The Sound of 1 Hand Typing--Again

You all know that the surgery on my right hand went well.  I’m back in the 1-handed mode again like after my shoulder surgery. This surgery was much easier for me and the doctor did a good job keeping my pain level down.

It’s Friday afternoon now so it’s been 3 days since the procedure.  I’ve got a tiny catheter in my shoulder providing pain medicine directly to the nerve bundle that senses pain in my thumb.For the surgery I had a nerve block done on my arm and it was as if that arm didn’t belong to me.  There was no feeling, nothing at all.  the arm just lay there reacting only to the whims of gravity.  I was awake when I went in the operating room.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw the nurse pick up and lay some sort of thick tubing on the operating table—then I realized, hey, that’s my arm!  I didn’t feel a thing.  I thought (in my juiced up state) that that was pretty funny but the doctor and nurses just said yep, it is and went on with their business. 

That’s all I remember of the surgery.  the next thing I remember is getting a cup of ginger ale to drink and the the nurse was telling me Penny was getting the car.  I was thinking, wow, that was fast.  I still have no idea how much time I spent there post surgery.

My recovery is going well.  The pain got a little stronger Tuesday night when the nerve block started wearing off so Penny bumped the flow rate of the catheter up to 6 from 4 (ml/hr).  That helped.  I set it back to 4 the next morning. Tuesday night the arm was still dead.  I’d stare at my fingers and will them to move.  Unlike in the movies absolutely nothing happened.  By Wed morning I could sense my brain commanding the fingers to move and it felt like the fingers should move—but still nothing.  Later that day I finally got some slight motion and now everything is working again.  My thumb is immobilized by a soft cast.

I’ve been doing very little.  I’m sleeping a lot.  We ventured into town today to Target. My stomach was upset so when we got home I took another nap.  I’m feeling normal now. 

Penny has been taking good care of me. My little pain pump should run out of juice today so it will be interesting to see if it is still doing anything for my pain.

We will likely do Waffle house and Church tomorrow.

Now if it would just stop itching under this cast.