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The New Coffee Room

  1. TNCR
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  3. Had my first PT appt today

Had my first PT appt today

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  • HoraceH Offline
    HoraceH Offline
    Horace
    wrote on last edited by Horace
    #1

    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?

    Education is extremely important.

    CopperC 1 Reply Last reply
    • MikM Offline
      MikM Offline
      Mik
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      Wrong. It's your hand. When you see a concern bring it up there and then. The surgeon's word would carry more weight than the PT with me, although that is not always correct.

      “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

      1 Reply Last reply
      • George KG Offline
        George KG Offline
        George K
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        What Mik said. If the therapist has any questions, s/he should call the doc for advice.

        "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.

        L 1 Reply Last reply
        • HoraceH Horace

          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?

          CopperC Offline
          CopperC Offline
          Copper
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          @Horace said in Had my first PT appt today:

          She knows what she's doing, right?

          If she does, she is one of the few.

          People are no darned good.

          1 Reply Last reply
          • jon-nycJ Offline
            jon-nycJ Offline
            jon-nyc
            wrote on last edited by jon-nyc
            #5

            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 were warned.

            1 Reply Last reply
            • HoraceH Offline
              HoraceH Offline
              Horace
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              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.

              Education is extremely important.

              1 Reply Last reply
              • George KG George K

                What Mik said. If the therapist has any questions, s/he should call the doc for advice.

                L Offline
                L Offline
                Loki
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                @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.

                1 Reply Last reply
                • JollyJ Offline
                  JollyJ Offline
                  Jolly
                  wrote on last edited by Jolly
                  #8

                  Listen to the doc.

                  I have seen PT's screw up.

                  “Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”

                  Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  • HoraceH Offline
                    HoraceH Offline
                    Horace
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    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.

                    Education is extremely important.

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    • George KG Offline
                      George KG Offline
                      George K
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      Update, please?

                      "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.

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      • HoraceH Offline
                        HoraceH Offline
                        Horace
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #11

                        I think I can twitch it... I have the surgery followup with the doctor early tomorrow and I'll probably know one way or the other. I'm still paranoid to try very hard but I think I was able to produce flexing tension on the thumb ring on the brace.

                        Education is extremely important.

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        • kluursK Offline
                          kluursK Offline
                          kluurs
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #12

                          Really hoping for good news on the thumb post-surgery evaluation. It can take a (long) while for recovery.

                          brendaB 1 Reply Last reply
                          • kluursK kluurs

                            Really hoping for good news on the thumb post-surgery evaluation. It can take a (long) while for recovery.

                            brendaB Offline
                            brendaB Offline
                            brenda
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #13

                            @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.

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            • HoraceH Offline
                              HoraceH Offline
                              Horace
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #14

                              Thanks George, kluurs and Brenda.

                              Education is extremely important.

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              • Catseye3C Offline
                                Catseye3C Offline
                                Catseye3
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #15

                                Best wishes tomorrow.

                                Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. – Mike Ditka

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                • JollyJ Offline
                                  JollyJ Offline
                                  Jolly
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #16

                                  Hope you get good news...

                                  “Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”

                                  Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  • jon-nycJ Offline
                                    jon-nycJ Offline
                                    jon-nyc
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #17

                                    What Jolly said.

                                    You were warned.

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    • taiwan_girlT Offline
                                      taiwan_girlT Offline
                                      taiwan_girl
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #18

                                      What everybody else said!!!

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      • HoraceH Offline
                                        HoraceH Offline
                                        Horace
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #19

                                        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.

                                        George KG taiwan_girlT 2 Replies Last reply
                                        • HoraceH Horace

                                          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.

                                          George KG Offline
                                          George KG Offline
                                          George K
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #20

                                          @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.

                                          JollyJ 1 Reply Last reply
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