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.