Friday, September 8, 2017

The Hand

The hand is sore.  Pictures will follow.  So you can bale out anytime. Getting older and having body parts wear out is not for sissies.

I had to be at the hospital at 9:30 AM for all the pre op questions and the nurse had no sense of humor. Of course she asked me if I felt safe in my home, well what kinda dummy says No when her husband is right there, I think it is a redundant question…seems to me that a paper and pen with the question written down on a piece of paper would be a better idea.   Then she asked me if I was depressed, I laughed and said “Not today.”  She said depression is NOTHING to laugh at and many people are helped because of the questions that nurses have to ask. Alrighty then. She wasn’t half bad at starting an IV, I have had better and worse.  I had to have an hour drip of antibiotics before going to surgery about 11:45 AM.

There was a young man named Casey just outside the OR reading something highlighted in a book.  I said “Hi I am Connie and I bet you are reading about my surgery?”  He replied “Are you the carpal tunnel scheduled?”  He is a Senior at the high school in Nevis and is shadowing Dr Smith for the summer.  John was waiting for me in the OR….he was the anesthetist.

I had some kind of anesthesia in the Operating Room to make me sleepy and not remember a thing and then they put a tourniquet on my arm. The whole surgery took about 20 minutes yet I lost a couple of hours…go figure.  Supposively the Doctor talked to me after the surgery…I don’t recall a thing that he said…good thing he talked to Far Guy.  I had a tumor near the tunnel that the nerve goes through…they are rarely cancerous. The Dr felt that I should have a good result long term since I had two problems in that area of my hand.

Casey’s Mom was the OR Recovery Nurse.  I heard a familiar voice…it was Paul (Far Guy’s Cousin) he helps push carts and deliver people here and there. The Recovery Nurse and I had a nice chat….and since I was talking so much she took me back to where Far Guy was waiting.  It was about 1:45 PM.

I got to eat some toast and have some juice and take pain pills and get dressed and head home.  We picked up a prescription and we got home about 3:30 PM.

My arm was all wrapped up in packing and gauze and an ace bandage.  I could move my fingers and my thumb.  Ice packs became my friend as they took away much of the pain.  I don’t remember much that happened on Friday or Saturday or even Sunday, I slept a lot.  I watched the weather channel and some marathon reality show and a bunch of Harry Potter Movies…I know I talked to a few people on the phone…who I am not sure. I wrote a couple of blogs and I hope they made sense.  Far Guy helped me bathe everyday and get a fresh nightgown on and brought me lemonade and made sure that I ate every so often and wrote down every pill I took and what time I took it. He brought me bags of ice and retrieved the one that leaked all over and woke me up in an icy bath.  Chance laid right next to the couch and slept when I slept. I know Far Guy cooked…chicken and noodles one night, a steak and a baked potato, a soft shell taco… no one starved to death.

Wednesday was the day I could remove the awkward big bandages. Off it came as soon as I woke up on Wednesday!  Oh I hated to look…if it looked as bad as it felt…wowza. It is a pain in the butt hand.  Some movements are very painful and I just cannot do them.  Taking the top off a water bottle, cutting an apple, cutting up a steak….it took me a few tries to butter toast left handed.  I ate left handed…and still am as it is just easier.  Pulling drawers out hurts…I can push with the hand but not pull…I cannot write decently…I have a hard time with fine motor skills…even holding a piece of mail in between my fingers and thumb. I cannot put my own bra on and Far Guy says he is better at taking them off than putting them on.  My fingers are still numb and I still have some swelling and ice is still my best friend to help control the pain.  I can only take so much and I am off to the couch for elevation and ice.

One day at a time.  Here is the aftermath. One week post surgery.

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Noah and I tried to count the stitches we think there are fourteen.  Noah said “It will heal nicely.”  I hope so.

Far Guy says that my hand and arm are very angry with me…I have to agree.  The pain that I had before surgery in my elbow and shoulder is gone and hopefully the pain in my hand will be gone sometime soon.  I get my stitches out next Monday.  I can leave it undressed, but sometimes it likes a little more support so I put a dressing on it and an ace bandage.

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25 comments:

Shirley H. said...

OH boy, that hand sure looks sore! How do you manage to type? I have been thinking about how you manage that! Far Guy sounds like a great nurse and helper! And I know that Chance must be a great comfort. I am so glad that you are able to do your blogging! It is the first thing I read on the computer every day.Take good care of yourself now! And keep us posted on how things are going.

Mary said...

Ouch! Praying you'll be pain free once you're fully healed. It sounds like you're being taken good care of during your recovery. I look forward to reading your updates every morning. Thank you for keeping us updated.

marlu said...

So glad you are in the healing stage! Take it easy on that pushing and pulling!!
Far Guy cracks me up. So glad he is at home in the kitchen...I have one of those too. He cooked when I was having problems a few years ago. And we taught both our boys to cook. I read your column very early too. Glad you can type!

linda m said...

That really looks sore. Glad Far Guy is helping you. Love his remark about the bra. You are going to have to tell us how you are able to type. I am praying for you that your hand heals quickly and you can get back to using it real soon. Just keep resting it and have a great weekend.

DJan said...

