November 2007
11 posts
Stitches Are Out!
Now it’s time for physical therapy, and I’ll see the doctor in eight weeks. I’m not supposed to lift more than ten pounds. He said it twice, made eye contact, and pointed at me, so I know he means it. I guess I looked like I was planning on going bowling or something, which is funny since my wrist feels like it’s pretty much at its limit just lifting my hand. Almost...
Losing the bandages and stitches this afternoon.
It’s about time This thing’s getting a little gamey.
Because, you know, I live in 1957 and ink pads are...
Customer Service Rep (after about two minutes of menus to get to a real person): How may I help you?
Me: I have a question. I'm temporarily physically unable to sign my name, but need to make a credit card purchase. What should I do?
Rep: You can use a thumb print.
Me: A thumb print.
Rep: Yes sir, a thumb print.
Me: Well, I suppose I can hope they have an ink pad....
Rep: Or you can get a power of attorney.
Me: Ok, leaving aside the irony of solving my problem signing credit card slips by signing a power of attorney, I should make someone go with me everywhere I want to use my card for the sole purpose of signing for me?
Rep: That or a thumb print.
Me: Right.
Rep: Is there anything else I can help you with?
Surprisingly, what I miss the most is handwriting.
I don’t really write that much out by hand, but I’m realizing now that what I do write by hand is important.
For any non-trivial problem, I tend to scribble out a 10,000 foot view of my solution as I think about it. I do it in such an unconscious manner that it took the temporary loss of my writing hand to even notice. It’s nothing formal, and most of the time I don’t...
Back to work today
I spend the majority of my typical work day hidden away in my cube, so wearing sweats shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
My hand is still pretty sensitive. I tweaked it pretty badly just attempting to tuck my shirt in, even though the sweats provided plenty of clearance. Fortunately I’m carpooling with Amanda, so I can go ahead and take a pain pill.
Amanda helped me shave (both...
Typing Still Not Too Bad, Which Is Good
Now that the Tumblr v3 conversion is starting to settle down a bit, I’ve got a few Greasemonkey ideas to flesh out.
Day Four Arrives, And So Does Typing (Sorta)
The day of the surgery was just about making it through the pain, even without moving my fingers.
As the days pass, the pain subsides and becomes more associated with any sort of pressure against my hand or fingers. I had fairly full range of motion in my fingers yesterday, but was treated to sharp pain when I absentmindedly used my right hand to try to reposition the pillow I use to elevate...
I should have bought a tape recorder
I didn’t really realize how much I type every day until I couldn’t.
October 2007
13 posts
Home from the hospital and not nearly as loopy as...
Procedure from my viewpoint:
Arrive and sign in
Get called back to an admitting room (one of several bays with curtains)
Change into gown, footies, and hair net, bagging clothes
Fill out or answer the same set of questions about five times
Name tag goes on left wrist, big magic marker “Yes” on right
IV started with saline and antibiotic
wait for unknown time, keeping busy by...
Two hours sleep and time to head to the hospital
Sedative after-effects and pain killers should get me a fair amount of sleep later today.
Tomorrow morning I go, so tonight probably isn't...
I’ll probably be up all night doing all sorts of right handed things. Shaking hands with the dogs, flipping coins, and the like. No food or drink of any kind after midnight, though.
If I actually sleep, it’ll be more of a nap than a night’s sleep. Getting up at five and it’s 9:26 now, so I’ve already blown my shot at eight hours. I tend not to sleep before any sort...
Another Lefty Dvorak Drawback (at least for Mac...
The Left-handed Dvorak ‘q’ corresponds to the Qwerty ‘w’. Since my left hand “knows” to close windows with Cmd-W, I end up quitting apps when I only wanted to close a tab.
A Patient's Advice on How to Prepare for Recovery... →
Some useful tips.
Taking Business Casual To The Extreme
When I first scheduled the operation, I immediately started experimenting with “left hand only” living. Everything went fairly well until it was time to dress. Buttons, zippers, and belts don’t lend themselves to single handed operation, nor do shoelaces. My wife will be able to help me dress in the morning, but that’s not the only time I have to deal with my belt buckle,...
Awake or Asleep? Yes!
Kiyo wonders: I wonder if he will be awake during the surgeryThe answer is “Kinda, but it doesn’t matter”.
They’ll be using a local anesthetic plus intravenous sedation. The IV will include Versed, which causes temporary anterograde amnesia, or the inability to make new long term memories (like Leonard in Memento, only just for the day).
I’ve experienced this once...
Raison d'être
When I searched the web for first hand (ha!) accounts of carpal tunnel surgery, particularly preparation and recovery, there weren’t many to be found, at least not with the level of detail I was seeking.
So I decided to track my own journey on this tumblelog, in the hope that it might serve as a resource for anyone else seeking the same sort of thing in the future.
Thanks to Bill Israel...