Modern Health Massage Therapy

My Journey Through Wrist Surgery-7/29/10

dave — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:05:58 +0000

My wrist is slowly coming along. I am in a removable cast. My wrist is stiff and I still cannot lift anything. I am beginning to get range of motion, about 10 degrees. Some days it is sore, but overall not too bad. Tomorrow I go back to the city to see Dr. Kang. Hopefully, she gives me a good report and I can start rehab. I miss all of my patients and look forward to when I can work with you again. On a positive note, I was given permission to ride my bike as long as my wrist brace was on.

My Journey through Wrist Surgery – 7/17/10

dave — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 18:21:46 +0000

With a removable cast, I am able to see what my wrist looks like. Overall, it looks pretty good. My scar is fairly minimal looking and the holes where the pins were sticking out have closed. the wrist is very stiff with not a lot of movement, but I am trying to move it little by little each day.

My journey through wrist surgery-7/15/10

dave — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 12:29:15 +0000

Yesterday I went back to New York City to get the pins removed from my wrist. There were some small mishaps along the way, but nothing major. We stopped for a great Chinese lunch at a place called “Pig heaven” and it is ironic that both my wife and I had vegetarian meals. On the way to the doctor’s office, after lunch, we stopped by a drugstore to pick some tic tacs, and they cost me $2.50! boy, have prices gone up. we walked over to the doctor’s office and they took me very quickly. They brought me in the room to first remove my cast. The nurse brought in this big machine which was a combination of a table saw and a shop vac. I thought she was going to suck the cast right off my arm. It was not a huge blade, but I asked her if we needed safety goggles to you that. I told it reminded me of my shop class days In high school. Before she started cutting, she slid a small plastic board between my arm in a cast as an extra precaution so I wouldn’t get cut. After she did that, I asked if she had done this before. She said she’s done this for 15 years and it was more for the patient and for her. I replied, “I would imagine.” After cutting the cast in half, she used a device similar to what firemen use called the Jaws of life. Basically, this pried open and separated the plaster. After the cast was totally removed, they took me for x-rays to see if my bones were aligned. Thankfully, they were and my doctor said I was a model patient pertaining to my healing. My wife asked my surgeon if I could start running with her again, and the doctor said sure. Then my wife asked if I could take out the garbage and she just laughed. I am taking that as a “no.” next, my surgeon yelled out to an assistant to get some pliers to pull out the pins. At this point I was debating filming it with my cell phone, but decided it was more important to focus on relaxing as she pulled metal spikes out of my wrist instead of getting a good shot. She grabbed the first pin and started to twist. I felt mostly pressure except for one time when she grazed a nerve. in the second pin came out much easier and was fairly painless. She then covered up the holes with a Band-Aid and examined the wrist again. Unfortunately, she told me she that I had to wait another two weeks before I could start my rehabilitation. She said that I was the come back in two weeks for a checkup and then I can start rehab afterwards. We then left to explore the city and have a good dinner.

My wrist surgery – 7/8/10

dave — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:49:51 +0000

things have been status quo over the last couple of weeks. the pain has been minimal with only a little bit of soreness in my left thumb and fore arm. Although, there was one day when a storm was coming and I felt it in my wrist. I guess it’s the onset of barometric fever, so apparently I have taken on a new job as a weatherman. The good news is that my pins come out in nine days! Rehab starts on the 19th.

My journey through wrist surgery – 6/18/10

dave — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:09:19 +0000

On Friday, it was another journey back to New York City. My wife and I got there early so we were able to enjoy a nice vegan lunch at Zen Palate. afterwards, we headed towards the hospital and made our way into the waiting room. After about 15 minutes we were called in to an exam room to get my stitches removed. Eventually, the doctor came in and cut off my soft cast. My wrist looked like Frankenstein, not because the surgeon did a bad job, but rather because of all the stitches. One by one the surgeon started to take out the stitches and for the most part it was painless. There were one or two that hurt a little, but nothing worth mentioning. I also told the doctor that the pain in my wrist felt like it was pushing the bone out of alignment. before I knew it, she grabbed a pair of pliers and began to twist the pins. The pulling was a strange sensation, more like pressure than pain. then I got to pick out the color of my cast. HMMM, what color should I pick? Neon orange, purple, hot pink, blue? I think I’ll stick with black. I know it’s not fashionable or wild, but I like black and it matches my gi. the doctor put my cast On And Began to Mold It So That My Wrist Was Straight. She Did a Great Job And I Went on My Way.

My journey through wrist surgery- Thursday, day six

dave — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:36:20 +0000

today the pain was high. I was getting cabin fever, so my wife was nice enough to take me out to go shopping. Nothing major, just some Aleve pain reliever. We also made a quick stop at the dojo which was nice. I knew I couldn’t stay away for a whole week. I hope tomorrow will go better. Thank you everyone for the kind words and wishes.

