I'm *broken*

[mollmeister]

Well, not exactly. But also yes. . . DH thinks it's funny to call me his *deformed wife.* (Such a class act.)

So you'd think I'd go to the ortho for my worked knees. But no.

A few weeks ago, I started having a lot of pain in my left wrist. The one I use to cart around babies and small children. I thought maybe it was an overuse injury or a sprain or something, but when it didn't get better and the end of the ulna (that knobby bit near the wrist) got quite swollen and stayed that way-- even with ice and *Vitamin A*-- I decided to see the ortho.

Well. . . it turns out my ulna is 4mm too long. Whaaa? Why it started bothering me right now is unclear (could be overuse, could be an injury I hardly noticed), but I now have an ulnar impaction, which means that my overly long ulna is pressing into the cartilage at the wrist and causing irritation and inflammation. Long term, it could cause pretty bad arthritis.

So, for now I am on a LOT (yuck) of Aleve and an herbal anti-inflammatory. And I am trying not to use it as much. Which is working sort of. It doesn't hurt as much as it did.

If it continues to bother me, I have a scrip for PT, which mostly seems to consist of some electrode-based technique for introducing anti-inflammatories into the joint directly through the skin, which I guess saves my stomach. And if that fails, cortisone shots. Which have a limited time frame for continuing to work, so I want to wait on that.

The only thing that will *fix* it, though, is surgery. Sigh. And we're not talking a simple arthroscopic snip-snip. Nope. The gold standard of surgery for this condition (gulp) is going in and cutting out a wafer of bone to shorten it, and then reattaching the two remaining pieces of bone with a (BIG) metal plate and a bunch of screws. SUPER! Not. :mad:

If I'm going to have to spend $$ and recovery time on ortho surgery, I want it to be to fix my knee! Not this! :(

Anywhoo, I wasn't typing much while it was really bothering me, so I haven't been around. Here I am!

 

[Robyn]

Oh, Mollie! I'm so sorry to hear that. I can't imagine how painful and annoying that must be. :( I hope the non-surgical intervention helps enough.

 

[ski diva]

Ooof! I got a twinge reading about this!

Hope it works out for you okay. Since it hasn't bothered you before, I'd think there'd be a good chance you could get it back to where it was, with the proper treatment. (Then again, I know less than zero about this stuff!)

Good luck!

 

[bklyn]

Wow! Our bodies are so interesting. :duck:

I hope you can get the pain and awkwardness under control soon.

 

[SnowHot]

Wow, its amazing the things our body can do to/for us, eh?

I'll be thinking of you.

 

[altagirl]

As horrible as it sounds, I have a friend who had a similar surgery done on her leg. It was more because her knees were never aligned properly and the mis-alignment wore down all her cartilege. So they cut through the bone, took out a triangle shaped slice and pinned it all back together. And she couldn't be happier with the results.

Weird as it sounds, it seems like it's one of those surgeries that works really well.

Best wishes with it all!

 

[abc]

I second latagirl's point. Bones grow back together pretty well (I heard it actually grow back stronger?) so that kind of surgery actually isn't all that scary.

So if need be, get the surgery over with early to save any demage to the wrist, which might be harder to treat.

 

[MaineSkiLady]

Sorry to hear this, mm!! I think you've got your hands/wrists pretty FULL for the time being, given your family circumstances. Hope you can mark time and then go for the long-term fix. Don't underestimate the relief (even if temporary) that can be provided by non-surgical intervention. Actual surgery will require some down-time and rehab.

Hope you feel better soon!!

 

[ski now work later]

As busy mothers, sometimes our bodies have a way of telling us to get the help we need to take better care of ourselves. From reading your posts over the months, seems like your DH is on the road for business a lot and you have a lot of responsibility at home. That can be stressful and make you more prone to injury.

Hang in there and I hope you get the help you need to take care of yourself and recover. I've been pushing myself pretty hard post-surgery to attend to my children's needs, and I've had some recent messages from my body to take a break.

Good + + + vibes your way!

 

[mollmeister]

As busy mothers, sometimes our bodies have a way of telling us to get the help we need to take better care of ourselves. From reading your posts over the months, seems like your DH is on the road for business a lot and you have a lot of responsibility at home. That can be stressful and make you more prone to injury.

This is SO true. I am definitely burning the candle at both ends right now.

DH is pretty much on the road for the entire month of June. Home for a handful of days, but gone for stretches of 7-9 days at a time. Going through some challenging developmental stages with the kids. Still trying to do work for my dad. Also trying (valiantly) to stay in shape. And then, of course, there's the house. And the crumbs. And the dust. And the yard. And the bills. You know.

