The Hervey Story: One year later....

One year ago today, I had surgery #3 on my left wrist...and was doped up on Vicodin and pretty much out of it I went into surgery thinking it was going to be a relatively easy surgery...just like the first 2 had been...Dr. A was going to remove a cyst and then look around the joint and clean anything up that needed it. Since my MRI didn't show that I had torn anything...I wasn't even remotely thinking about that possibility. While I was in pre-op, Dr. A came to talk to my mom and me...and on a side note, when he left my mom asked how old he was and if he was even old enough to be doing the surgery...and the nurse said that they actually hear that a lot because he looks so young!! Anyways...Dr. A came in to talk to us and I had a few questions for him. I asked how long surgery would take and he said about an hour...as long as he didn't find any surprises...like a torn TFCC. I also asked about the splint and he told me that I would know what he had done by what my splint looked like. If it wasn't too big and I was able to straighten my elbow, then everything had gone according to plan and nothing was torn...but...if it was a bigger splint that went above my elbow and I wasn't able to straighten my arm, then I would know that something was torn and he had repaired it. When I woke up in the first part of recovery where they let you begin to wake up from the anesthesia, I remember waking up and asking the nurse two questions. I asked her what time it was and she said 10:12. My surgery had started at 8 so I knew that it had taken longer than planned...I then asked the other dreaded question.."what did he do?" She just replied, "sweetie, look at your arm." I remember lifting my arm and seeing the splint/bandage and realizing that I could not straighten my arm. I put that together with the fact that surgery had taken twice as long as planned and I knew something must have been torn. And it was...my TFCC (if you have no idea what that is, then click here and then click TFCC Tear on the left side)..we have no clue how or when I tore it...thinking maybe it had something to do with the cyst that was on my wrist and pushing things around.

So after many doctor's appointments, many hours in hand therapy, a bionic arm, a half-bionic arm, a 2nd surgery to deal with a stitch and nerve issue, and 2 new amazing friends later...here we are at the one year mark. And what did I do to celebrate you ask?!? I spent my morning with my amazing friends at the hand clinic....getting a new (insert your choice of curse words here) splint made! I somehow have made my ulnar nerve very unhappy at my elbow and it has been making it feel like I whacked my funny bone for hours at a time, making my little finger and ring finger go numb, and making my lose some of the sensation on the back of my hand again. One thing that makes it worse is to sleep with your elbows bent. And how do i sleep? Well, of course, I sleep with my arms bent all the way! I have tried (really, I have) to sleep with my left arm straight and it just isn't working. I have tried ace wrapping towels to my arm so I can't bend them...tried laying it on pillows...and it's just not working. So in an effort to not have to have crazy nerve testing done (which I have a feeling my friends would get a huge thrill out of shocking me) and not to have to wind up with elbow surgery, my friend (well, she's my OT, too) made a splint for me to sleep in. I haven't slept with it yet...but I can already tell you it's going to s.u.c.k!! She said I'd probably be ready to cuss at her...we'll see....but I'll do anything not to have to go through elbow surgery. I think my poor left arm/wrist/hand has had its fair share of surgery!

A year of splints in pictures...