moments later, Dr. v.S arrived, he seemed content with the state of wound and applied some Steri-Strips. Only a week post-op and one of the three incisions for the arthroscope is almost invisible, the other two just look like deep papercuts, the larger incision doesn't look like it'll leave much of a scar either.

Then I got the recap we've all been waiting for:

the scapholunate ligament had a moderate/significant tear (but not a complete tear)

he cleaned it up and tightened up, hence the larger incision in addition to the arthroscopic slits

there was evidence of previous injury

"also other signs of wear and tear"

but "everything worked out beautifully"

That sounded pretty good to me, but when he also said I am susceptible to wrist-injury (Period.), I asked how likely it was that I might suffer a similar plight with my right hand, he said he hopes it never happens, but it's a much higher than average possibility.

Oh - and that horrible wrist-popping thing he did to me? It's a Watson's or Lichtman's "catch up clunk" test. He did it to my right hand and it didn't feel weird at all - a good sign, normally it's not an uncomfortable sequence. See this page for a battery of tests.

Next step: "FAT free for 5 weeks" Eh? Fingers-And-Thumb Free short-arm cast for until early-March. It's better than a thumb-spica that locks you into a thumbs-up pose, but I may have whined about the cast inhibiting wearing a proper coat or ski jacket... and that Ottawa is really cold. That got him on a mini-rant about how Ottawa is always cold... then, with no further prompting from me, the plan went from:
Plan A: 5 weeks FAT-free cast to
Plan B: 2-3 weeks FAT-free cast to
Plan C: 5 weeks in a splint, 23.5 hours a day (yay! normal showers!)

Unfortunately, when the Occupational Therapist (OT) tried to fit me for the stupidly-designed pull-over splint, I was in just too much pain and I couldn't get my hand through it... and when I finally could get it all the way on by the 4th agonizing try, I couldn't tolerate it being adjusted tightly enough to her satisfaction.

So back to Plans A and/or B, and I'm in a cast for a period of 3-to-5 weeks.

Feeling blue.

I ponied up for a fiber-glass cast, which means I can just fit it through the ravaged sleeve of my old ski-jacket, so I'm not going to freeze quite as much now. Still can't really wear a glove or mitt over my finger tips however.

During the brief time that Plan C was in motion, I mentioned driving... sadly, it was very strongly discouraged. I'm legal to drive, but he's is very concerned about torquing the wrist and that it would be in my best interest to stay grounded until he says so. And that applies even to driving an automatic.

But you know what they say; no pain - no narcotics.
wait a sec...

_{(I shall write about this on my 'blog!)}

First off, thanks to Beez'z suggestion, it's time to change the Twitter hashtag from #BustedWrist to #RepairedWrist, after all, we have the technology - we can rebuild him.

No Big Deal

0900: Arrive at Pre-Operative Care Unit. Nervous.

Not This Hand!

0932: Change into gown & housecoat. Anxious.

TWH Spa Stylin'

0951: seen by intake nurse, she takes pertinent info like weight, temperature, allergies, etc... Nervous wreck

Welch Allyn Connex® Vital Signs Monitor - it has a very dusty USB port... and makes me think of fruit juice!

1013: Lead to my lounge chair, chat with some other people waiting for their procedures. Keeping it together, mostly.

1021: anesthesiologist comes to discuss the procedure:

will sedate me somewhat for nerve block procedure

will knock me out for the main operation (yay!)

okay, ready? Let's go.

! (Panic!)

Leads me down the hall, past all the other ORs - where I peek in every window

Get to a pre-op procedure room where they have me lie down on a bed, attach monitors, start sterilizing my neck & shoulder while trying to start an IV, which she couldn't for a while. Finally she does and pushes "two" of midazolam which immediately ends all of my anxiety. Calm.

The anesthesiologist then began ultrasounding my neck and showing the medstudent how to locate the nerve bundle. I couldn't figure out the 2D display... They shot the nerve bundle up.
Sensation in the fingers faded almost immediately, but not completely. It took a good ten minutes for things to really go away. In that time they left me alone... So I started watching my vital signs on the monitor... And screwing with them - until I tripped an apnea alarm when I held my breath too long... I stopped experimenting after that. Then they came and checked on my because I was wiggling my feet in time with my heart beat. So they poked me with a pin. It still kinda hurt.

Dr v.S came in to say hi, asked me how my wrist was doing, I complained about how when he popped my wrist it really interfered with my ability to play guitar... He did it a few times to me but at that point I couldn't really feel much of it. His medstudent didn't seem to enjoy it when he did it to her though!

Minutes later they hoisted me onto another stretcher and wheeled me into the OR.

Can't feel a thing!

Next thing I knew they were putting a sling on me and Dr v.S was asking me where I live and when did I want to come back... He said the procedure went well. My arm was warm and in a cast, my brain was foggy but slowly coming online.

1305: I was wheeled up to recovery, where a nurse named Svetlana tended to me. I groggily explained that she shares her name with a brand of vacuum tube. I don't know why I felt the need to tell her that. I assume was the drugs.

1430: Dad comes and picks me up, gets me some really good drugs. I take some.

Hi!

1500: Back at hotel, laze around doing not much and watching TV

Vampire bites for nerve block

That's it.

I go back next week... I don't really know anything else!

"Does it pain?"

Holy crap only two days...!