Went in for CTS today. I knew it would be scheduled before September, but I only had a week's notice for the actual date. I had already worked hard doing all the physical stuff I could in anticipation of this, but I doubled my efforts for that last week.
I made sure the groceries were done, the laundry done up, the lawns were mowed and the gardens were weeded. I also tackled a to do list for my mom, things that need to be done in the warm weather and I got a significant portion of it done, including reupholstering the seats of 4 chairs. They turned out beautiful!
I was at the hospital for no more than 2 hours, and that's including the hour early they asked for. Registering took 10 minutes. I was in the actual surgery for about 35 minutes, but the operation itself only lasted 12 minutes, 3 of which were for the stitches.
I went home with a nice bandage:
No painkillers, just tylenol and advil, which worked fine. I was happy with that anyway because I am allergic to some painkillers.
The bandages came off three days later:
Not too bad; nice stitches!
I was living at the cottage and I was told not to get lake water on the incision. This made showers interesting. Darcy had to help me wash my left hand. It was hot and I couldn't swim, although Darcy came up with a solution. She offered me her tube one day and said, "Float with your arm on this." It worked!
Doing the dishes was out, although I ended up doing plenty. Did you know if you are very careful, you can wash dishes while keeping one hand dry? They may not be perfectly clean, but hey...don't like it, do 'em yourself, I figure! Did you also know that 11 year old boys "really, really don't like to do dishes" and will find all kids of ways to avoid it? Darcy didn't love it, but would do at least some of them before complaining. Poor Darcy also had to help me get dressed.
Above: morning before heading to hospital to get stitches out. (Aug 11)
12 days later the stitches came out. At this point I was feeling pretty good, had limited use of my right hand and had adapted quite well to using my left hand and my right elbow to do just about anything I needed to do.
Above: 2 days after the stitches were out.
I had to keep the incision covered for 2 days as once the stitches were out it opened up, which is
normal. However, the bandages held in the moisture and made it look awful. At this point I would
describe it as a big, open, leaky wound and more painful than it was 2 days prior.
10 days after the previous picture, Aug 23.
Healing well and regaining use more and more each day, taking only 2-4 advil/day now.
Five weeks after surgery, wound completely sealed, but very sensitive.
I can do many things now. As of today I can use scissors. 2 days ago I began to peel and cut vegetables/fruit normally again, but not bread. I still can't do doorknobs very well, open/close jars or turn the key in the ignition, although I can shift all gears except reverse. I can wash dishes, but can't apply a lot of pressure yet, so they are not always very clean! I have been weeding, but using my left hand to pull. I no longer wake up with my right hand numb, feeling like it's 5 times its normal size, but my left has begun this. I do still get some shooting pains in the back of my hand and fingers, but much less often and this can take 3 months to go away. It is improving so much everyday now, another week or two and I should be back to normal.
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