Owowow! That sure does look painful but I am convinced you are on the upswing now. Glad you have Chance keeping you company. Those pictures tell the story of why you're in such pain. :-(

Lynda said...

It looks like you are healing well. No real redness around the wound. Also, the blood under the skin has already turned yellow so it is dissipating. It must be the good nutrition and sleep. Your nurse can keep his job!
Be patient with the hand's healing and don't stress it too soon. My daughter's had is back fully functional now. Her surgery was the end of June.
One thing to be prepared for - - and it may not happen to you but she said a few in her doctor's surgery experienced this - - after the stitches were out - - the incision area - - especially top layer of skin started to separate more than originally was cut. Long story short - - - butterfly bandages for a few days - - per the nurse - - and she finished healing.

sillygirl said...

I was surprised you could write so much - hope you had help as I liked hearing all the details. I was prepared to see your photo thinking it would be worse - it looks really good! I recently sliced my index finger open - amazingly it didn't hurt but bled a lot - finally 7 stitches that were under the bandage - I didn't look. I waited the longest time to have the stitches out - my doctor didn't get a few pieces and I worried about that but in a week the skin with them sloughed off and my finger looked pretty good. If I really look I can see the scar but in daily life no one notices. I figure scars are my tattoos from life - don't need them colored! I think you will be amazed that with time your hand will look better than you could imagine now and better yet it will work much better! Patiently heal.

Phyllis Pritchard said...

I also am wondering how do you type your blog? But sure glad you are able to, as I enjoy reading it daily. Hope the hand keeps improving every day.

Mac n' Janet said...

You're a brave soul, the pain must have been bad to convince you to have surgery.

Tired Teacher said...

I agree with Noah: it's going to heal nicely, and you'll hardly see the scar. The surgeon did a nice job.

Far Side of Fifty said...

My fingers work just fine. I am not a great typist, more of a hunt and peck variety...that bandage was awful and I kept hitting wrong keys:)

Lady Fi said...

Ouch! Hope it's getting better and SOON!

Terry and Linda said...

Oh, my that looks so sore! But having the tumor out is going to be such a great relief!.

Rita said...

Looks terribly sore, but like it is healing well. The incision is placed so that it shouldn't be very noticeable later on, too. Nice! Glad they got rid of the tumor, too!
Hang in there. Your poor hand will feel better eventually. Love and hugs! :)

Shirley said...

Surgery scares me, I hat the thought of anaesthetic. I had to go under when they had to put pins in my broken wrist years ago. It's like another world as you are coming out of it. And out of it is exactly how I felt.
Hope you heal up quickly and that you will indeed be pain free.

Red said...

That looks bad but that's the way thing are. I'm the same coming out of recovery.I remember absolutely nothing.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

I just caught up on the pre-surgery and post surgery posts, Connie. Good news that the surgery is over and you are healing now. Kudos to Far Guy and Reach for being there and helping out. years ago, I also had hand surgery and I recall how difficult it was to do even the simplest things, but in time things got better and they will for you.

Cynthia said...

Ow! That's what I said to myself when I saw the photo. It does look like it's healing nicely and hopefully all your pain will be gone soon. Take care!

Anonymous said...

Wow.. I had carpal tunnel surgery on both hands; right in October and then left in December some years back. I wasn't allowed to remove the big bandage post-op until my 10 day post-op appointment and then it was lightly bandaged for some time, as my stitches didn't heal well. I was to be out of work for 6 weeks, but I went back at 4 weeks, which was a mistake - I went back because they were INSISTENT that I could sit and just answer the phones; forgetting that I was RIGHT HANDED and couldn't use my hand for 6 full weeks per my doctor!!! So they got angry at me for trying to take messages with my left hand and 'they were too hard to read' so I told my employer that I could always peck on the computer word program one finger at at time with my left hand but I would NOT go against my doctor's orders and I was doing THEM a favor coming back 2 weeks early, and I had a manual stick shift and had to use my LEFT HAND to shift while using my KNEE to steer at that moment. What a nightmare. And the worse news? Only took less than a year for it to come back in both wrists...
Dawn P.

Pauline Persing said...

Gene's remark about the bra reminded me of Tom. Our men!! Glad to hear he has been taking good care of you. Hang in there for another week and you'll feel a lot better. The curious thing I noted was I quickly forgot how "bad" bad was in the beginning and was impatient for the "new bad" to go away. Wonder if that will happen with your mind, too?

Granny Marigold said...

My but that does look painful! I hope it pains you less every day. I guess it's something to be thankful for that you can use your fingers without pain. The rest will hopefully follow.

Linda Reeder said...

I remember at that stage wearing a cotton glove that I cut the fingers off of, It protected the incision and kept it clean. I had pain too. In fact, I had a nerve nicked during surgery and the nerve took a long tine to settle down. I had to apply pressure and make it hurt in order to get it to eventually recover.
The good news it the surgery seems to have fixed what it was supposed to fix.

Jacqi Stevens said...

Glad you are over the hump and now on the mend. That news about finding a tumor must have been a scare! Whatever it was, at least it is out!

Paula said...

Oh my goodness. Good luck on your road to recovery! I'll say a prayer for you!

L. D. said...

Ouch, I didn't stay long on the photos. As I type with fingers taped together I can not believe you are typing so well. I am glad the pain in the arm is gone.