Had my first PT appt today
-
Yesterday my surgeon called me to chat, check up on me, and let me know how fragile the repair is on the thumb side. Since this is a tendon graft, there are two sides to the repair, but the side in the forearm is not so fragile since he wrapped one long tendon around another. The thumb part, though, that is held by a tiny anchor and a single thread. It is a raw tendon being held against a raw bone. He scraped the bone before placing the tendon against it, to promote the healing response. So I am to be super careful. Duly noted.
This morning I went to PT and got my cast off and my splint on. In the therapist's manipulations of my thumb, she would grab the top part, pressing directly onto the repair site, then bend. She did that so many times. I'll just bet in retrospect she didn't even know where the repair site was. I'm trying so hard to fight my natural impulse to tell my expert health practitioners that they are doing it wrong. I didn't say anything and let her press into the repair multiple times. She knows what she's doing, right?
-
From your tone it’s obvious you don’t believe she received that communication from your surgeon. Why would you just let her do that? Honestly Horace that post made it sound like you’d be willing to lose use of your hand just prove a point.
Be a little less dedicated in your cynicism.
-
You consistently misinterpret me jon. I did not at the time consider there to be any important communication she should have received from the surgeon. I considered the injury and the repair to be the basic information she would know. I gave essentially zero credence to the notion that she needed to be told by me the basics of my injury and its repair. I was not attempting to prove a point, you imbecile. I was trying to avoid insulting her by patronizingly mansplaining what she should be assumed to know.
-
@George-K said in Had my first PT appt today:
What Mik said. If the therapist has any questions, s/he should call the doc for advice.
Hard to pre-judge who is actually correct but the surgeon is the most accountable and is the captain of your thumb. Agree with George.
-
Anyway this post was about my own reflections on what I chose to do in the moment (not say anything). Maybe she was aware of where the repair was, and was correctly assuming that it was not fragile enough to worry about pressing against it. In retrospect, I doubt it, but I do try to respect people in the moment.
-
-
Really hoping for good news on the thumb post-surgery evaluation. It can take a (long) while for recovery.
@kluurs said in Had my first PT appt today:
Really hoping for good news on the thumb post-surgery evaluation. It can take a (long) while for recovery.
+1 on both points
It's surprising how long it can take for the swelling to go away, and it impedes movement until it does go away. -
What everybody else said!!!
-
Nah, something is wrong again. I can pinpoint it to what the PT did but that is never going to be accepted so I'm just going to shrug with ignorance as it ever so slowly dawns on everybody that there must be another tendon discontinuity. I really like this surgeon and he does want this to work. But he's not going to conflict too strongly with his PT team and there can never be any proof of anything anyway. I can't twitch the thumb anymore. That got a shrug and a positive thoughts reaction from the surgeon yesterday. It will take time before the fact that the joint is non functional is accepted. I am familiar with this process from last time. Maybe there will be another procedure. I have three months of free medical care, so there's at least that.
Education is extremely important.
-
Nah, something is wrong again. I can pinpoint it to what the PT did but that is never going to be accepted so I'm just going to shrug with ignorance as it ever so slowly dawns on everybody that there must be another tendon discontinuity. I really like this surgeon and he does want this to work. But he's not going to conflict too strongly with his PT team and there can never be any proof of anything anyway. I can't twitch the thumb anymore. That got a shrug and a positive thoughts reaction from the surgeon yesterday. It will take time before the fact that the joint is non functional is accepted. I am familiar with this process from last time. Maybe there will be another procedure. I have three months of free medical care, so there's at least that.
@Horace said in Had my first PT appt today:
I can pinpoint it to what the PT did but that is never going to be accepted so I'm just going to shrug with ignorance as it ever so slowly dawns on everybody that there must be another tendon discontinuity
The surgeon MUST be made aware of this. If the PT did damage, he should stop referring patients to that organization, or that therapist's qualifications/abilities should be re-examined.
Also, does the surgeon say "Wait, and see how it goes?"
The problem with tendon injuries is that if they're not repaired, the tendon can atrophy and become useless for further repair. That's the physiology of rotator cuff arthropathy. If the rotator cuff repair is delayed, the tendons turn to mush, and won't hold a suture. I'd see him again ASAP.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
-
Nah, something is wrong again. I can pinpoint it to what the PT did but that is never going to be accepted so I'm just going to shrug with ignorance as it ever so slowly dawns on everybody that there must be another tendon discontinuity. I really like this surgeon and he does want this to work. But he's not going to conflict too strongly with his PT team and there can never be any proof of anything anyway. I can't twitch the thumb anymore. That got a shrug and a positive thoughts reaction from the surgeon yesterday. It will take time before the fact that the joint is non functional is accepted. I am familiar with this process from last time. Maybe there will be another procedure. I have three months of free medical care, so there's at least that.
@Horace
So sorry to hear this!!I will continue to send positive thoughts to you and your thumb!!!
-
I'm doing what I can. If you haven't experienced the wall of positive thinking assumptions you may not respect how high and solid it is. I am reminded of the old story of investigative journalists embedding themselves in insane asylums to study them from the inside. Turns out, it's actually not possible to convince anybody there you're sane, even if you are. In that same vein, it's difficult to convince physical therapists or even the surgeon that the repair failed. There is no demonstrable lack of function that will convince them, until some certain amount of time has passed. I was very direct with the PT today that I am worried that there is another discontinuity. I demonstrated my lack of ability to twitch the joint. She is not convinced. I asked her to relay my concerns to the surgeon, even if she thought I was being paranoid. I have already relayed those concerns to him yesterday. This is the same dance I went through with the last surgeon/pt team. That time, I allowed myself to question my conclusions a little but this time I am just depressed about the whole thing. I won't be giving up and there is yet more time for another free procedure this year. Good thing they don't jack up health insurance rates like they do for car insurance, when you use it.
