Coming to Grips

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.
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