I had surgery on my right hand on September 6. Arthritis has taken a toll on my joints and I was down to bone on bone in a joint at the base of my thumb and in my middle finger. Add in bone spurs and a cyst in one of the joints and the pain was awful. Worse than that, I couldn't sew.
The surgeon replaced the joint in the middle finger with a plastic joint. For the thumb joint he took a cartilage out of my arm that he said I didn't need, rolled it into a ball, and put it between the bones as a cushion. It should last about ten years.
Prior to surgery he said he would bandage the hand for two weeks before putting on splints. Ya'll, that's no bandage under that wrap...it's a cast! I was not prepared....
At two weeks I graduated to this...
I get to take it off three times a day for hygiene and exercise. And I have PT three times a week. I have affectionately renamed it. Instead of Physical Therapy I call it Pain and Torture.
I have a couple of more weeks in the wrist splint, but longer in the finger one. The finger hasn't healed as quickly as we hoped.
On another note, today is my birthday. I'm 70 years old, which is officially old. Now don't go telling me I'm only as old as I feel. Take a look at that hand and guess how old I feel. In honor of the day I tried to take a selfie to mark the day. After deleting 17 blurry pictures of my chest, my ear, and the wall hanging behind me I finally got one. It agrees with my 70 being old observation.
Observations on being 70:
1. My hair has gotten a little curly. After wondering for 50+ years how my daughters both ended up with curly hair, now I know.
2. I'm really just now getting wrinkles. Genetics matter.
3. Never feel smug about not having hot flashes. Eventually they come to us all.
4. Eat cake first has a lot to be said for it.
5. I rest a lot more these days. I take mini naps. I don't mind either of those things.
And, after me praying for a good while and them resisting, my grandson and his wife brought me this a couple of days ago...
Great-grandmother. That's me. Well, at the end of April that's me. A new adventure!
I did some stitching before my surgery but nothing is finished so in a couple of weeks I'll be back to show those. This two finger pecking to type is not fun.