nerve block
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i cut it on some broken glass, ILM.
This morning it appears to me that the surgery was not successful. I still cannot so much as twitch my last thumb joint. I believe I should be able to do that even if the tendon is only held on my sutures at this point. The nerve block is off and the rest of the hand is functioning normally. I'll call the doctor this morning when they open.
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i'm going to need another surgery. I don't know what happened. I trust the tendon was attached when she closed me up yesterday but there is no way it is attached now. I have zero ability to so much as twitch the joint. exactly the same situation as pre surgery. I wonder if I'll be able to get a deal on this next surgery?
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@Rainman said in nerve block:
Sorry to hear that, Horace.
Any explanation from the surgeon? Hope it wasn't "never was much good at this surgery stuff."Ha! Right now she needs proof that I really can't move my thumb. I already had a physical therapy appt tomorrow morning so she told me to go to that one and let them verify my claim. Then if they do I will go directly to her office.
The PT will verify presumably by asking me to move the thumb then using their highly trained eyes to detect whether it moves. If it doesn't, they will verify through their training that I cannot move it. And we will move on towards another surgery. I just hope all these sutures getting threaded through a little tendon dont tear it up and weaken it.
My wild guess as to what happened is that I had a muscle spasm last night which tore the repair apart. I wouldn't have felt it of course due to the nerve block. This morning I had a twitching muscle in the inside of my forearm which may be the muscle in question.
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Wow Horace, how are things now?
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The repair is intact, but I have zero ability to so much as twitch the joint. The doctor is attributing this to the tendon getting stuck in the sheath it runs through, somewhere along the way, which she thinks will self correct in time. Meanwhile I am unable to so much as twitch the joint... So I'll wait and see. I assume they'll address it eventually if I am unable to move it within several weeks. I don't think that this outcome is standard.
I don't really understand how I wouldn't be able to flex the muscle and get some movement one way or another if the issue is that the tendon is stuck somewhere on what must be at least slightly yielding flesh. But I can't get a twitch. One interesting thing the doc did in her office was to squeeze my forearm in various places, getting the fingers to flex. On my good hand's side, she could easily press to get my good thumb to flex. On the bad side, she could not get the bad thumb to flex. but this could be caused by a stuck tendon, I guess.
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Oh man, I’m sorry you are going through this.
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Education is extremely important.
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@Horace said in nerve block:
Thanks jon. Not really a big deal as long as it gets fixed eventually. I am reassured today that it'll get better.
I wonder if there might not be some swelling in the tendon sheath preventing the tendon from moving smoothly. That would be a good thing, because it will get better over time.
Thanks for the update - keep us posted.
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This doctor uses as much of the natural sheath as possible in the repair, which is personal choice apparently, as there are various ways to do it. The sheath directs the pull of the tendon to most efficiently move the joint, and so compromising the sheath compromises strength. This preference of hers to try to keep and use as much as the natural sheath as possible might contribute to a higher chance of this complication?
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