the queer what??
july 03, 2007
^ weird. looks like my ipod is hooked up to my splint huh?
SO.....i got my orthopedic surgeon to see me today. fortunately it's not a sprained wrist but unfortunately it's something more serious. fuckin-a. yeah, just my luck.
i knew something was not right after 48 hours of icing it and elevating it during sleep that it was just getting worse or at least not getting any better. it has been 5 days afterall.
after the doc read my little synopsis of my symptoms and asked me a couple questions, he said "no, it's not a sprained wrist. it's de quervain's disease."
"um...the queer what?"
"de quervain's disease. it's a fancy name for your condition that's all . but it's good you came in right away because most people try to tough it out and when they come in at 6 weeks into the problem, the only option is surgery."
=:o
so i guess de quervain's disease has something to do with the tendon sheath in my wrist being inflammed and swollen thereby causing the tendons to not be able to move freely whicn in turn then causes the tendons itself to become inflamed too. friction and rubbing on inflammed tendons is....not so good.
all i know is that it's painful as hell and your hand can't move much due to the severe and sharp pain. so the doc has me on this thing called the thumb spica splint for 2 weeks straight in addition to downing celebrex daily. if that doesn't work, then it's cortisone injections. and if that doesn't work, then surgery.
y-i-p-p-e-e.
you can read more about de quervain's disease here.
so i bet you're wondering how i got it.....
yeah i'm wondering too.
i guess this is something common in women who hyper-extend their thumbs or use repetitive motions on their thumb. i personally think i got this from the meds i'm on right now for my ovarian growths. it causes swelling and water retention in your body and puffs everything. in fact i think this also cause my trigger finger earlier this year. such a catch 22 when it comes to medication, you help one thing but worsen another. or in my case brings about something new altogether. damn modern medicine sometimes.
let's see how i do within these 2 weeks. hopefully there will be significant improvement so i can avoid that nasty cortisone shot in the wrist (OY!) and let's really hope no surgery for me. i'd had 2 surgeries in this past year and let's not make it a habit.
while i'm on the topic of hand and surgery, i didn't get a chance to talk about the trigger finger surgery did i?
it went very well thanks. but my hand swelled up to the size of a steak sized palm with 5 sausages for fingers and thumb. i know i always sound like i'm exaggerating but here's pics!
a couple days after my surgery i had to change my dressing and saw my frankensteinian palm for the first time. i say doctors must be amazing seamstresses. i bet no one ever needs to sew buttons on their shirts for them. but i wonder why scrubs are without buttons though. hm. it's not like they won't know how to put one back on.
even after 2 days, my hand was so extremely bruised and swollen. if only the pic could show you how bruised it was. as i said, the surgery went well and was really quick and took about 1 hour from beginning to end. due to my allergies, i'm really concerned about anesthesia. so instead of a general or a local, they put me under mac anesthesia - a combo of the two. i liked the fact that they didn't have to put a tube down my throat like last year. that was really a pain afterwards.
after the surgery was done, they woke me up and told me "all done" and then wheeled me into the recovery room. since i was bright and alert, they took me back to my room where i finally got some food after a long day without food. i had a nice friend (hi S!) who dropped in to chat for a bit and he bought me a few mags! how nice!
probably the worst part of the day was when the nurses couldn't find any veins to draw my blood. they tried the elbow ditch, the inner forearms, the backs of my hands and finally....the got something in the wrist. OY! by the time they wheeled me to the O.R., the anesthesiologist was quite pissed to see that they had taken all his "lines". now where was he supposed to start an IV at?? eventually he got something in my wrist too (the other wrist that is). in cases like mine, the nurses should have called the anesthesiologist up to start the line for them. he is the expert at these things you know?
it's been nearly 4 months since my surgery and i've done about 12 sessions of physical therapy. but my hand/finger isn't back to normal yet. and there's still slight swelling.
sometimes i just wished things were....back to normal. like when i was....16?
currently listening to: david grumel, magnolias
