L hand update :(

[Otterhound]

Not that I recommend this , but the first real movement of my left wrist post cast was digging a hard hit volleyball and having my wrist flex backwards .
Hurt like you know what , but the pain was momentary and literally gone after the initial event . A single volleyball did in an instant what hours of PT could only hope to accomplish .

[cotten]

Sounds to me like you're making great progress, Sandy. Keep it up, and keep us posted. My 40-yr. old son is facing carpal tunnel surgery on both wrists, and since playing guitar is a big part of his job... I know everyone's experience is different, but your progress is encouraging. Glad you're enough of a musician to find ways to compensate while you continue to heal!

cotten

[Photojeep]

Hang in there Sandy! You sound a lot like my wife. She NEVER backs away from a challenge either.

It sounds like it won't be too long when all this becomes a bad memory.

Best,
PJ

[Chicago Sandy]

Hey, no chance of a volleyball-related injury: I am a dedicated non-athlete, except for X-C skiing (and the chance of falling again, especially with a ski pole or two, has me rethinking that). When my PT and surgeon say it's safe to grip bike handlebars or the T-bar on a rowing machine, and pulleys & battle ropes in the gym, I will go back to personal training. But for now, my exercise is limited to walking (preferably while shopping...lots and lots of shopping...retail therapy). Playing harmonica actually helped me, since while holding the harp my hand & forearm are elevated.

[Chicago Sandy]

Free at last, free at last....my L arm is outta da cast! Saw my surgeon today, who removed the last of the sutures, looked at my X-rays, and told me that it was finally time to stop babying my wrist. (Well, no heavy lifting without the EXOS brace). Practice dulcimer and attempt guitar as tolerated (been trying on a baritone uke). I can already play most of my dulcimer solos, and strum. Guitar is trickier--it's not the pressure of the strings on the neck, it's the ability of my fingers to reach the lower strings and form full chords (especially up the neck) that's limited by the stiffness of my wrist.

OT/PT starts Monday. Twice a week for a month.

[Photojeep]

Sandy,
Great to hear you're making progress! I hope all will be back to normal soon.

Best,
PJ

[Chicago Sandy]

So I had my first hand therapy session today. My torturer, Karen, is very nice & understanding but insists that by babying my wrist I would be doing it no favors. (In fact, I should have been playing MORE before that second fall--which broke my scaphoid--because being afraid to hurt it shortened the tendons--though because of 6 wks of immobilization post-surgery they'd have shortened anyway).

So in addition to the various self-torture maneuvers I am to perform 3x/day, I should be practicing as best I can tolerate and then some--on the guitars & dulcimers with which I perform (regular scale, regular neck). I am to keep trying to play a normal G chord and once I can add the 5th string D, then slide it up & down the neck. No barre chords yet--we have to work on stretching before we can start strengthening.

She warned me not to get discouraged--after scaphoid fixation surgery, I can expect a lot of pain and stiffness for 4-6 months and some soreness & stiffness for up to a year. But "hurting" does not equate to "harming." And something else I never knew: it takes a year for melanocytes to mature; so any exposed skin on my L hand & forearm (whichever skin that was covered by the brace and then the cast) will be sun-sensitive. Sunscreen is necessary whenever out & about in daylight. (Unless it's cold enough to wear long sleeves & gloves).

My goal is to be able to play my Sep. 14 and certainly Oct. 7 gigs with as few fingering-change kludges as possible. (And bring lots of icepacks for after).

[cotten]

That's great news and progress, Sandy! Thanks for the update. Hope your pain is tolerable while you regain your strength and flexibility, and that you prove your doctor's timetable to be woefully pessimistic. Prayers and blessings!

cotten

[UKPhil]

Hi Sandy

Back in 2006 I went into theatre to have an ulner shortening osteotomy on my left wrist but came out having had a Suavi Kapandji which meant my wrist had much less rotation than was anticipated had I had the former procedure.

Getting back to playing guitar was a challenge and I had to adapt considerably. Barre chords near the nut are virtually impossible. In addition the trauma to my wrist in my opinion caused Dupuytren's disease to develop in the same hand causing my little finger to bend over at the first joint.

All of this has affected my playing but I have developed a style of playing to suit my condition and still enjoy playing greatly. I suppose the point I am making is that with hard work and determination you can overcome problems to a certain degree so please stick at it.

[Chicago Sandy]

Phil, I had asked my surgeon whether by "ulnar shortening" he meant shortening the distal (wrist) end of the ulna. "Good grief, no," he replied, "that's extremely painful and can cause fusion of the joint. We don't do that any more unless the joint is trashed."

My u.s.o. involved (stop reading if you're squeamish--I actually watched a video of the procedure) fixing a plate along the middle part of the length of the ulna with sliding "pressure screws" (they look like a cross between knobs & Frankenstein bolts) at either end, which sit in short slots in the plate. The plate actually has an oblique slotted template of the desired thickness of the wafer of bone to be removed from the middle of the ulna. In my case, 4mm. Once the wafer has been removed, the pressure screws are rotated along their slide channels in the plate until the cut parts of the ulna are firmly butted together. The pressure screws are then removed (thank goodness) and replaced by bone fixator screws, with more screws in holes along the length of the plate between them. Union ("knitting") of the fracture takes about 8 weeks, after which time over the course of a year the bone generates enough of a "callus" to hold itself together permanently. The hardware can be removed after about a year or two if the patient can no longer tolerate it. (Unlike the hardware holding my shattered tibia & fibula together, screwed into a mixture of epoxy, the bone chips, and more bone graft from my hip--that stays in me if I don't want my leg to fall apart).

Let me tell you--between the ulnare hardware, the screw in my scaphoid, my knee replacements and my tibial hardware, I am tons of fun at the TSA checkpoints. (Once or twice, the underwire in my bra set off the detector)!

[Photojeep]

Sandy,
Boy, you're just having a whole bucha fun!

Seriously, I'm glad you're on the mend (I think...)

Soon this will just be a memory.

Best,
PJ

[Chicago Sandy]

Last night, had my first gig since the cast came off. It was a challenge, to say the least, but I powered through it and didn't let on how much it hurt. My hand therapist repeated my surgeon's advice: take it as far as I (sensibly) can; and though it will hurt I am actually not harming it. Instead of the M-36 I played the Gramann Rappahannock because it has a slightly shorter scale and easier action. Flip side is that it doesn't take well to hard strumming, so I had to use a light touch with the flatpick. And my R hand nails are stilll a bit short so fingerpicking wasn't very loud. (I hate fingerpicks). Normally, I can make up for that with amplification but because the room was "live" and small, we played unplugged.

I was able to make a few barre chords (just the ones I needed), and that pesky movable Gadd9 up to the 12th fret was doable by holding the neck up & out sorta like Johnny Cash. (Could also have sat and played in classical position--resting it on my L knee--but it would have looked pretentious and given inadequate vocal support). There's a Gsus4 in second position on the dulcimer that also hurts like hell, but I knew the pain was coming so I didn't have to yelp or make John-Mayer-faces. I managed to get through two 50-min. sets.

Next gig is in two weeks, 1 hr. at a local folk festival, amplified. Three times the fee, too. Then in Nov., a musical improv gig at i.o. Only one gig a month. Baby steps...

[Photojeep]

Great to hear you're up and at 'em!

Keep it up!
PJ

[Kerbie]

Great news, Sandy! Keep up the good work.

[Dr. Spivey]

Good to hear you're on the mend, Sandy.