Wednesday 25 May 2011

Update

Yesterday I returned to the surgeon for the 6 week follow up after my operation. The original plan was that I would get the fibreglass/goretex cast at the two week mark, then wear that for another 4 weeks. Unfortunately, things didn't go to plan.
After a few weeks of having the fibreglass cast on, I noticed some redness around the knuckle of my index finger. Closer inspection revealed that I had a sore near the edge of the cast. It turns out that when I was typing the cast would press against my hand. Given there's very little muscle in my hand, it pushed the skin up against the bone and I ended up with a pressure sore. The OT cut the cast back to try and alleviate the problem, but this only shifted it back further up my hand.
So, the remedy was to replace the cast with a splint, a moulded plastic sheet running from halfway up my fingers most of the way down my forearm. It covers the top half of my arm, and is held on with velcro scraps. I wear a "sock" under it to protect my skin. It's not as covenient as the cast, I can't get it wet and have to change the sock.
Despite this, my surgeon was very happy with how things had healed, and gave me some exercises to do. Now I go back to to the OT to get the splint straightened to a neutral position, keep doing my exercises and go back to the surgeon in 4 weeks.
The best news though? I can drive again.

Tuesday 3 May 2011

Housebound

I've got to admit I've been very lax in updating this blog despite having a reasonable amount of time on my hands - not driving to work adds about an hour and a half to my day. I'm not driving to work, of course, because I'm still wearing the cast from my wrist operation at the start of April.
The operation itself went well - apparently when they cracked me open everything was as they expected it (healthy red muscle fibre where they thought it would be and sickly white where I have nerve damage) and everything moved where it needed to go. I had very little soreness, there was only one day nearly a week after the operation when I needed to use the painkillers they provided, and I suspect this was because I overextended myself.
The first two weeks were very frustrating though. I had to wear a large plaster and gauze cast to start off - they give you this split cast so that there is room for any swelling of the wound. Unfortunately, you can't get the cast wet, which meant no running and showering with a plastic bag on my arm. The running ban was particularly disappointing as I'd worked up to three 8k runs a week (I even knocked one out the night before my operation). To add insult to injury, the cast was quite heavy and bulky, so it was pretty awkward.
The good news is that after 2 weeks of the plaster cast I changed over to a goretex and fibreglass cast. This one is much slimmer, lighter and can get wet. I went out for a run the first day I got it and discovered the 2 week break had done me no favours in the fitness department, I think it will take me a few more weeks even now to get back to where I was.
As good as the new cast is though, my wrist is still set at a very awkward angle (it's curled in at about 45 degrees) which is making a lot of common tasks pretty tough. As usual, I need a hand with my hand. Today marks three weeks until I go back to the surgeon to have my cast removed and start therapy, I'm looking forward to it.