OP
OP
NanaBeach
Insider
United States
Hello BoneSmarties,
It's been over 6 weeks since my last update, so I thought I'd take a little time today to share what's been happening. The biggest change in my recuperation is that last Friday (November 15), I "graduated" from therapy. As you may recall, I've been working with an excellent team of Certified Hand Therapists for more than 7 months, starting just after surgery #1 in April and then resuming as soon as the cast was removed after surgery #2 in May. Friday's appointment happened to be my 60th visit (!), which according to the therapy team, is about 5 times as long as their typical treatment period. It wasn't a surprise taking a pause from therapy since I've been feeling for a few weeks that things were at a plateau regarding my ROM and other objective measures. I also discontinued using the Dyna-Splints on my fingers since they weren't doing much to help my fingers bend more fully. The therapists explained that although my hand and arm swelling is greatly improved, it is still there... and this means that there's a mechanical obstruction to bending my elbow further and increasing the flexion in my fingers. I'm hopeful that this swelling will continue to diminish in the months ahead.
Meanwhile, I've been doing my best each day to use my right hand and arm as much as possible. I'm driving short distances (under 10 miles) many days each week and even pushed myself to do a longer drive (about an hour each way) to join a group of high school friends for lunch. That longer distance driving was challenging and painful... of course I neglected to take Tylenol ahead of time to counteract the discomfort from holding the steering wheel for that long. However the good news is I've been able to avoid using Tylenol for weeks -- and after so many months of needing that pain management on a daily basis, this feels like a huge milestone.
I've had a few limited experiences of cooking, mostly preparing dishes with minor assistance from my husband. I made a big pot of soup (pasta fagioli, delicious!) and was able to chop the onions, garlic, and scallions by myself. Even though it took me a while to do this, I had a great sense of achievement making this recipe, particularly after months of being unable to do any food preparation at all. My intention is to continue taking "baby steps" in the kitchen and get back to making some of our favorite recipes. Although I cannot yet use any utensil with my right hand to bring food to my mouth, I can use a knife to cut soft foods safely. I sometimes will use a spoon in my right hand to serve food, but then go back to using a fork with my left hand to eat. I regularly rinse dishes and load the dishwasher, set the table, do small loads of laundry, help my husband change the linens, gather trash together, recycle mail, pay bills, and do small errands. It's very important for my mental health and emotional well being to participate as much as possible and not be resigned to the role of "patient" in any way.
Since my previous notes, things are pretty similar regarding depending on my left hand for hygiene and personal care. Eventually I'm hoping to be able to use both hands in the shower and to wash my hair. One helpful hint has been changing to a shampoo bar. It was obvious early on that attempting to open a shampoo bottle with one hand and find a way to use it wasn't going to work. I'm still 100% using my left hand for brushing my teeth and have switched to "gum soft-picks" (small disposable interdental brushes) as a substitute for flossing, since I can't hold dental floss with both hands. Happily at my last dental checkup, there was no addition plaque so this alternate plan seems to have a good outcome.
Overall I feel like my quality of life is very good, despite the challenges of living with assorted long term effects of a complex injury. My next checkup with the orthopedist is in mid-December. I'm eager to hear what he thinks about the progress that I've made and to find out his thoughts about how much further things may improve in the months ahead. While putting so much time and effort into rehabilitation over more than 6 months after my second surgery feels like a long period, the reality is that these complicated injuries sometimes continue to heal for a year or longer.
There's no comparison between any aspects of the recovery I went through with my knee replacement surgery in October 2018 and the overall impact on my life from pain, disability, and losing the function of my dominant hand/arm from these two surgeries. As part of my last evaluation from the Hand Therapy center, they were able to calculate that I am currently 52% disabled regarding the use of my right hand and arm. That's an enormous improvement from the immediate post-op period, when I was probably 95% disabled with that upper extremity! But I have to come to terms with the fact that there's still a very significant amount of disability involved, which makes life much more complicated. Although I'm grateful about how many more tasks I can do myself, there's also the reality that it takes me a lot longer to do them! In some instances (i.e., putting on socks), I could ask my husband to help me so the job is completed more efficiently. But I'm fiercely independent enough (and yes, a little bit stubborn about "doing it myself") that I rarely ask for his assistance.
So that's where things are with my story today! I'm looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday) with our family of 5 and continuing to express my gratitude that things are not worse. I hope everyone reading these notes will be able to enjoy the holiday and be surrounded by joy throughout the season ahead!
My best wishes to all,
Nana
PS I'm attaching the easy and delicious recipe for Pasta Fagioli that's perfect for this season! My friend Barbara made this for me after surgery #2 and brought over the whole pot with about 3 quarts of soup. Naturally I asked her for the recipe and I've shared it with several people since then. The soup can be frozen also, but it's so good that at least in our house, there usually isn't enough leftover to freeze. I hope you will enjoy this too!
