To celebrate the new year and avoid my new higher deductible coming up, I decided to have trigger finger and carpal tunnel surgery all at the same time. 12/20 I went on the table and remained awake but numb. It allowed me to not feel pain but feel my tendons and ligaments being pulled and tugged. Every now and then he'd hit a nerve and it reminded me of a big cello string being strummed. Pretty gnarly sensations and gross visuals. This Dr. was the lead surgeon for the first west coast hand transplant so I felt a bit better about my odds of keeping my fingers. The carpal tunnel caused enough weakness that I had a tough time shifting as my thumb was too weak. Full palm shifting is difficult on the fly. The trigger fingers just caused a lot of constant pain. I don't know if i was predisposed to this problem or if it's just years of battering my hands at cycling, physical work and daily use. I had the same surgery last year on my left hand minus the carpal tunnel. I felt it was my internet duty to post up a gross surgery photo. Enjoy guys! :wave:
I'm torn... torn between the instinctual urge to make crude comments about hand exercises, and the sheer horror of the ickiness of those stitches. Did the doctor say if that was going to leave a mark?
Wow, at least you got over that fear of needles and threads, and a stitch in time saves 9. After seeing that I am reminded that I am a total wuss. Did you ask the doc to shorten the index finger tendon so you can enhance your rapid fire shifting? Heal up, and leave the riding till next year
I went under the knife too! On the 21st I got my back fused. L5-S1 anterior lumbar interbody fusion. In short they cut my tummy open, went in and removed a disc, replaced it with a cage and some bone graph and some screws. I don't have any good pics because I can't remove my steri-strips but I got cut less then you did, maybe 3-4 inches. Needless to say it hurts like hell and I'll be off the bike for at least 3 or more months. My wife had a C-section two weeks before so we'll both have matching scars. :bang:
That looks like remarkable recovery in only 7 days. Amazing, really. Oh wait, the recovered hand is the left, the stitched hand is the right, right?
My goodness that looks painful.. surprised there wasn't more swelling. Someday this will all be a bad dream...
It looks like the Doctor did a good job with the sutures. There's an ointment they sell at CVS that helps fade the scarring if you use it right away. Heal quick!
The good news is...you can rotate your wrist/hand so your palm is facing upwards with no problems. I still cant do that and its been close to a year. Hope you feel better.
Hey Dirtmistress, who was the doc who did your surgery? I am getting the same trigger finger surgery on my right hand in Feb by K. Azari out of UCLA and he was the guy who did the hand transplant surgery a year and a half ago, it was all over the news. CrossMax
