Finger/Thumb Right Thumb joint's LRTI coming up October 8!

@Grammyof2, thank you for this journaling of your journey. I am scheduled for this surgery in September. My arthritis is just starting to cause problems but I need surgery to remove a cyst at the base of my hand, underside, which is causing pain and he said he could do both at the same time. He said I was a good candidate for this surgery. Both thumbs need it but the cyst is on my non-dominate side and the injection in my dominate hand did help, even if not totally. I was looking on Utube for this surgery and most were negative. Thank you so much.
 
I'm back! Lots of other things have been happening, so I've skipped some weeks.

I got busy in the garden and accidentally (truly) did a no-show for my next-to-last OT session. The OT called, I apologized, and she told me that she'd been planning to let me have the tougher putty, but now she wouldn't! Sounded like a punishment.

The following week was my appt. with the surgeon's medical assistant. She did some testing--how far could I move my thumb this way and that, could I pinch my finger and thumb good and tight and resist her pulling on it... Yes, indeed.

I was scheduled for my last OT appt. two hours later, but the medical assistant pronounced my OT sessions over and done with! She was extremely pleased with the progress I've made.

I'd discussed my bad match with the OT, and her refusal to give me the tougher putty. So the medical assistant said, "Just a minute" and hurried down the hall. She returned with a plastic jar brimming with orange putty! And she told me I can use any weights I feel comfortable with as I continue my exercises.

We scheduled my right thumb's joint re-do. I'd been wanting it ASAP but decided I'd better wait until the corn ripens and I have processed all of it. If the critters don't rampage through the garden, we'll have dozens and dozens of ears (I sometimes miss my pre-downsize garden with its high fence topped with an electrified wire! My current garden is a series of raised beds open to all comers).

The right thumb's surgery will be October 15. A man named Ben, the far-better OT I had when the original one was out, has been scheduled, too. I was told to be sure to make sure the front office does assign him to me, when I'm making my post-surgery appts. And now I know whom to call to change OTs, if Ben doesn't turn out to be as good as he was the one time I worked with him.

I'm so happy! My left hand functions fine and doesn't hurt. I've been using the orange putty twice a day and its stiffness, which at first seemed extreme, is now manageable. I started with just five reps of each exercise, got to 10 pretty fast, and now do 15.

I'd gone from using a one-pound weight to a 3-pound weight. We don't own a 4-pound weight, but do have a barbell-shaped 5-pounder, and got permission to use it. I'd gotten up to 25 reps of those exercises twice a day with the 3-pounder, so I started with 5 reps twice a day with the 5-pounder. Now I'm up to 20 reps twice a day. The medical assistant said I could use as heavy a weight as I please, but I think 5 pounds will do. I'm in my 70s and don't need to get strong enough to do heavier lifting on a regular basis.

And of course I keep lugging hoses around, setting up sprinklers, and heaving bags of mulch or manure into the wheelbarrow. For weeks and weeks I used the hard plastic brace when doing that. Then I used the soft-but-stiff wraparound thingie. Now I just wear gardening gloves.

My left hand has regained almost all its original strength, and I think it will continue to improve.

I've already started to use it preferentially, since my right thumb joint is a mess (I wrap one of those soft things around it when I use my walker or garden). Two or three weeks before the right thumb's surgery, I plan to pretend the right hand's already in a cast... Or pretend I'm left-handed. After all, I'll essentially *be* left-handed for a month or so after that surgery,

Things are going very well, thanks to a good surgeon, my determination to do every single exercise day after day, and the support of you lovely Bonesmarters. :wave:
 
@Grammyof2 You are doing so well with this recovery. Thanks for keeping us updated. Long may your progress continue!
 
I had my surgery on Thurs, 2 days ago. I hated the nerve block. The pain is less than expected and not where I expected. It seems more on the back of my hand. I'm wondering if he used the tightrope method. The back of my hand also itches.
 
My second surgery has been rescheduled--a week earlier! Now it's October 8. Less than two weeks to go...

How will I manage everyday activities with my right hand casted except for the fingertips?! I was worried, so I've been practicing for two weeks already and getting fiercer about it as the days rush by.

Except for typing, I'm now doing *everything* left-handed, occasionally pushing at something with my right forearm or the side of my right fist.

Quite a challenge. Even my husband, who's left-handed, uses his non-dominant hand off and on all day long. Well, I'm getting used to this. So far the only things I really cannot do include pulling open ziplock bags of frozen fruit for my morning cereal and opening elder-proof pill bottles (I've got lots of those!). I'll have to time those activities for when he's awake. For example, the pills I take in the middle of the night when hip pain wakes me (the joys of arthritis!) will have to be opened by him before he goes to bed.

