Surgery

I typed this all out and must have hit a key that sent me back a page and lost everything. Sigh. Starting again…

I went back to see my gp after my neurologist appointment and was referred to a surgeon, who I saw a few weeks ago. I am pleased to note I didn’t have to wait long after my appointment time to get in and the doctor was pretty good. I wasn’t in for long but I was never rushed and he explained the main bits of surgery and the options on anesthesia. Then we chatted briefly as he noticed my American accent and it turns out he did his fellowship in Pittsburgh. That’s two medical professionals I’ve met who know about western Pennsylvania and don’t automatically assume it’s the Philadelphia side. Another note is this guy is left-handed, just like the neurologist was. As another lefty, I notice these things. :D Anyway, I went away and the surgery was organised for July 24th, less than two weeks later.

My surgery was organised for a small hospital that isn’t too far from us. It was a really nice one, from what I could see of it. The Scientist drove me in on the day and I got checked in pretty quickly and was soon led back to a four bed room to await surgery. Only one bed was occupied when I arrived but they were all soon filled as patients checked in. A nurse came and did the usual checks and then the anesthetist came and a local anesthetic with sedative was chosen. I had to have an ECG at some point which was done quickly but I was first in the queue for surgery and they were ready for me even before I was done with all the things required. Soon I was taken back for surgery and left the Scientist to go walking.

The walk to the theater was quite short which was nice because I no longer had my glasses on and couldn’t see well. I had to wait a few minutes once inside and the surgeon came and drew an arrow on my left arm and was gone. A couple minutes later I was in theater and was moving to the bed for the surgery. The anesthetist came in and punctured by wrist for an IV. That was pretty painful but that was the only pain I felt. Sedative was pumped in and I got a bit drowsy and then a bit more and I was out like a light. I woke up in recovery after more than an hour and soon was being wheeled back to the room where the Scientist was again waiting for me.

They brought me some sandwiches to eat and then I got dressed and was discharged with minimal instructions. No painkillers prescribed but I did have some naproxen left from when my gp had prescribed it for the carpal tunnel issues before. I didn’t need anything for many hours as my hand was was quite numb, like when having dental work done. It did start to wear off and the first thing I felt wasn’t pain but itchiness. It was probably about eight hours later the numbness disappeared and I took a tablet at that point before it started to hurt too much. The naproxen is slow release so it was well suited to keep me pain free for the next day.

The first couple of days, I couldn’t do all that much with my hand but as the week has gone on, I have been able to increase activity enough that I can do a bit of writing, a bit of typing and I can sort of use a fork for a little while. I have been mostly off painkillers aside from the first couple of days. I did kind of overdo things one day and it started throbbing a bit. It feels pretty decent now although I can’t do weight or much pressure at the moment. That’s a bit tricky at times but my body tells me when it’s too much. :) I see the surgeon again on Friday and probably the bandage will come off. It was supposed to be for ten days but I can’t see him taking it off to look and replacing for just a day. I think the surgery has rid me of the numbness. Not that I haven’t had any at all but I think that’s more from my hand being wrapped up and compressed at times than any internal issue. I started driving a couple days ago and it went better than I expected. Today I did my normal job and it was fine although my hand is feeling fatigued. I will be resting it a bit more tomorrow.

I think I’d written a bit more before but cannot recall what else I said. Probably nothing important.