1st Lt Hand Surgery

Thought this would be a one-shot and done; not to be. The damage on the Lt is not due to arthritis as the Rt was. There seems to have been a traumatic event at some point (who me?!?) that tore the ligament that keeps the joint in place and put divots in the cartilage on both sides of the joint, creating the bone-on-bone situation.

This surgery was a success for what it was supposed to do. A small triangle of bone was taken out to make the joint fall back into place. Then, pinpricks were made to the bone in the areas of missing cartilage. This will create scar cartilage to replace the missing original.

The next surgery will take a small portion of a tendon to replace the missing ligament, looping it through the muscle and bone of the joint. This will hold the joint together and not compromise the ligament.

I'll be in a cast until we do the reconstruction. Pins hold the joint in place until we do the next surgery, allowing the bone to heal before we go tweak it some more. Again, we're on the cutting edge, as I couldn't have this reconstruction done anywhere else. Just longer than I had expected (by about 8wks).

Should have picked a different name for this blog ;p

out of casts - on to splints and therapy

Just when I had my next cast colour all picked out, too. Mom will be most embarrassed, this is the ugliest splint ever. When I'm at my nephew's graduation in St Louis this weekend I'll try to find some better looking straps, at the very least.

Why Surgery?

This is all due to osteo-arthritis, specifically Ehlers-Danlos, which also accounts for the very loose joints. Various joints have been bad at different times. However, where the pain in other joints will come and go, my hands have gotten progressively worse, especially over the last 5 yrs. I've worn braces, had injections of cortisone and Syn-Visc, I've tried Celebrex, Glucosamine-Chondroitin, and all the over-the-counter rubs and patches. If I wanted to keep working I had to have surgery. For that matter, if I wanted to pick up the puppy, garden, or do most anything else.

Surgeon

Randy Viola, at the Steadman Hawkins Clinic in Vail. Couldn't ask for a better place to have these surgeries done, or a better perfectionist to do them. So far he is very happy with the results. Given my relatively young age for the severe level of joint deterioration this was not an easy surgery to do.

The right hand fusion allows for a later joint replacement (now I am too active and would "blow it out" almost immediately. As there was a 85%+ loss of cartilage in the base thumb joint the fusion was the only option practical. For that, the face of the bones for the base thumb joint were 'shaved' and then 'marrow' from my radius was used as a filler, to keep the length the same. Although it feels like a loss of motion and limitation to me (as I've always been 'double-jointed) I will really have just as much use of my hand as Gary does.

Also, I had a torn ligament that had to be repaired. I was very pleased that the surgeon was able to repair that without a ligament graft. Two tiny titanium anchors (permanent) will hold that in place.

The left hand will be a more 'cutting edge' surgery which will put the joint back into place and use a new technique to create scar cartilage, replacing the cartilage currently lost. So where I now have bone-on-bone those points will be kitty-corner from each other and the worn spots will be 'encouraged' to grow scar cartilage (basically a dental pick used to make lots of tiny pricks in the joint face of the bone, causing it to scar over).

"learning Wu Wei"

"Wu Wei" - has been translated as "creative quietude," or the art of letting-be. This does not mean a dulling of the mind; rather, it is an activity undertaken to perceive the Tao within all things, and to conform oneself to its "way"....

so for me "learning Wu Wei" is letting go in order to heal and gain more (16wks in casts and splints to gain another 40yrs of using my hands

green fae

green fae / green fairy Ref: Absinthe / Chartreuse VEP = professional joke