Hello friends – It’s been a long three weeks of sitting, though I’ve greatly appreciated the change of scenery when the weather permitted me to take up residence outside. Amazing what a difference a little time in the sun can make! Today marks the three-week anniversary of my surgery and yesterday I got to go in and have my stitches removed. Exciting stuff, huh?
The doctor said my healing is proceeding nicely, though my fused toes weren’t quite as sealed as she would have liked. For that procedure, called syndactilization, the doctor cut the skin on the inner side of the two toes being fused. She then sewed together the skin from both toes on the top side of the foot, and then the bottom, essentially creating a “uni-toe”. My uni-toe is taking its sweet time to merge, and I was slightly disturbed when she said she could have pulled the two toes apart if she gave it a good tug.
Hence the little toe wrap and the steri-strips over the incision for a few more weeks. I fear it’s going to be pretty ugly, even when healed, but my doctor insists it can look perfectly normal. We shall see! I meant to get better pictures once the stitches were out but the doctor wrapped it so fast that I missed my opportunity. Next post, perhaps. Gives you something to look forward to. I must be spending too much time around middle schoolers, because that space between the red wrap and the steri-strips sure looks like a mini butt crack to me. ;)
More Health Woes
Since last spring, I’ve been experiencing tingling in both my right and left hand. This is no small tingle though–fingers one through four feel like they’re asleep and have no sensation. This happens to me when holding my phone, driving, lifting weights, and more recently, during sleeping. It’s gotten so bad that it wakes me in the night now.
Last week I saw a nerve specialist for some follow-up testing on my hands. The first test was called a nerve conduction study. For this one, the doctor taped nodes to my skin over various nerves and then touched the skin above that nerve with what looked like a tuning fork. This produced anywhere from a mild to major zap as the electrical impulse shot through the nerve. It wasn’t terribly painful, just uncomfortable. My favorite was the nerve that ran over the funny bone in my elbow because when he gave it a shock, my elbow did a reflexive jerk.
Part two of the test was Electromyography. We swapped out the skin electrodes for needles that were inserted into my muscle and a similar process was done where an electrical impulse was shot through it. I wasn’t pumped about this one, but the needles were baby acupuncture-sized ones, so they didn’t poke too much.
During both these tests, the doctor watched a computer screen that told him how fast each impulse moved through my nerve or muscle. Those numbers indicated whether I had any nerve damage or disease. He gave me the results immediately, telling me very matter-of-factly that I had moderate carpal tunnel in my right hand and mild carpal tunnel in my left. When I asked what my next steps were, he said I needed to go back and meet with my orthopedist to discuss my options.
By some stroke of luck, I was able to get back in with the orthopedist yesterday. We discussed my treatment options, which included:
- wearing wrist braces (which I’ve tried before with little improvement),
- cortisone injections (which are effective but require annual maintenance), and
- minimally-invasive surgery which involves her making a small incision on my wrist and cutting a ligament that will release pressure on the nerve.
After weighing my options, I decided on the surgery because it requires little downtime (only 2-3 weeks of recovery) and should last for 20-25 years. I’m keen to relieve all the chronic pain I’ve been dealing with, not just kick it down the road a bit. We’re pending insurance approval at the moment, but I could be in another surgery as early as next week. The doctor said this one is “no big deal” though and estimated that she’s done 10,000 of them! Gotta love that stat—definitely reassures the worrier in me. So now you’re all up-to-date on my latest health issues. Seems like all I write about lately. Hopefully my surgery days will be soon behind me! Thanks for all the continued support, especially from the friends who have come to visit me in person. Sooooo grateful!
