Home again

 

We were up and gone from the hotel room by 5:30 for a 6:00am start.  She wasn’t first on the doctor’s schedule, so it took a while in the waiting room.  The doctor marked up her hand

… and took her in a little after 8.

 

From right to left, carpal tunnel, joint replacement, and trigger finger.  There is a mark farther up her arm to mark where to sever the tendon he’ll then fold back and use to build the new thumb joint.

 

They posted her progress on a digital board.  She was patient number 60.

 

 

When they did her right hand a year ago, they accidentally shut down her right lung when they gave her the arm-block.  This time they gave her a block a little farther away from the phrenic nerve so that wouldn’t happen again (and it didn’t).  The surgery took less than an hour and went well.  The doctor said that was a lot of arthritis at the thumb joint he just fixed.

 

Recovery took longer than expected, but by 2:00 we made good our escape and headed home.  She slept most of the way, and by the time we stopped for something to eat in Riviera, halfway home, she was pretty out of it again.  …but she had a little Blizzard anyway.

 

Happy to be home.

 

We both took a nap.