Pretty soon you're talking about real money
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You're welcome 89th.
TG it's way more scarred up and way less sensitive to touch and still completely non-functional. Best case scenario is getting worse and worse. I'll know more after this next, last surgery. They may attach a different tendon to the thumb, or they may fuse the thumb at a slight angle so at least I'll have some gripping functionality even with no movement.
Education is extremely important.
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@Horace said in Pretty soon you're talking about real money:
You're welcome 89th.
TG it's way more scarred up and way less sensitive to touch and still completely non-functional. Best case scenario is getting worse and worse. I'll know more after this next, last surgery. They may attach a different tendon to the thumb, or they may fuse the thumb at a slight angle so at least I'll have some gripping functionality even with no movement.
WOW!!! I feel bad for you. Sending the good thoughts to you!!!
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Horace, I forgot. How did you initially injure your thumb, and is it your dominant hand?
Hate to be pushy (not), but are you sure that there isn't a surgeon out there somewhere that could pull off a miracle and fix it back to almost normal? Another state, another country, somewhere where the procedure reflects the latest and greatest?
If I were in your situation, I'd be devastated, given that piano thing I've got.
Best Wishes from the Thin Man.
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I cut the tendon at the inside crook of the thumb, on some broken glass. The repair is time-sensitive. If the first surgery had worked, it would have been fine and more or less back to normal. For some reason the repair did not take though. The tendon just fell apart again immediately after the surgery. I don't know how or why. After that, there was a very long waiting period where the surgeon and physical therapist were wishfully thinking the thumb to start moving again. That did not work, and I got a second opinion. The second doctor had an ultra-sound machine (the first did not) and was able to verify the discontinuity of the tendon. We scheduled a surgery quickly but by then there was too much scarring for a "tommy john" surgery where he would have used another tendon, a spare that God put there for this reason, to splice into the ends of the ruptured one. So instead, he put a synthetic sheath in there, and that's been healing there for a couple months. The next surgery, he will attempt to use yet a different tendon, detach it from where it's supposed to be, and attach it to my thumb. Failing that, he will fuse the joint.
It's not really a downer. It hasn't changed my life much. I now hit the space bar with my left thumb rather than my right thumb. Lucky they make them so wide, under my thumb. There are times in my life where I would have been more depressed about it, such as when I had piano aspirations. When I can get back to lifting weights I'll have as much function as I need.
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There’s some fun left hand piano repertoire out there since right hand injuries are not uncommon among pianists. Some of it was written for or commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein, brother of Ludwig, who was a concert pianist who lost his arm in the war to end all wars.
Some of my favorites are Scriabin Op 9, especially the prelude, some of the Godowsky/Chopin etudes, and of course the Brahms/Bach Chaconne.
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@Horace
Makes me wonder if playing piano might be the best thing for getting your thumb as good as you can get it. In time, of course.I had a friend in grad school that had a devastating wrist injury from a car accident. He could play piano remarkably well, as somehow he found ways to compensate for wrist movements he could no longer do.
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@Friday said in Pretty soon you're talking about real money:
Horace, best wishes for your upcoming surgery. Hope this attachment works.
+1. Please provide updates.