(One real challenge is using only my left hand to put in my hearing aids. I'm hoping I'll have enough free fingertip length to make small adjustment on the right side.)

I just started PT again, basically for my torso (core strengthening) including the lower back. So twice a day I do those exercises, using only my left hand to apply pressure to knees or thighs. I wonder what the bridging exercise will be like with one arm in a cast... I've arrange to skip PT the week after surgery. My right hip is quite painful (sigh). I'm looking forward to getting some relief from that pain from the meds that will be prescribed after my thumb joint surgery! :heehee:

I also won't be able to pull up zippers or fasten those heavy steel jeans buttons. Or tie the laces on my walking shoes. I'm practicing using just my left hand and a shoe horn to slip each foot into one of those sturdy shoes.

But I can rinse our heavy stoneware dishes and put them into the dishwasher, and heave around pots and pans left-handed--my new left thumb joint is doing great! I can (messily) brush my teeth with my left hand and get into loose clothes with my left hand (pretending the cast is on the right and I can't use my right thumb to pinch-hold cloth). I think I wore nighties 24 hours a day for the first few days after the left hand's surgery... I can heave laundry in and out of the washer & dryer one-handed.

I do plan to keep taking morning walks with my UpWalker, as long as weather permits. Maine's having a very extended period of warm weather--no frost predicted even in the next 10 days. Last time, I was easily able to push & steer the thing one-handed, though holding my surgical arm in the elevated-above-heart position was tiring. I pressed the cast against the vertical hand-hold on that side. I really need those walks! I've been dieting--lost over 20 pounds so far--and don't want to backslide.

We have a routine of making pizza from scratch every Friday, a special treat. I make the crust. We had one last night (yum!). This coming Friday I'll have to try using just my left hand to put ingredients into my Kitchen Aide mixer, ask my husband to scrape the dough out, and show him how best to use the rolling pin to make a circle of dough... I sure hope that works. I don't want to add to his busyness by expecting him to do the whole thing. The toppings he makes are laborious and splendid. He's getting old and tired, too.

I'm a little apprehensive about yet one more surgery, and now and then I think "Maybe I could cancel it?" But then my right thumb joint hurts, reminding me: "Do it! Do it now, before you get even older and lose the strength and resilience you'll need to recover."

Got to start my "body" PT and take my walk. After Oct. 8, I'll type here as best I can, but my left hand isn't as agile as the right at that task. More practice might help... we'll see!
 
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@Grammyof2,
I updated your signature to add your new surgery date, please check that I have entered correctly, assumed you are having the same surgery you had on your left.

Sounds like you are doing everything you can to stay in shape and be ready for this next surgery.
 
Thank you, @pumpkin! I forgot to do that. :thankyou:

It's hard work in a way, learning how to do everything differently. Sometimes it seems silly, not using my right hand while I still can! But I'm betting that it's better to practice now than to have to figure it all out after the surgery.

I'm giving all these details in hopes that they might help people who will face surgery on their dominant hand.
 
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I do not think it is silly.
I taught myself to write with my left hand in the second grade after one of my classmates broke their right arm and struggled.
I use my left hand for dealing cards, and can write OK, but slowly, and the penmanship is questionable.

Practicing now will help you after surgery when you are distracted by your recovery.

Would you like a moderator to update to thread title to better reflect this right hand surgery?
Just post it here and it will be updated for you.
 
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@Pumpkln Thank you--I've been so busy I forgot all about the title!

How about "Right Thumb joint's LRTI coming up October 8!"

And here's what the radiologist's report had to say about that thumb a few months ago"

"Today's exam shows severe advanced degenerative disease at
the base of the thumb. There is bone on bone contact with complete loss
of the joint space between the base of the first metacarpal adjacent
trapezium and between the distal head of the scaphoid of the trapezium.
I see dense subchondral sclerosis and marginal osteophytes. I also see
some surgical wires or sutures along the lateral aspect of the wrist.
The second through fifth rays spared. The distal radius and ulna
unremarkable."


