A post for those googling 'endoscopic carpal tunnel release'.. for the rest, this probably is a bit boring.
Two weeks ago at this hour, I was a one-handed wonder, just released from my endoscopic surgery, all 45 minutes (?, I don't know because I last looked at the clock when it read 4.18, and did not wake up in the recovery room until 5.25, but I know the actual procedure is about seven minutes long) of it.
So I came home with puffy fingers...
The weird thing was the nerve block which, on the one hand (!), kept away the pain such as it was, also was unnerving (!) because my fingers felt on the inside as though they were on fire and on the outside, when I touched them, like leather or sticks. My surgery was at 4.15 (that is when they started the nerve block) and I first began to feel my fingers at 4.30 in the morning and finally at 8.30 the next day, that is 16+ hours later, I could feel all the way down to the finger tips. So, yes, the nerve block was good, but also quite weird.
My fingers remained swollen for quite a few days; it was only 12 days after surgery that I could move my rings from my pinky to my ring finger.
At three days, the pain wasn't bad, largely because my hand was wrapped up in a bandage, and swathed in cotton and resting on a bed of plaster (my 'boa paw' as I call it) so I couldn't possibly move it.
Of course I wondered what it looked like underneath. I was told I could remove the whole set-up at the third or fourth day, but my discomfort was enough that I kept it on until the fifth day (partly because I wanted to get through the peace at the Holy Eucharist with it protected).
When I unwrapped it all, I did not find much.
The purple dots are the marks the surgeon made pre-op. Bruising is at my wrist where the transverse ligament was severed. The entry-point for the endoscope is the incision in my palm and the exit is in the wrist. Both incisions were sealed with glue, rather than stitches.
I bruise easily so the top of my hand bruised from the IV used for the nerve block. Only at two weeks has that bruising finally disappeared.
I had been sent home with virtually no directions, basically, 'Wiggle your fingers,' so I did. By day five, I could French-braid my hair, albeit with discomfort. I still couldn't write or eat with my left hand, but I could move my fingers.
However, I was becoming aware of a new sort of pain that had nothing to do with the initial discomfort of nerve loss. This new pain took up residence in the heel of my hand. Prowling around on the internet, I came up with this.
Exactly. It feels like a permanent cramp. I can move my fingers fine, but when I try to touch my thumb to the knuckle of my pinky, it hurts. It hurts still to write, to hold a knife and try to cut something hard, to rest weight on the palm of my hand. When I asked my surgeon about this, she explained that things have been moved around, detached from the bones which hold the tendons down and that in time this pain will dissipate. She also said that the muscle of my thumb extended further into the ligament so she had to cut further over than usual but because I had been so good in keeping my hand elevated (which I did), the bruising and pain were less than had I not kept the hand above my heart. Hunting around on the web, I have found some massage exercises to do for the incision and the fleshy part of the palm both thumb and pinky sides.
At ten days, the incisions were healing well, but the pain was unchanged. The bruising on the top of my hand spread but finally began to fade. I saw my surgeon at ten days and she gave me some exercises for finger-bending; she was pleased with the flexibility I have. She also said I will continue to have swelling where the transversal ligament was severed and, indeed, that is true. She said in time the pillar pain (though she did not name it as such) will diminish. I will go back on 1 October, seven weeks out.
I understand the reluctance of doctors to say specifically what possible pain and inconvenience may lie ahead, but if it were not for the internet, I might have had a lot more worries about what was happening. As I said to my surgeon, 'I don't mind pain; I just like to know why I have it.'
My hand/fingers have not fallen into the dead sleep they would before surgery but they still feel a little off. In time, I guess I will be glad I had the operation. Right now, though, I am aware that I still cannot pick up heavy things, grab tightly doorknobs or make any fast motion that involves the heel of my hand (i.e., thumb and pinky). There now is a nob underneath the lower incision and I trust that will diminish as well.
I continue to massage the incision site, and the left and right sides of the heel of my hand. I can write for a short while, dice easy veggies (like onions) but need to switch off to my other hand if what I am trying to cut is tough (like serrano peppers). When I will have finished typing this entry, I will massage my hand because clearly this activity tires the hand. This said, my surgeon said the carpal tunnel problems are not solely the result of computer work but the aggregate of many factors.
So, for those prowling the internet for people who have undergone endoscopic carpal tunnel release, here are some thoughts two weeks out by one person.
