Post Op symptoms
Mr Smith and another surgeon whose name escapes me (sorry) performed CT operation on my right hand less than 12 hours ago. I can now open my fingers fully for the first time in years without pain. My middle finger is completely numb and feels huge, I have seen this described as like a sausage and I agree haha. I can move all fingers gently but thumb is a bit restricted because of the bandage. My thumb, index and third finger all feel rather odd, numbness on palm side, slight tingling down sides and back. I am sure these will all improve in time. My hand is also very warm but that may be due to wearing a bandage. I was very impressed with everyone and was even given the option to have a peek in my hand, which I did, being of a nosey type. It was not at all gory and am glad I looked.
I worried a bit about the feelings in my fingers and thought it might be good for others to know this can happen without worrying.
I would also like to mention that I recently had acupunture treatment for the arthritus I have in my spine. Needles were also placed in my hands resulting in my left hand improving so much that I have not worn my suportive wrist strap for over 4 weeks now which was a lovely surprise and bonus.
The only down side today was being last on the list, a 4 hour wait is a long time! Surely the appointments could have been staggered (we all had 12.30 appointments) especially as I had not had a drink since 9.30 am? Also my disabled badge only lasts for 3 hours and I could not get out to move it, which was a worry. I was met at 5.30 by my son-in-law who drove me home.
MP
Thank you for your prompt reply. I always thought my CT never woke me in the night, just that it always hurt once awake now I am not so sure as I just had the best nights sleep in years. This morning I have more feelings in my fingers and can move my thumb more however the middle finger still feels like a sausage and has no feeling at all. I can move it ok and will keep it so today. Lots and lots of wierd tingly feelings over all hand and I am aware of the wound but it is not too painful.
I am doing the finger exercises I was given but not sure if I should attempt to bend the wrist a little yet.
My personal guess is that it's more important to keep the fingers moving early on than the wrist. Moving the fingers will slide the tendons backwards and forwards through the carpal tunnel and should help to stop adhesions forming as a result of inflammation around the surgery site. Flexing and extending the wrist on the other hand will place some stress on the incision and is probably best left until it has had a few days to start knitting together. There are however no systematic studies of any great quality dealing with post carpal tunnel decompression activity so there is not much evidence base to go on. Let me know how the middle finger symptoms evolve please. JB
I have been moving fingers all morning, it's now 20 hours since my op and just started to get a slight tingling in my middle finger. Phew! I can now touch all fingertips with thumb too so all good :-)
A bit of returning sensation in the finger sounds promising. It may be that the nerve branches heading to that finger got somewhat traumatised during surgery and stopped working for a while. Mostly these will recover fairly quickly so hopefully it will keep going the right way. JB
After yet another good nights sleep, my hand was very stiff on waking. The good news is that all feeling has returned I can even feel the wound site. The middle finger tip is still tingling and the nail feels tender as if I had hit my finger a few days ago. The only real pain I have is in the elbow from keeping my arm bent in a sling, to relieve this I am having to put my arm straight up in the air every 15 minutes or so.
That's good to hear. The technical term for that 48 hours or so of numbness in the finger then is 'neurapraxia' - when nerve cells stop conducting signals because of mechanical or chemical stress but are not physically damaged so that they are able to return to normal function quite quickly when the stress is alleviated. The duration of interrupted function can be anything from a few hours to a few weeks so this is fairly mild. It is a diagnosis you can only really be sure of once it has recovered. How long did the surgical team ask you to keep it in a sling for? JB
They told me 48 to 72 hours. I am not using the sling so much this afternoon, just resting my arm on the desk. The swelling has almost gone so still using it while walking around.
Good morning, it's now Monday and last night I removed the bandage. I have a little osteo arthritus in my hand and needed to be able to move the wrist. Very slight tingling in first three fingers this morning but the palm and wrist are a little more painful. I think this is just stiffness. I think the only problem I will have now is rememering not to use the hand until it is healed.
I would like to thank you for being there and replying to me over the weekend. I could not find this site earlier to fill out your questionair, but came across it by chance when searching the net. At the time I was worried about my finger being totally numb for so long (it seemed at the time). I was looking to see if this had happened to anyone else. If I had been told that this could happen before my operation then I do not think I would have felt the panic I was in.
I have had many operations over the years and my husband even more (he had a kidney transplant 15 years ago) but this has been the best after care ever. From previous experience I know that patients often have after care questions. How I wish every department, in every hospital had a site like this. I am sure many patients would not have to contact there own GP's so much or spend hours on the phone trying to find someone to talk to at the hospital.
This way of staying in touch with patients suits me but clearly not that many of my colleagues and I would not want to force my methods of working on anyone else. The patient feedback so far has been almost universally positive but no doubt at some point I will upset someone. Hopefully your hand will continue to heal satisfactorily. JB
It's useful to have an immediate post-operative report on here - thankyou. I generally would not worry too much about immediate post-operative swelling for a few days. Loss of sensation is a bit more of a worry and if, by 'completely numb', you mean that if I were stick a pin in your middle finger or burn it you would not notice then that would be some cause for concern if it persists for more than about 48 hours.
The comments about the organisation of the hospital operating list and disabled parking arrangements are interesting and I will pass them back to the hospital management. JB