Posts Tagged ‘Medicine’

Ouch 7 the recovery process

Posted: 23/07/2012 in ouch, photography
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Apologies for the delay to this post but I’ve been doing my best to avoid the computer for the last week or so.

My surgery went ahead as scheduled or rather rescheduled on the 12th and the initial prognosis is good, upon opening up the side of my thumb it has been established that there is no tendon damage and that whilst there was a lot of scaring around the median nerve it too was in tact so they were able to do something called neurolysis which essentially consisted of un-sheathing the nerve and cutting away the excess scar tissue, this process is unlikely to return the sense of feeling to the tip of my thumb but should theoretically at least do something to stop the nerve from sending phantom signals back up into my hand and arm saying it’s in pain.

Hold on I’m not sure that makes much sense so I’m going to try to explain a bit better the reasons I was pushing for this surgery in the first place, not having any feeling in the tip of my thumb has not been the end of my world, it’s made my typing a little clumsy and I’ve burned it while cooking a couple of times but what has been unbearable is that the median nerve that serves the thumb has known there was something wrong with it and sent random shooting pains back up through my thenar (the pulpy bit of your hand beneath your thumb) and into my forearm. These pains have been fairly random but were largely brought on by things like having to drive long distance especially in difficult conditions like heavy rain or stop start traffic where I might subconsciously be gripping the steering wheel harder than normal. My boys also have an uncanny ability to single out this weakness and bite, kick or grab out at it resulting in often days of being unable to sleep properly.

Right back to where we are now they’ve done the surgery, I’ve been through a week of being stoned out of my box on happy pills that barely dented the pain nor helped my sleep and  I’ve been back to have my dressing changed and spoken with a specialist hand nurse who’s given me some simple exercises and things are definitely improving, I’ve run out of the hospital prescribed happy pills and am now just subsiding on over the counter analgesics, these do seem to be working though and whilst I’m still getting cramping through my thenar it’s believed by the specialists that this will improve with time and I may even regain some feeling in the tip.

My stitches come out on Friday and they’ll take a decision then as to whether or not I will benefit from physiotherapy, they will also decide then whether I will need to return to see my consultant surgeon in either two months or three as this is the soonest that things are likely to have settled down enough to judge if there has been any permanent improvement and whether or not further surgery might be necessary.

I’m allowed to drive again once the stitches are out which will be of huge relief to the wonderfully patient and kind Mrs Bunny Chow who has borne the brunt of childcare duties and been running around trying to do the school runs etc.

I’ll leave this there as I’ve pretty much exhausted my patience for one-handed typing.

thanks again for all the kind messages and support.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

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Ouch 6

Posted: 11/07/2012 in ouch
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you’re probably wondering how I’ve been able to type this so soon after surgery to my thumb and the simple answer is that I haven’t had the surgery yet, I went through all of the de-lousing, fasting, stressing and panicking and presented myself to the day surgery unit yesterday at the prescribed time where I waited and sat about for a while before a kindly nurse led me through to the inner sanctum and went through the checking in procedure with me, checking that I’d done everything I was supposed to, ensuring that I’d removed my wedding ring watch etc, fitting me with an ID bracelet explained the infamous backless gown, paper underwear with flattering giant access panel and super sexy anti deep vein thrombosis leggings.

I then got to be fitted with an ID anklet just in case I managed to lose my id bracelet when I was told that my surgeon was there to see me, excellent I thought she’ll just want to discuss what they’re doing again and prod and contort my battered thumb some more before making some drawings and explaining her plans. My initial assumption was initially proved correct, she battered, prodded and contorted me whilst asking if she was causing any discomfort, I nodded in the affirmative to all of her prods and pokes whilst doing my best not to scream, when eventually after all this (she was probably only at it for five minutes but it felt like hours) she said that unfortunately she was going to have to cancel my scheduled surgery due to an emergency that had come in. She then went on to apologise that I had wasted my journey and time off work and that of my carer etc. She then went on to say that she would try to fit me in again after her holiday in 3 to 4 weeks.

I fixed her with my best steely gaze, she obviously understood this to mean that I was preparing to wreak havoc or cry, either way she suggested that on second thoughts that although due to the complexity of my procedure only a consultant would be able to undertake my operation she would speak with Mary the bookings clerk and see if she couldn’t perhaps postpone one of her scheduled operations from Thursday (12.07.12) until after her holiday and slot me in then.

