Folks have been asking about my wrist surgery, so I might as well shoot out a general blog about it.
I had surgery on my dominant wrist on Sept 27th, 2018. The diagnosis was Keinbock’s Disease, a condition derived from a wrist injury that leads to a lack of blood flowing to the lunate bone. I originally injured my wrist years ago at an old job while moving a patient. It was a case in which only two of us were forced to move a large patient across a sliding board without any extra help. The wrist seemed to heal, but acted up a few years later again when I worked with a gym trainer.
MRI discovered 3 torn tendons and ligaments, and the early stages of Keinbock’s. Over time, the lunate continued to show signs of degenerating and crushing down.
The cure is an odd one. Surgery to take slice out of the radius, shortening it. This gives the lunate more even support resting on the radius and ulna, as well as kickstarts the body to restore blood flow to the area.
The hospital did a great job. It was amusing to note that there were 4 Jennifers taking care of us in pre-op. Anesthesia came in and numbed the arm with a nerve block. I dozed for a bit and when I woke prior to the surgery there was an odd feeling with my arm. I could see my arm laying by my side, but I “felt” like it was crossed over my chest. They wheeled me into the surgical room and must have started something in my IV. As they were draping the surgical curtains, I could suddenly feel like it was really hard to stay awake. Of course, I tried to see if I could fight it. My vision faded into some weird geometric show. Kinda like looking into a kaleidoscope. After that, I know I dreamed a lot but I can’t remember what.
Links to some pictures below.
Exterior arm scar Xray side view Xray top view
After a brief hospital recovery, we went home. I could feel a little not-quite-normal. The arm was dead-weight numb until the next day. Left it in a sling until two days after the surgery. Spent most of that time sitting in our living room recliner with my arm propped up above heart level.
PT now has me working that wrist 3 times a day. I keep an immobilizer on unless I’m exercising or resting. (And I wear it when sleeping so I don’t do anything to bang my arm.) The fingers feel fine, but the wrist and thumb motion/strength need work. It’s still a little swollen. Would like to be at work now but its looking like I’ll be kept out at least until November. The doctor put some harsh restrictions on this arm. I’m catching up on some writing, but too much at once is tiring. Action video games are out of the question! Fans and viewers may have noted my last game stream, “Life is Strange 2”, was played with my left hand on the mouse. It’s a casual enough game that I can play left-handed.
The kids had school vacation this week, so I’ve had company entertaining me here. They’ve been told to be careful of daddy’s arm!
Keep sending me well-wishes.