Triggered
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I'm not all that concerned. This is more of a PITA than anything serious.
D2 was worried whether I could still extend the middle finger independently. I assured her it's not a problem.
"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.
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So, I've had two injections. Playing the piano is painful, so I've been avoiding.
The second one was in March of this year. I got good relief until 6 weeks ago. The finger started acting up, this time with more pain than actual "locking up."
I saw my hand surgeon yesterday, and after examining me, he says that another injection (I've had two, you're allowed three) probably won't do anything.
I need an operation.
It's really a nothing - done under local anesthesia and there's no rehab, PT, restriction of activity, etc. The only thing is to keep it clean and to keep mobility up.
Gonna schedule for after the holidays.
Damn...
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I'm not all that concerned. This is more of a PITA than anything serious.
D2 was worried whether I could still extend the middle finger independently. I assured her it's not a problem.
I'm not all that concerned. This is more of a PITA than anything serious.
D2 was worried whether I could still extend the middle finger independently. I assured her it's not a problem.
"Hold on."
"What?"
"I need to show you something, it's important. Let me just get my hand loosened up and there, there we go. Fuck you." -
I'm not all that concerned. This is more of a PITA than anything serious.
D2 was worried whether I could still extend the middle finger independently. I assured her it's not a problem.
"Hold on."
"What?"
"I need to show you something, it's important. Let me just get my hand loosened up and there, there we go. Fuck you."@aqua-letifer said in Triggered:
"Hold on."
"What?"
"I need to show you something, it's important. Let me just get my hand loosened up and there, there we go. Fuck you."I was going to post something along those lines, but you beat me to it, with a post that clearly surpasses ANYTHING I could have come up with.
ETA: By the way, I get along very well with this surgeon. And I pretty much did exactly that when he suggested surgery.
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Saturday was a painful day. Pain at rest which woke me at midnight Friday night after the block wore off. No incisional pain, however. It's a really small incision, about 1 cm long. Tendon is all banged up, and any kind of motion was painful as well. I did my best to do the exercises (flex and extend) the fingers, but it really hurt.
Yesterday, Sunday was remarkably better. No pain at rest, and by end of the day, motion was limited by stiffness and swelling rather than pain.
This AM, no pain at all again. Stiffness is better, and I'm able to type as though nothing had happened.
But, here's why I'm following up.
Years ago, we were approached by a drug salesman who was touting Ofirmev, a new formulation of acetaminophen, Tylenol. It was high-dose, a gram, and to be given intravenously for pain control, and as a supplement during anesthesia. Being the curious type, I was eager to try it, and I was amazed at how well it worked. I found myself giving much less narcotics during surgery, and patients seemed to require less in the recovery period as well. The dose was 1 gram, intravenously, every 6 hours.
The major drawbacks to it were twofold:
- this formulation was expensive, and the hospital didn't want us using stuff that expensive (I think it was $25 a dose), when cheaper stuff (morphine) was available. Never mind that one of the advantages was less opiod use and fewer complications because of that.
- It made your liver fall out. Well, if doses were too high, it caused hepatotoxicity, so you were limited to 4 doses per day.
And then something interesting happened. People started looking at the effectiveness of acetaminophen when given orally, but in large doses - again 1 gram every 6 hours. It works just about as well as the intravenous route, and is dirt cheap.
So, in preparation for my procedure, I loaded a gram about 3 hours beforehand, and then got on a 6,12,6,12 schedule. It worked like a charm. When it wore off at midnight Friday night, that's what woke me. I took a dose, and I was pain-free in an hour, and slept until 5:30, when I needed another dose. I continued it through Saturday and Sunday. Worked great.
Today, I have no need for it, so I'm done.
Amazing drug.
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On a related note...What about the 650mg extended release acetaminophen pills? Better, same or worse?
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On a related note...What about the 650mg extended release acetaminophen pills? Better, same or worse?
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Day 10 post-op.
Negligible pain, unless I fall asleep with my fingers flexed. Then, it takes some effort to flex them more and then extend them.
I'm somewhat disturbed by the fact that I still have some pain on the dorsal (back) of the affected finger, but function seems good, although I can't extend it as far as the other three fingers.
Wound looks good. No drainage, no pus. Minimal swelling. I have no dressing applied, and the sutures come out Thursday morning.