At this point I was dismissed to go and get back into my normal clothes, disposing of my gown, sexy socks and flattering paper underwear.

I was then taken in by a kindly nurse of the old school who could clearly see that I was rather unimpressed and given a strong sweet tea and a biscuit whilst Mary ran around and did her thing, presumably with some success as I’m to present myself for surgery again at 12 tomorrow.

I do hope that they actually go ahead this time as I’m in agony today from Mrs Surgeons proddings and pokings and not sure if Mrs BC can take any more of my grumpiness.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

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Ouch 4

Posted: 25/06/2012 in ouch
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woohoo, great news the NHS have finally pulled finger (pun wholly intended) and scheduled me in for my thumb operation on Tuesday the 10th of July.

I’m not going to go into great detail explaining my injury again but you can read my older posts here or just go through life happy in the knowledge that I stabbed myself whilst being an idiot and not paying suitable attention to what I was doing.

My numerous visits to hospitals and healthcare professionals afterwards also meant that I picked up a nasty superbug type infection that I’m not allowed to treat until the week before my surgery, meaning lots and lots of niggling sickness, colds flu’s etc.

The only thing I can be truly grateful for is that I stabbed my thumb not the neck of my mate that was behind it.

Be safe, be careful and remember that whilst knives are cool and macho they are not toys and should be treated with respect.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

Project 52 Week 17

Posted: 26/04/2012 in photography, Project 52
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harumph, I’m grumpy and moody and feeling very sorry for myself, once again I have been struck down with that most deadly of diseases Man Flu.

It all began on Friday night after spending two days at home from work looking after my poor sick elder child often referred to in these pages as The Monkey Boy who been kept home with a slightly high temperature and general malaise, he is two so malaise is a concern, I began getting a sore throat and feeling rather sorry for myself, and unlike the last time I had a sore throat I didn’t reach for the whiskey, partly because I’ve not actually got any in the house but more because that ended in tragedy the last time and anyway as the evening wore on I began feeling really really rough.

10pm rolled around and I decided that I was freezing and feeling really crap so was going to bed, checking my temperature on the way to find it was sitting just shy of 40C or 104F I demanded a hot water bottle and withdrew to some very odd dreams.

Saturday and Sunday passed by in a blur of wailing children, no interest in food an aborted dog walk and no noticeable change in my core temperature. Monday morning came and I despatched Mrs BC to do the school run and deal with a puncture whilst I visited my much maligned NHS GP he took one look at my temperature and began testing everything, discovering my hear rate would not drop below 160, my blood pressure was way too low and in general I was in pretty poor order.

Of course I am still awaiting my thumb operation so not wanting to put that at jeopardy he immediately prescribed me industrial strength doses of antibiotics and sent me home to bed.

The antibiotics alongside my ravenous appetite for cold and flu drugs seem to be winning at last with my temperature not back down to normal human levels and my chest and throat still sore but not to the point of having a desire to rip them out of myself.

Today (Thursday) I’ve even managed to stay awake all morning, although I’m fading fast and feel the need for a nap coming on as soon as I’ve finished grumbling at you lot.

so without further ado I’m not going to try to justify the best I could come up with for a Kitchen shot, i.e. nothing to do with the kitchen other than that the dog is chewing and looking mean.

Bunny Chew

My next post to share here on this project is on symmetry which could be fun if I can drag myself away from my sick-bed.

I’m also taking part in a project with Nick Mayo of the excellent NickExposed Blog

I’ll let you read more about the idea from his own post but the general idea is everyone submits three quotes and these are then divided up and you receive someone elses quotes which you need to interpret photographically.

The quotes I submitted were:

  • Quote one: by my father  “Son, if you have to drink gin then for gods sake use a tot measure” (his actual words have been edited for the sake for public decency)
  • Quote two: by Monkey Boy “No Scooby Doo? Take me home Daddy want Scooby Doo”
  • Quote three: by Cecil John Rhodes “So little done, so much to do”

and the quotes I have received back are:

  • 1.”It’s never just an ordinary day.”~ slogan for the Calgary Science School
  • 2.”Every artist was first an amateur.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • 3.“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Edison

Anyway that’s me for now I’m gonna hit the hay.

hope you’re all well

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

 

Ouch 3!!!

