Surgery? − 14 June, 2008

The next question in this carpal tunnel syndrome journey of mine will be to determine whether I need surgery. It hadn't even crossed my mind that I could need surgery. When this first arose, I imagined healing within three weeks. But because there may be nerve damage, I may need surgery. The first occupational therapist observed muscle loss in my right hand; the second occupational therapist noticed, to a lesser degree, muscle loss in my left hand as well.

I will be getting an EMG on the 27th. After that, hopefully I will know a lot more. The idea of the surgery scares me because I have heard that it doesn't always work. The occupational therapist said that for some patients, surgery does not completely alleviate the symptoms. I hate to go around expecting the worst case; nevertheless, it is in my nature. Fortunately, I am not currently expecting the worst. But right after I heard that surgery was a possibility, I did imagine the worst. I imagined being unable to work in my field any longer. I almost lost it. I kept it together long enough to get home. And then I lost it.

There will be no sense in my working if I am to get an EMG on the 27th. If I were to get surgery, and aggressive recovery time might be two weeks. That would put me into mid July. I have been on medical leave since the end of May. I am wondering when in the world I'm going to be ready to go back to work. I dread informing my supervisor about this. I have no idea what the implications are; how much long-term leave I have; what implications I have not even thought of might be.

But I will just have to wait and see. In the meantime, I have hand exercises three times a day; I need to acquire an ergonomic desk and chair for home; make sure all my bases at work are covered, and keep my spirits up.

I'm going to do my best to not use a keyboard when I write my blog posts. Sometimes this means choosing an alternate word when the software refuses to recognize the word that I prefer. I have found editing by voice recognition to be difficult, and impractical in my current state.

One thing that is strange about being on medical leave is that I find that I have less to write about, unless I plumb the depths of my past. Not being involved in every day work and society makes for a somewhat solitary existence, and sometimes leaves me with nothing about which to write. So, I will write when I can, when I have something that I think is worth writing about. I hope I don't bore my audience too much.

Tags: voice recognition software, look Ma, no hands!, SURGERY, nerve damage

Posted on June 14, 2008. and has been viewed 52 times.

Comments:

metalpower (June 15, 2008. 03:43am)

I had a surgery for both carpal tunnel and some fingers of each hand. It took about 2 months of re-education at each time. I was on a list since two years and I was not able to drive my motorcycle more than 15 minutes at the time and had always some prosthetics for nights. It took about a year to have all the strength back. Don’t be afraid for the surgery if it’s necessary but take care of a correct re-education. I think it’s the most important! Good luck!