Sometimes it feels like the only time I have to sit down by myself is when I am sleeping. Sometimes I feel like to the masseuse and staying in the sauna afterwards. . . for a week!

Clearly this injury is intertwined in all of the above, and I have to find more ways to relax and rest that don't involve being climbed on like a jungle gym, as fun as that is!

Hang in there and I hope you get the help you need to take care of yourself and recover. I've been pushing myself pretty hard post-surgery to attend to my children's needs, and I've had some recent messages from my body to take a break.

Hope you get some time to rest and rejuvenate, too!

 

[num]

Sorry to hear that, Mollie. I'm familiar with the procedure, and it isn't as scary as it sounds. Bone can be much easier to deal with surgically than soft tissue, though it always sounds very scary. Still, hopefully you can get enough relief that you won't need to do the surgery for a while (permant relief obviously would be best, but if not, it'd still be good to buy time until you're less hands on, especially with death wish baby and all).

Wishing you a full and speedy recovery, and that your recovery can happen in the least invasive and irritating way possible.

 

[itri]

Ouch, Mollie. I hope the anti-inflammatories work well and quickly for you. That said, I have a WONDERFUL hand therapist I can recommend if you need. She's one of the best. I worked with her, and she did my rehab for both of my wrist surgeries. (I have a really really good hand surgeon, too, but it sounds like you have that one covered!). I've had the iontophoresis (the electrode-based thing), and I've had two cortisone shots. Ionto is completely painless, you most likely won't even feel anything, maybe a slight tingle.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you that you won't need surgery. I purposely pushed the timetable for my second surgery up because I knew that we were going to try to get pregnant and I knew how challenging it would be to try and care for a baby with a bum hand. It's do-able, but will be tough. So, here's hoping you don't need it!

LMK if you'd like the name/number of the hand therapist. Seriously, she's that good.

 

[pinto]

Didn't you have some sort of pain during ski season that you were speculating was caused by pole plants or something? Is this the same wrist?

 

[mollmeister]

Didn't you have some sort of pain during ski season that you were speculating was caused by pole plants or something? Is this the same wrist?

Hilariously (or not), no!
:D

I think I am on an accelerated aging program this year.

 

[mollmeister]

Ouch, Mollie. I hope the anti-inflammatories work well and quickly for you. That said, I have a WONDERFUL hand therapist I can recommend if you need. She's one of the best. I worked with her, and she did my rehab for both of my wrist surgeries. (I have a really really good hand surgeon, too, but it sounds like you have that one covered!). I've had the iontophoresis (the electrode-based thing), and I've had two cortisone shots. Ionto is completely painless, you most likely won't even feel anything, maybe a slight tingle.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you that you won't need surgery. I purposely pushed the timetable for my second surgery up because I knew that we were going to try to get pregnant and I knew how challenging it would be to try and care for a baby with a bum hand. It's do-able, but will be tough. So, here's hoping you don't need it!

LMK if you'd like the name/number of the hand therapist. Seriously, she's that good.

Where is your therapist located?

And what were your surgeries for, if you don't mind my asking?

 

[itri]

She's right next to Lutheran hospital (38th and Wads, more or less). Her office is actually in my hand surgeon's office, but you don't have to be a patient of his to go to her.

My surgeries were for a golf injury, believe it or not. I was teeing off and went into my backswing....pop! Even the surgeon was like..."are you sure you didn't hit the ground on your swing?" Um, yeah, cuz I totally and completely whiffed! So anyways...the first surgery was because he had found a ganglion cyst on x-ray that he thought might be causing my ongoing pain, so he went in to remove that. Also found a bone spur and removed that, and that my scapho-lunate ligament was stretched out. But, because we hadn't discussed a ligament repair and hadn't done consent for it before surgery, he couldn't repair/reconstruct it. He put in a couple of stitches to hopefully tighten it up. That lasted for awhile, but I eventually started having pain again, so he went back in to do the reconstruction. I've been pain-free now for just about three years, knock on wood!

 

[snowski/swimmouse]

I'm so sorry about your predicament, Mollie. Like Num said: "Wishing you and full and speedy recovery and that your recovery can happen in the least invasive and irritating way possible."

Tempering that thought is how I see many of my friends now with arthritis from joints ignored in the past. At least you have the advantage of many diva friends advice from experience.

Be good to yourself!