Surgery!

I'm getting my hand fixed on Thursday. Sometime in the last couple of years, I destroyed the ligaments holding my right thumb in place. Everything is held in place by muscular tension, and it's all finally shifted enough to start causing problems. It's now to the point where gripping things with my right hand causes me a significant amount of pain. 
Thursday, they will remove the bone chips and arthritic bone, graft a tendon into place to replace the ones I wrecked, and then pin my thumb into place. It'll stay pinned for a month, and I can expect full function in the next 3-6 months. The doc doing the work is well-regarded, and I expect everything will be fine. That being said, I'm still damn nervous. I make my living with my hands, always have. It's frightening to have one out of commission for that long... 

Thoughts and prayers, smoke signals, offerings to Jobu, etc. are all appreciated, if you are so inclined. Thanks for letting me vent a bit. 

good luck!  If all else fails, you get a new nickname: "mittens"

Best of luck and medical science to you!

Positive vibes.

I, too, make my living with my hands, and had carpal tunnel release recently. While this is nowhere near as serious as your surgery, I can say that it is great to be back in action. I should have done it twenty years ago. You have done the hard part, which is beginning. Modern medicine is amazing.

Ask them to make a jog in the incision. That way, when it heals, it looks like a lightning bolt. 

I've asked 3 times. They never do.

Good luck and hope you're two handed soon.

Wow! I hope the surgery and recovery goes well. 

I'm an occupational therapist/hand therapist. I'm curious, what tendons were "wrecked"?

What arthritic bone are they removing? 

I assume they are offering rehabilitative hand therapy?

Best wishes for a flawless surgery and rapid, complete recovery!  

In reply to CyberEric : 

The carpal/ metacarpal ligament(s) on the radial side of my thumb are completely detached. There is arthritic bone growth (small, but still there) at the base of the joint due to joint misalignment. There are also a couple of bone chips that were pulled out of the first metacarpal when the ligament detached. 

They will use palmaris longus to graft in a new ligament. This is the second time I've been grateful for spare parts. The first was a grinder injury to my left wrist that nicked the aforementioned tendon. It saved everything else from major damage. Now, the one on the right side will restore my thumb joint...

Lastly, yes. I will be going through hand therapy. ​​​​​​ 

Good luck with the surgery and recovery.  Sending good thoughts...

In reply to Recon1342 :

Good luck!

Though it would seem you and I have different understandings of "hand therapy".

In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :

You soooo funny...

Maybe we can all chip in for the professional level membership to PornHub for physical therapy.

In reply to Recon1342 :

Ah, so they are using PL to repair some ligaments, gotcha. 

As they probably told you, some people are born without PL at all. It's nice that you have it, now you're making good use of it!

Best of luck with the recovery. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have if that feels helpful. 

In reply to CyberEric :

Thanks! As I said, PL has saved my bacon twice now. Here's the first go round- the grinder got away from me, passed from right to left, bounced off the top of PL and split the skin instead of digging in and hitting all the important stuff. 

Appleseed said:

Ask them to make a jog in the incision. That way, when it heals, it looks like a lightning bolt. 

I've asked 3 times. They never do.

My incisions will not likely be long enough. Pity, cause that's a great idea...

Prayers your way!

Best wishes for the op and the recovery ...

Sounds like you're used to the thumb being a little bit useless so it won't be too much of a shock during the recovery period. I broke the bone in my left thumb below the first knuckle back in July when I got it between a rock and the end of the handlebar on my TY175 Yamaha. The cast(s) and stuff were a nuisance but the inability to hold things like forks and other tools was eye opening. I've been back on a bike for a couple of weeks now but the left hand and forearm are still significantly weaker than the right. I can't ride the Yamaha properly yet 'cos the clutch is too heavy, fortunately my Vertigo has a single finger hydraulic clutch.

In reply to RichardNZ :

Mostly, I've just been ignoring the pain as much as possible. I'm a mechanic, so I need both hands; taking it easy isn't really an option either. It'll be nice to be rid of the pain. 

Well, it's done. I am in a total fog right now, but my thumb has been repaired. 

Great news, good luck with the recovery and PT.

In reply to 11GTCS :

Thank you.

In reply to Recon1342 :

Excellent! Don't push it too much and let it heal up well.

Recon1342 said:

Well, it's done. I am in a total fog right now, but my thumb has been repaired. 

If anyone gives you any crap, give em the CLAW!

Here's to a speedy recovery!

In reply to WonkoTheSane (Forum Supporter) :

Right now, I can't give them anything. The nerve block has not worn off yet. My arm is currently a useless lump of dead weight...