more hand stuff

[serene]

Saw the hand specialist last night. Very nice man, cut me a break on his
fee.

There are apparently two thumb nerves to be concerned
about: the one that runs down the inside of the thumb, and the one on the
outside side. The inside one, which is the one that is really involved in
doing the pinching motions that opposable thumbs are so good for, appears
to be intact. The other one is damaged, but he's not sure if it's going
to require surgery, or if it will calm down as the swelling goes down in
my hand.

He'll see me in a week, take the stitches out, and assess where we are.
If I have to have surgery, it will wipe us out financially for a long
time, so I'm hoping that's not necessary.

Meanwhile, he said go ahead and get it wet, take the bandages off, and
don't baby it -- I'm to try to use it as much as possible. I'm typing with
two hands right now, but it's causing me a fair bit of pain, so I'll go
buy some tylenol on my break, and I'll give my hand frequent rest breaks.

It really looks monster-movie-ish. :-) If anyone wants to see, I can take
a picture when I get home.

Comments

[kayre]

Hi.. you don't know me, I just found this surfing friendsfriends... but having had a hand injury last year, may I offer some advice? Unless there's some specific reason you prefer or need to take Tylenol, consider another pain reliever-- Advil, Motrin, naproxen (Aleve). Tylenol is not an antiinflammatory, the others all are, and will move your healing along faster.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I ran out of the tylenol with codeine, which was working, but I'll go with something else.

[twostepsfwd.livejournal.com]

In my experience, Tylenol w/Codeine only works because of the codeine. Ibuprofen is a much better pain killer and also is an anti-inflammatory. This varies person-to-person obviously, but what brings down my inflammation and reduces pain the most for me is using ibuprofen plus an opioid pain med (tramadol, Tylenol w/codeine)

Hope that thumb nerve calms down so you can avoid surgery...

[starsail.livejournal.com]

Ouch. Let's hope you don't have to have surgery. I remember when I had no insurance, it really sucks. Hoping for an easy resolutions and less pain.

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

Girl, I feel ya. I don't know if you were reading me when I was in grad school, but I sliced open a finger at the end of one semseter. Ai!

Was relieved that I completely missed the nerves, and that it was lateral rather than transversal, so I didn't lose any feeling. Went between the tendons too. Very lucky.

I also like my hand guy. He wore a yellow silk bow tie with little jazz hands on it! :D

I hope the nerve is OK :/ Stretching helps too.

~ N.

[someotherguy.livejournal.com]

I also like my hand guy. He wore a yellow silk bow tie with little jazz hands on it!

Serenejournal's guy was wearing a bow tie too. I couldn't see details from the waiting area (and I wasn't all that worried about the doctor's tie) but I think it was yellow and it had some sort of pattern on it.

Hand doctor school tie? Gang colors? Drug company swag? Cloning?

[dbubley.livejournal.com]

Don't spend too much on pain meds. Call me or Carol.

If necessary, maybe we could have a bake sale to raise funds. Hey! Maybe we could do a party of sorts and auction off the car. Oh, girlfriend, let's talk!

bakesale

[ljgeoff.livejournal.com]

ok, a part of me is thinking "what a cool idea" and another part of me is furious.

Re: bakesale

[rsc.livejournal.com]

I understand the "furious" part -- a civilized society wouldn't require its members to depend on employment-based health insurance -- but I'll also add that a dedicated community can do some pretty amazing things. A few months ago, a friend of mine (who has long been a major organizer in the local GLBT contra-dance community) put a power drill through his thumb and required nerve-graft surgery. Since he had recently lost his job, he was without health insurance. Another member of the community had the idea of scheduling a special fund-raising dance to help him out, and the word got out to other parts of the community, and between the dance itself and funds donated at other local dances, we raised about $3000.

[loracs.livejournal.com]

What dbubley said . . . we can be the hook-up girls for meds like ibuprofen, at least.

[mackenzie]

I'm glad you're healing.

If you need anything, feel free to give me a holler. I have a car and a fair bit of free time if you need someone to run to the store or anything.

[minimo.livejournal.com]

There are many surgeries that have only about a 50/50 chance of success. If suggested, make sure you inquire about the success rate.

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks; I will!

[redbird]

And about the risks involved: as in, what are the chances that the surgery could make things better instead of worse? (Both what damage might be possible, and how (un)likely is it?)

[elissaann.livejournal.com]

Oh, jeez. I hope you don't need surgery.

They used to think that nerves didn't grow back, but now there's some evidence that they can, according to a concert pianist I know who is recovering from nerve damage. I'm hoping for a good outcome for you.

[firecat]

I'm in for the bakesale or whatever fundraising maneuvers I hope are not necessary.

[loracs.livejournal.com]

Love the hat, love the glasses, but most especially, I LOVE the expression!

[firecat]

aww, thanks! that was taken during serene's san diego womboink.

[dbubley.livejournal.com]

OK, this is off-topic, but I just have to say the hat is adorable; the picture is adorable.

[firecat]

[grin] thanks!

[revcarol.livejournal.com]

Sorry for being so late jumping in, Serene. Today is the first I've heard about your hand. It sounds so horribly painful. I wish I could be there to hold a bag of frozen peas on it. :o(

Are we talking about your primary hand here? Is the rest of you okay?

And of *course* I want a photo!