It's been over 6 weeks since my last update, so I thought I'd take a little time today to share what's been happening. The biggest change in my recuperation is that last Friday (November 15), I "graduated" from therapy. As you may recall, I've been working with an excellent team of Certified Hand Therapists for more than 7 months, starting just after surgery #1 in April and then resuming as soon as the cast was removed after surgery #2 in May. Friday's appointment happened to be my 60th visit (!), which according to the therapy team, is about 5 times as long as their typical treatment period. It wasn't a surprise taking a pause from therapy since I've been feeling for a few weeks that things were at a plateau regarding my ROM and other objective measures. I also discontinued using the Dyna-Splints on my fingers since they weren't doing much to help my fingers bend more fully. The therapists explained that although my hand and arm swelling is greatly improved, it is still there... and this means that there's a mechanical obstruction to bending my elbow further and increasing the flexion in my fingers. I'm hopeful that this swelling will continue to diminish in the months ahead.
Meanwhile, I've been doing my best each day to use my right hand and arm as much as possible. I'm driving short distances (under 10 miles) many days each week and even pushed myself to do a longer drive (about an hour each way) to join a group of high school friends for lunch. That longer distance driving was challenging and painful... of course I neglected to take Tylenol ahead of time to counteract the discomfort from holding the steering wheel for that long. However the good news is I've been able to avoid using Tylenol for weeks -- and after so many months of needing that pain management on a daily basis, this feels like a huge milestone.
I've had a few limited experiences of cooking, mostly preparing dishes with minor assistance from my husband. I made a big pot of soup (pasta fagioli, delicious!) and was able to chop the onions, garlic, and scallions by myself. Even though it took me a while to do this, I had a great sense of achievement making this recipe, particularly after months of being unable to do any food preparation at all. My intention is to continue taking "baby steps" in the kitchen and get back to making some of our favorite recipes. Although I cannot yet use any utensil with my right hand to bring food to my mouth, I can use a knife to cut soft foods safely. I sometimes will use a spoon in my right hand to serve food, but then go back to using a fork with my left hand to eat. I regularly rinse dishes and load the dishwasher, set the table, do small loads of laundry, help my husband change the linens, gather trash together, recycle mail, pay bills, and do small errands. It's very important for my mental health and emotional well being to participate as much as possible and not be resigned to the role of "patient" in any way.
Since my previous notes, things are pretty similar regarding depending on my left hand for hygiene and personal care. Eventually I'm hoping to be able to use both hands in the shower and to wash my hair. One helpful hint has been changing to a shampoo bar. It was obvious early on that attempting to open a shampoo bottle with one hand and find a way to use it wasn't going to work. I'm still 100% using my left hand for brushing my teeth and have switched to "gum soft-picks" (small disposable interdental brushes) as a substitute for flossing, since I can't hold dental floss with both hands. Happily at my last dental checkup, there was no addition plaque so this alternate plan seems to have a good outcome.
Overall I feel like my quality of life is very good, despite the challenges of living with assorted long term effects of a complex injury. My next checkup with the orthopedist is in mid-December. I'm eager to hear what he thinks about the progress that I've made and to find out his thoughts about how much further things may improve in the months ahead. While putting so much time and effort into rehabilitation over more than 6 months after my second surgery feels like a long period, the reality is that these complicated injuries sometimes continue to heal for a year or longer.
There's no comparison between any aspects of the recovery I went through with my knee replacement surgery in October 2018 and the overall impact on my life from pain, disability, and losing the function of my dominant hand/arm from these two surgeries. As part of my last evaluation from the Hand Therapy center, they were able to calculate that I am currently 52% disabled regarding the use of my right hand and arm. That's an enormous improvement from the immediate post-op period, when I was probably 95% disabled with that upper extremity! But I have to come to terms with the fact that there's still a very significant amount of disability involved, which makes life much more complicated. Although I'm grateful about how many more tasks I can do myself, there's also the reality that it takes me a lot longer to do them! In some instances (i.e., putting on socks), I could ask my husband to help me so the job is completed more efficiently. But I'm fiercely independent enough (and yes, a little bit stubborn about "doing it myself") that I rarely ask for his assistance.
So that's where things are with my story today! I'm looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday) with our family of 5 and continuing to express my gratitude that things are not worse. I hope everyone reading these notes will be able to enjoy the holiday and be surrounded by joy throughout the season ahead!
My best wishes to all,
Nana
PS I'm attaching the easy and delicious recipe for Pasta Fagioli that's perfect for this season! My friend Barbara made this for me after surgery #2 and brought over the whole pot with about 3 quarts of soup. Naturally I asked her for the recipe and I've shared it with several people since then. The soup can be frozen also, but it's so good that at least in our house, there usually isn't enough leftover to freeze. I hope you will enjoy this too!
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The one year anniversary of surgery #2 (when the elbow was actually repaired and all of the hardware was added) will be on May 8. If all goes as well as possible, I hope to be healing from surgery #3 at that point and enjoying improvements in the ROM, strength, and overall use of my dominant arm and hand.![[Bonesmart.org] Returning to BoneSmart](https://data.bonesmart.org/attachments/80/80549-1981e3975ff4d79a0d26961066321a79.jpg?hash=W8hR7nfRym)