My Journey Through Wrist Surgery – Wed. Day 5

dave — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 02:45:14 +0000

today is the day that I get my wrist examined by the surgeon. My hands are swollen, so I wonder what she will say. We got to New York around 11:30 AM and decided to go to lunch first. We stopped by an Irish pub on the upper East side. Afterwards, we headed to the doctor’s office for our 1:30 PM appointment. After waiting for about 15 minutes they took me into the room and started to remove my cast. this is what they saw. There were only two pins, but they went all the way across my wrist. It feels like there is much more though. After they removed the cast, they sent me for x-rays. Without the support from the cast, my wrist was much more painful than I’d expected And when they took the x-ray they had to force my hand flat which killed. the x-ray tech asked me why I got this procedure done, so I told him I was installing a rocket launcher into my wrist. He laughed. After I was done with the images, they brought me back to the exam room where I waited for the surgeon to come in. Dr.Kang looked at my x-rays and said they looked very good although my hand was more swollen than she would’ve liked. I told her that I was almost totally off the narcotic pain medications and I think she was surprised that I was off them so quickly. That made me happy. I told her some of the issues I was having like tingling in my fingers, spasms, and a couple wrist popping sensations, but she did not seem concerned. She then put in new soft cast back on and sent me on my way. My wrist was more painful than it had been probably because of all the manipulation and they did. As we left the city, there was this strange warm sensation coming from the cast, which I hoped was normal and since it finally stopped I figured it was no big deal. So Adria and I headed home, but stopped off to visit friends for dinner in New Jersey. We had a good meal, good laughs, and then we picked up our dog Gus before finally returning home.

My journey through wrist surgery – Tuesday, Day 4

dave — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:19:44 +0000

I woke up Tuesday and things seem pretty good. Each day my pain seems a little bit less. Although, I noticed that my fingers are swollen, looking like sausages. I am keeping my hand elevated in order to help with the swelling as my surgeon told me, but not sure if it is helping. I made it through most of the day on advil alone, but by the end of the day I needed something stronger. Adria and I also realized that one of the papers we were given by the surgeon said not to take advil. Whoops. so, we’ll have to switch over to Tylenol. I hope that wasn’t a big deal. I don’t think it is. Interestingly, my forearm by my elbow gets sore sometimes, just as much as my wrist. Another strange thing happened, I felt my wrist pop once or twice. I hope that’s nothing to worry about. I will ask the surgeon tomorrow. As a treat for weening myself off the narcotics, my wife took me for ice cream. There are some that would say that’s not a fair trade, but I’m more than happy with that deal. LOL.

My journey through wrist surgery – day 3

dave — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 12:33:21 +0000

It’s Monday morning and overall things are feeling pretty good. I am thinking about the dojo and my patients, and I know I much rather be with them than being laid up on the couch. I took my first dose of traumeel, along with my frankincense, geranium, Heliochrysum, lavender, lemongrass, pan away Oils and my standard process brand ligaplex I supplement. I am continuing to use them three times a day. It’s funny, but my fingertips are starting to turn orange from all the oils. Feeling overconfident, I decided today I was going to try and go from Vicodin to Advil. This was probably too soon to do that, but I really hate being on the hard stuff. So, at around 8 AM I t took two Advil and waited to see what happened. Around 9 AM, I realized that my wrist was really starting to hurt. No matter how I moved it or kept it still, the pain was starting to grow. I did some meditation which helped a little, but it was really bothering me. Being stubborn, I still took the Advil when it was time to take another dose of medication even though I knew that the Vicodin would made me feel much more comfortable. I could feel the pins sticking out of my wrist and pressing against my cast. Ouch! I try to keep myself occupied by watching a couple episodes of Dexter and reading e-mails, but by the evening I knew I needed to take something stronger as much as that bothers me. I waited until it was bedtime, and at midnight I took a Vicodin. Very shortly I got the relief I needed although I will try tomorrow morning again with the Advil.

My journeying through wrist surgery day 2

dave — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:26:48 +0000

I made it through the night without it being too horrible. Although I have to say getting woken up every couple hours to take my medication did not give me much rest. My hand was not as swollen as I thought it would be, which I attribute to the oils and the Arnica. I got to watch a lot of television and was able to do a lot of munching on snacks. Things seem like they were going pretty well. Then about 3 PM it started the storm. My wrist was really starting to flare up, probably due to barometric fever. It was bad because I had to wait another hour and a half before I could take anything to give me relief. Luckily, my buddy Christopher Allen was here to keep me laughing. Eventually, when the storm died down, so did my wrist.

The rest of the day went fairly well, I just had some tingling in my fingers.