My Surgery Consensus
It’s been a few days since my surgery on July 16th. I’m still pretty tender. I can’t quite bend my wrist all the way forward and back, but I can pronate and supinate it (flip my hand palm up and palm down). Although that’s ouchie as well. My stitches look pretty gnarly. Have a gander:
I get them out next week. Right now, my entire hand has a big ol’ bruise on the back of it that extends down my fingers. It’s still swollen, but it’s getting better.
So here’s what happened. The first two days post-op were the worst pain I’ve ever had in my wrist. Maybe I don’t remember the pain from my childhood, but it seemed like it hurt worse than when I’d broken my wrist as a kid. I couldn’t go four hours without my trusty Vicodin, and even got high a few times (because I’d needed to take two pills). I did NOT like how the Vicodin made me feel, so I tried to go as long as I could without taking them.
After the second day, I could wean myself off them. It hurt, but by the third day, I could take off my post-op bandages. I think this helped things, because moving my wrist around helped with the pain of stiffness. Yes, it hurt, but it actually hurt a bit more to have it immobile, I believe.
Right now, I’m on my fifth day post-op, and my surgery site is tender. Bending my wrist is tender. BUT, I’m able to type, which is a bonus. It’s tight inside there, probably due to swelling and the procedure itself. I’m pretty sure it’s not going to feel like it used to before. Getting things cleaned out in there is bound to make things feel tighter in there.
The good news? All the ouchies I’m feeling right now seem to be from the surgery itself. I’m not feeling the original ouchies I had before my surgery. I can move my wrist, type, open my hand wide… nothing makes the original pain. As the days wear on and after I get my stitches out, I believe I’m going to be as good as new, aside from a few cool new scars.
Of course I won’t *know* until the surgery pain completely goes away, but as far as I can tell, my previous pain is no longer there. This is the longest I’ve been out of my brace since December of ‘09.
So far, I would recommend debridement surgery for anyone who has a TFCC tear. Know the first few days will be hella pain. Pain like chop-my-hand-off-that-would-feel-better kind of pain. BUT, within two – three days, the pain should slack off. And now, it still hurts, but I’m at that point where some of the pain is actually good stretching pain instead of ouchie pain.
I’ll probably give you another update after my stitches come out to really give this fix a good test drive. But so far, so good!
~~Becka
So happy to hear about the improvement in your wrist!! That’s great!
Do you know yet if you had a central or peripheral tear, or both? Thanks for your blog – my husband is having TFCC debridement surgery in 2 weeks and there aren’t many accounts of the experience online.
Ellen, I’m pretty sure I had both, but I haven’t yet had my follow-up with the doctor to talk about it. I know he focused on the central tear, yet where I thought the peripheral tear was is now sore and tight. Did he debride that one too? I don’t know, I’ll have to talk to him about it on Wednesday when I get my stitches out. In fact, my whole wrist is still tight. The swelling is going down, but I still have a bruise on the back of my hand that’s tender. I’m assuming the tightness is due to swelling and also the procedure itself. I’m sure things just won’t feel the same after a good ol’ roto-rootering. LOL
I’ll keep everyone updated on what the doc tells me at my follow-up. He left the building before I was fully out of my general anesthesia, so I didn’t get to talk to him post-op.
I was really surprised to see that you were out of your splint in 3 days. My husband’s surgeon has told him that he’ll be in an above-the-elbow cast for 6 weeks after if he has a peripheral tear, and a below-the-elbow cast for 6 weeks if he has a central tear. And then physical therapy. Of course we’re in the USA so maybe protocol is different. But it really seems like you recovered rapidly and that 6 weeks in a cast would’ve been overkill!
Thanks again.
Ellen,
Funny, I’m in Oregon – that’s in the USA too! lol I do know a lot of peripheral tears get anchored to the ulna bone, so because of that, you’d need a cast, because essentially, they’re putting holes in your bone for the anchors.
I think there are different schools of thought on the cast vs. no cast. I know another guy who got debridement and was casted as well. I don’t believe you need to have the ligament anchored to the bone for a central tear.
OR perhaps depending on how bad your TFCC is torn? If it’s a huge tear and your radius and ulna bones are highly unstable, then I could see needing a cast. But if it’s just to go in there and clean up frayed, inflamed tissue from a smaller tear, then casting might not be needed.
I’ll ask my doc about that.
~~Becka
Hey Rebecca,
Thanks for sharing. I am seeing an orthopedic wrist specialist tomorrow..
Did you have a volar cyst around your torn cartlidge? Just curious.
My first specialist recommended surgery and sent me to the “best”. Any feedback???
Glad you are healing!
Hi there-
Glad you are healing. I just got this diagnosis today, and I am trying not to get too upset before I get the mri done. I am going to go back through your blog more. I might have more questions! all the best. Avery