(The "wires" he saw were metal staples put in by a surgeon back in 1965. Those were the good old days when swinging doors could still have panes of plate glass. I had pushed open a door in my dorm, turned around when someone called, "Hey, Sharon!" but left my hand stretched out... the door swung back and my hand went right through the glass panel! It neatly sliced a wrist tendon. The surgeon made a long slit in my inner wrist so he could push some sort of instrument far enough down my forearm to grab the cut tendon. He said it's like when you cut a stretched-out rubber band! He stapled the cut ends together. I've got broad scar to this day, crossed by 5 or 6 scars where the stitches were. Oh, the olden days! Last May's scar on my left wrist is invisible, but the old scar on my right wrist looks like a caterpillar.)
 
Super excited and hopeful this morning. Today's my 8-hour iron infusion. I've been begging for this for at least five years, and my new neurologist and a hematologist ordered it. Some research suggests that it *might* reduce the symptoms of severe RLS I've been contending with for many years. Without heavy-duty meds that keep me sleepy, my entire body would jerk every 6 to 8 seconds, 24/7. The infusion results--if any--won't start to show up for 6 to 8 weeks from today; wouldn't it be lovely to have my right hand and my entire body healing at the same time?!
:fingersx:
 
All the best today @Grammyof2 ! Fingers crossed for a good result! Please let us know how it goes!
 
Thank you, @Jaycey! The infusion was perfect. No problems at all, friendly and kind nurses, and delicious food (so unusual in hospitals, but this was done at Maine's Alfond Cancer Center, which has very high standards all around). Fresh raspberries and blueberries, tasty ripe melon slices, and the best chicken salad ever. Lots of other possibilities, but I'm on a diet--as of today I've lost 23 pounds.

The only slight downside is that my neurologist now says I might not see any improvement until Christmas! Longer than I'd thought.

I've done some searches to try to figure out why it takes so long for infused iron to make a difference, but I lack the biochemical background to comprehend what I've read. Looks like iron molecules don't miraculously insert themselves into every blood cell, swoop around within the veins and arteries, and instantly get dropped off where needed!

I also learned that all sorts of side effects might start happening in the next few days, none of them pleasant. Aches, chills, nausea, and so on. With any luck they'll be over--if they happen at all--by the October 8 surgery.
 
R thumb surgery was this morning. Home, happy, & typing with not-dexterous L hand :)

R hand is in a CVS freezer-chilled clay wraparound "ice pack." Numbness fading; pain starting; morning oxycodone fading; Tylenol down the hatch.

Husband cooking salmon for dinner--yum!
2020 Oct 8 1st post surgery photo.jpg
 
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@Grammyof2 Welcome to the other side (again). How are you feeling after your iron infusion. Any side effects?

Get that ice in that thumb. Hope your pain is well controlled!
 
Thanks, @Jaycey! I'm keeping at it.

No iron effects yet. Oxycodone gives my methadone extra oomph in suppressing RLS jerking, but wears off before I can take next dose. Then rebound effect gets me flailing for an hour or 2. So I take only 1 instead of the 2 I could take (to keep rebound as small as possible), and use Tylenol & ice packs & distraction to reduce pain until next oxycodone dose. Pain varies from 2 to 6 except when I'm asleep. I can sleep 2 hrs at a time. That's OK; I'm retired. :)

Attaching photo of R hand wrapped in a Baggie secured w thin rubber band. During my practice weeks, I got pretty good at L-handed toothbrushing, but realized that when I must use R fingers to keep damp brush from sliding out of L hand's grip, some Colgate foam got on part of hand where cast would be (& now is). Baggie prevents soggy cast & is easy to remove & dry.

I post this for the benefit of future BoneSmarters with dominant hand surgery.
2020 Oct 9 Baggie-wrapped R hand for Bonesmart.jpg
 
I post this for the benefit of future BoneSmarters with dominant hand surgery.
Very much appreciated @Grammyof2 ! Those that follow you in this journey will get great comfort in following your recovery. Looks like you are coping pretty well with using lefty!
 
Thank you so much. Kind words are very helpful tonight. Pandemic + surgery + just sitting around = boredom. Pain + boredom = feelings of depression.

Just finished a really good book (Robert Galbraith/JK Rowling's Troubled Blood). Not sure what to read next. There's always a letdown after an excellent novel!

Hoping to resume my morning walks tomorrow. I recall successfully maneuvering my UpWalker one-handed after this past May's surgery. A local dog attacked me last weekend, but didn't bite hard enough to break skin or leave bruises. I figured out where the owners live & reported them, so he'll probably be kept inside for a while. Our road has been an awful challenge, a kind of non-burlesque bump-and-grind, but it got repaved today. I hope to gear up tomorrow and give walking a try.
 

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