sometimes the medical establishment moves quickly

[edenfalling]

I had my orthopedics appointment this morning, the upshot of which is I have carpal tunnel surgery on my left wrist scheduled for Friday the 26th. We'll do the right wrist in March.

I wanted to separate the surgeries because I live alone and cannot have BOTH hands useless at the same time. I also figure doing my non-dominant hand first lets me get used to the inconvenience while retaining use of my dominant hand, and then by the time we slice up my dominant wrist, my left hand will be mostly recovered and more usable than it is now.

I was thinking of just hiring a Lyft to and from the surgery, since it shouldn't take very long, but Mom has volunteered to come up Thursday afternoon and stay over until Saturday morning, just in case. This is probably overkill, but it IS convenient and she likes feeling helpful (I think especially since it's hard to do concrete helpful tasks when fighting someone else's depression), so I did not protest.

I have put in a request for a paid day off next Friday, so that's taken care of. I should be able to return to work on Saturday the 27th, since I will still have one functional hand and I don't expect to be lifting heavy things.

...

This all feels very abrupt, but you know, I am really looking forward to not waking up in the middle of the night from pins-and-needles static so strong it tips a 6 or 7 on the pain scale. (Still not as bad as kidney stones, but yeesh does it hurt.)

Comments

[snacky]

I had the carpal tunnel surgery on both hands done a few years back, and my life is so much better. I did split it by a few months, because of the lifting precautions. Still, it was a pretty easy recovery. Just painful for a few day. Good luck!

[edenfalling]

Yeah, from what the orthopedist said, it sounds pretty simple! They're giving me a prescription for Tylenol with codeine just in case, but she said ibuprofen might well be enough to cover the pain.

[snacky]

I think I maybe took the tylenol with codeine once? The ibuprofen worked great for me. Good luck! The hardest part is the first couple of days, because your arm is wrapped up.

[violsva]

Here's hoping it helps a lot!

[edenfalling]

*crosses fingers*

[sheliak]

I hope the surgery is helpful and recovery is uncomplicated!

[edenfalling]

Thank you! Carpal tunnel surgery is one of the safest and most effective surgeries around, so I am pretty confident it will turn out okay. (*crosses fingers just in case*)

[rahirah]

Probably a good thing your Mom can come, as I have had some procedures where they'd refuse to release you to a Lyft/Uber/taxi driver. It had to be a friend or relative. I never got a good reason why.

[edenfalling]

Huh! I wonder if it might be for liability issues, like they're afraid a stranger might take advantage somehow?

I could wrangle a coworker or someone from church in a pinch, but it is convenient that Mom is willing and able to come.

She's already told me the best days to schedule my right wrist surgery, based on her and Dad's March and April plans. *wry*

[redwolf]

They want you to get picked up by a human that knows you here. I guess because people react to anaesthetics wildly differently and it doesn't look good for the surgeon if a cab driver dumps a delirious, vomiting patient by the side of the road.

Yay! for your Mum arriving. And good luck with the surgery.

[edenfalling]

Thank you!

...I have just realized that I need to sort through some of the clutter that's been accumulating in my spare room, so we'll have space to inflate the air mattress. Blargh, housekeeping.