HAND SURGERY UPDATE
Before I do anything else, I want to thank everyone who contacted me in any way about my hand surgery this past Monday; emails, calls, Facebook, cards, any way at all. Even though I was in my own little world of concern and pain, the kindness of friends and strangers alike really meant the world to me. And still does!
The funniest thing was written by my friend Barbara Burton Stewart on Facebook; she wrote, “Karen – you will be fine. No one wants a bad write-up!” That’s the last missive I saw before we left for the hospital, and not only did it crack me up and put a smile my face, it made me realize that she was correct—the hospital staff had to stay in line! For the most part, they were all lovely people to begin with.
As the “shock” websites say: Warning–graphic image! This is my hand three days post-surgery, when the first bandages came off. If the people who used to call me all the time for hand modeling assignments could see me now.
Now to the update: this surgery went well, but I still haven’t gotten the feeling back in my fingertips. The medical professionals tell me that it can take anywhere from hours to years for that to happen, and I’m just praying to get my feeling back really soon. That was the whole point of having the surgery to begin with!
We’re still waiting for a bit of more information on what they actually found in my hand/wrist, and I’ll let everyone know when I know.
I can’t say how soon they’ll let me do my other hand, because they are both in the same condition, but at least the next time, I’ll know what to expect. I had pictured the entire scenario all wrong, which messed me up a little bit, because I really like to be prepared for everything in life. But now I know what to do when we get to the left-hand. (For some reason, I expected to just be sitting up in an office, putting my hand on the table, and having them cut it open with some local anesthesia! I had no idea I was going to be in a hospital bed, in a hospital gown, with an IV in my arm, and my hair in one of those light blue, paper shower-type thingies. Thank goodness Mr. X has the pictures to prove it all. Let’s hope he never has cause to blackmail me because I’m praying those babies never see the light of day!)
I just hope that I chose the correct hand to be done first; I’m a righty, and that hand had been numb for a few weeks longer than the left, so that’s the one I chose. The pain from the surgery really isn’t that bad, I’m happy to report. But the pain from the left one still being in the condition it was to begin with continues to be excruciating half the time, and numb, throbbing, and tingly the other half. And I’m the only person I know who’s never texted! Go figure that one out!
I also really want to thank all the personnel at the Cedars Sinai surgical center who helped me in any way, especially the nurses, Pam and Marlene. I put them through the most torture of all. Well, outside of what I put Mr. X through a new daily basis. And having to be my hands for the last month and half cannot have been much fun for him. (I’d like to insert a joke here, but I’m just not up to hand jokes yet, so feel free to come up with one of your own.)
As of now, since I’m still pretty foggy from the whole medical situation, I’ll be taking it easy for a few more weeks, but never fear—I have tons to tell you about of events that happened prior to the surgery. We’ll be publishing a couple of restaurant reviews, movie reviews, party notes, and of course, sports stories. We’re back on track for daily postings, and I hope you look forward to reading them as much as I look forward to writing them! Or, shall I say, dictating them; I don’t want to give my doctors a heart attack if they’re reading this.