Posted: 01/02/2012 in iPhone, Kindle, ouch
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Superficial palmar nerves.

Image via Wikipedia

for those of you that have been following my saga I wanted to give you an update on the state of my thumb, if this is a new story line to you then you can catch up here before continuing.

After much badgering of my GP and the appointments clerks at my local hospital I finally managed to see a specialist hand surgeon for an opinion as to what could be done about my hand.

He sucked his teeth in obvious irritation and said that I should have been refered within a week of the injury and that he would be writing a strongly worded letter to my GP advising him of his displeasure. He then said that there were two lines of thought on late presenting nerve damage, the first being to go ahead and operate as soon as possible anyway and the other to allow any scar tissue to form and inflammation to dissipate before attempting surgery.

The kindly surgeon then refered me for X-Rays whilst he went off and spoke with some colleagues for further opinion. Mr Surgeon came back to me a short while later to say that he wanted me to see a different surgeon at the plastics hand clinic at another hospital on the other side of town the following morning.

Being in agony after kindly first Mr Surgeons manipulations, pokes and proddings as well as the thought of rush hour traffic I decided that public transport was the order of the day to get across London for my early appointment, this was needless to say as unpleasant as can be expected of any brush with London’s transport system and I spent the majority of the journey with my nose wedged firmly in the armpit of a fellow commuter whilst trying my best to read my kindle.

On a minor aside this was the first time I’ve taken rush hour public transport in some time and I was amused to count four other kindle readers within a radius of a couple of metres, they’re obviously taking off.

Anyway I’m waffling, I made it to my appointment on time even though I’d given myself plenty of extra time to arrive early, I checked in and was seen relatively quickly, by NHS standards anyway by a specialist nurse, who repeated much of the previous days excruciating poking and prodding as well as tests to establish relative muscle wasting and retained strength as well as examining my X-Rays from the previous day.

He then disappeared for the best part of an hour with brief revisits to inflict more pain and ask more questions before reappearing with another slightly less kindly but equally professional looking Mr Surgeon who explained to me that he believed that I had indeed partially severed a branch of my Median Nerve which he also gave a very long and complicated name and also suffered a minor fracture of my thumb at the joint where I had managed to stab myself.

He also promised to dictate a strongly worded letter to my GP about the importance of quick referrals in cases of suspected nerve injuries. He then went on to say that in consultation with his registrar Kindly Mr Surgeon number one, he believed that the fracture had now healed itself and that there was now too much scarring and inflammation of the muscles surrounding the nerve for surgery to be immediately successful and that he would be referring me for physiotherapy before re-assessing me in a couple of weeks.

He also recommended that I regularly massaged the wound site and my hand with moisturiser, and try to use the thumb as much as my pain threshold will allow.

So that’s where we are, I am waiting for them to get in touch with physio appointments and follow-up appointments whilst continuing to consume vast quantities of analgesics.

Many thanks for all the kindly messages of support I’ve recieved and also extra special thanks go out to Mrs Bunny Chow for putting up with my extra grumpy self.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

 

Ouch 2!!!

Posted: 09/01/2012 in ouch
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Howdy Readers,

I thought I’d give you a brief update having been back to see my GP (general practitioner) this morning.

I completed my course of antibiotics over the weekend, as suspected I wasn’t very good at taking them on time until I set myself phone reminders that bugged me until I did but still I completed the course so there is no further fear of infection. The wound itself is now completely healed over leaving just some tender keloid (scar) tissue so nothing else is likely to get in there.

I still have no pain receptors in the tip of my thumb or distal phalanx as the doctor likes to call it and am still extremely sore and stiff in the pad at the base of my thumb or thenar and first two fingers.

The GP has now referred me to see the consultant hand surgeon at my local hospital to see what else if anything can be done. The GP has also advised that I now stop wearing the brace during the day and that I massage my thenar regularly to encourage healing.

Now it’s just waiting to see how quickly I can get an appointment to see said surgeon and continuing to take pain medication to manage in the interim.

hope you’re all well

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow