Well I am alive and very groggy.  The surgery went fine but it was a bit hairy for a while.  Apparently wires got crossed and the BLOCK nurse showed up at the same time the anesthesiologist did.  Someone had not told someone that I was not having a block and that just sent my heart racing.  A doctor came by and ordered a pill of some kind to calm me down.  It did nothing.  Then the nurse came in to start the I.V.

Eventually they rolled me away to a BLOCK room and at this point I was so terrified I couldn't even speak.  An orderly came in and rolled me down some halls and parked me in a long hall.  I could hear drills and high pitched noises everywhere.  I was not doing so well.  I could feel the tears rolling down my cheek.  I just wanted to go home.  

A nurse came by and takes one look at me and then rushes off.  A few minutes later they are rolling me back into the BLOCK room, I was too terrified to ask so I said nothing.  The same nurse came back over and took my hand.  She said I am very pale and I look terrified.  She explains that I will be put out and I am only back in this room until they are ready for me in surgery.  She tells me they are going to give me something else to relax and not to worry.  This time whatever they give me to relax worked as my heart had stopped racing either that or the fact that they were not going to stick a bunch of needles in my arm began sinking in.  In either case I had calmed down and I was good to  go.

As for me I have been sleeping for the most part.  I have set the alarm for every 4 hours as the hospital instructed to take my pills.  That way the pain does not overtake me.  I am only in a bit of pain so the pills are doing their job.  Here is what my hand looks like now.  They have wrapped  my hand and arm in gauze and a tensor.  There is a half cast on my arm and hand so it is immobile.  I see the doctor again on the 23rd.

That's all the one handed typing I can manage for now.  My fingers look like sausages and I have to sleep with my hand propped on two pillows.  So far so good.

Well surgery is in the morning.  I am a bit nervous.  My son is driving me.  I will post updates and pictures when I can.

I just hung up with the hospital nurse.  Apparently the nurse I spoke with yesterday picked up on the sheer terror in my voice and relayed this to the anesthesiologist.  They have decided to put me out for the entire procedure.  Surgery is back on! huge sigh of relief.

I just got off the phone with the pre-op surgical nurse and I am a bit shaken up.  After going through the whole don't eat or drink after midnight, bring a pillow or two for the ride home she explained the pre-op procedure.  I am supposed to be at the hospital by 8:15 a.m.  I will be taken to something called a BLOCK room and given a series of needles to to numb my arm.  She then informed me that I would be awake for the entire procedure and that I would be spoken to by the anesthesiologist  during the entire surgery.  I am kind of freaked.  I am terrified of needles to start with, getting them not giving them.  My entire ignorance is bliss world has just been crushed.  I seriously do not think I can go through with this under those conditions.

My appointment with the surgeon was very informative and reassuring.  She explained the entire surgical procedure to me and even gave me a link to look at online when I got home.  The procedure is called Thumb Arthroplasty, CMC Joint with tendon reassignment and ligament reconstruction.

Before I continue let me explain a few things.  I grew up without the internet and in the past if I required surgery I would trust the doctor to do the job and be done with it.  Ignorance is bliss and I strongly believe this applies to medical procedures that require surgery.   I didn't need to know all the details and I really didn't need or want a visual aid.  Luckily for me none of this was available in the past and I could remain in my own little world.  Cowardice? absolutely.  Armed with my link and a surgical date of April 8th, 2013 I go home happy.

I am seated at my computer and have just typed in the link my doctor gave me.  I didn't even realize this was a youtube link until I finished typing it in.  Here it is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jqOkBE-eHw

Well I lasted up until they made the first incision.  I am now retreating into my own little world of ignorance.  I don't want to know and I don't need to know.  I have shared the link but I have no desire to know the contents and I don't want it described to me.  That's it for now.

Arthritis In My Thumb

It was August 2011 when I started to experience some pain at the base of my thumb on my left hand.  Nothing really earth shattering but a nuisance nonetheless.  What I found odd was that this was my left hand and since I am right handed  I could not for the life of me figure out what the heck I had done.

