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