Weeks passed but the pain didn't.  Regular strength acetaminophen, extra strength acetaminophen  and finally acetaminophen with codeine yet nothing worked for long.  It had gone from a nuisance to a persistent throb which was exasperated whenever I tried to pick up a small object such as a dime or paperclip.  A sharp shot of pain would radiate from my thumb followed by 20-40 minutes of burning and throbbing.  I was getting my butt whipped by a paperclip!  It was time to call in some medical reinforcements and see what the heck was going on or so I thought.

My doctor ordered no x-rays and barely examined my hand.  She wrote out a prescription for an anti inflammatory and some tylenol 3's and decided that I had probably sprained it.  As the pain continued to increase the following months were filled with many more visits to the doctor's office, emergency rooms and various specialists ranging from rheumatologist to internists.  I started wearing a thumb splint 24/7 and I received injections of cortisone directly into the joint on three occasions.  I was given numerous anti inflammatory and painkiller prescriptions and in all that time I was never given a diagnosis.  One rheumatologist thought I had rheumatoid arthritis but he retired shortly after seeing me.  The second rheumatologist moved out of town so in the end it was me and my drugs.  My family doctor arranged an appointment with the VON pain management clinic as she had  pretty much written me off as a complainer and thought this was all in my head.

August 2012, I was now in constant pain, the joint at the base of my thumb was enlarged and red.  I could no longer wear the splint because it pressed against the joint and caused increased pain.  I had to do something so I sat down at my computer and started to google my symptoms.  I can't tell you the relief I felt when I hit enter and 100's of links appeared on my screen all with similar symptoms like mine.  After hours of research I had narrowed it down to arthritis in the thumb joint.  I called the doctors and scheduled an appointment.

I had not had an x-ray taken in over a year and I had never had an MRI on my hand so I firmly requested both.  I also asked that she schedule an appointment for me to see a specialist should I be right.  I showed her the deformed joint and inflammation and she told me to wear the splint.

The x-ray and MRI we done the following week and a follow up appointment with my doctor confirmed arthritis of the thumb joint.  My doctor told me it was very slight and should not be causing me pain and discomfort.  I insisted on seeing a specialist anyway and an appointment was set with an orthopedic surgeon for March 2013.  I was very upset at the long wait but I was also certain I was on the right track.  My x-ray and MRI results we sent off to the specialist.  Now it was just a waiting game.

I was contacted a week later by the specialists office and informed that my case was being transferred to the upper limb clinic in London, Ontario and that a new appointment had been scheduled for January 2013.  Needless to say I was overjoyed that the appointment was moved up by several months.  I was also contacted by my doctor's office and asked to come in the following day.

The appointment with my physician had an entirely different tone than it usually did.  I will admit in the past my doctor had made me feel like a drug addict begging for pills for some phantom pain that did not exist.   She had said at our last visit that if the MRI came back negative then it was all in my head.  I was crushed by these words.  I had real constant pain.  I had lost 12 pounds because it hurt to do anything.  Making a sandwich was a painful ordeal and by the time it was done I no longer had an appetite.  This time for the first time she really listened to me.  Her eyes weren't glazed over with boredom as they usually were and she actually asked to see my hand.  She acknowledged the deformity and swelling in my thumb joint and informed me she had faxed a prescription of painkillers to my pharmacy.  It was now apparent to me that she had either misread the x-ray and MRI results or she really had no clue what she was looking for.   I remembered wondering if she regretted making the comment regarding it all being in my head and making the decision that I needed a new doctor.

I saw a specialist on January 9th.  They reviewed my history, the cortisone shots, splint use and various drugs used.  He determined that all non surgical options had been exhausted and that I would greatly benefit from surgery.  A second appointment was booked with the actual surgeon for March 4th, 2013.

I decided to start recording my experience so others in the same boat won't feel so alone.  Hopefully what I share can help someone else.