On The Other Hand

Rod Knowlton's journal of carpal tunnel surgery and recovery. If this is your first time here, you might want to start at the beginning.

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Oct 27

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, as I’m sure you realize.

So today I bought some new sweats. My original plan was find some nice understated running pants that might pass for slacks at a glance, but I ran into another physiological limitation. I have very short legs (28” inseam) for my height (6’), and I don’t have the time to have running pants altered, even if I wanted. So sweats it is. They’ve got a nice elasticized cuff, so I won’t be tripping over them, and as a bonus they also have pockets!

Hopefully I’ll be able to deal with regular pants before the sweats become too worn.

Posted at 6:57pm

Oct 27
The illustration I previously posted depicted what is called an “open” carpal tunnel release. I will actually be having a “mini-open” as depicted above. If you’re more curious (and not squeamish), there’s a description complete with photographs available here.

The illustration I previously posted depicted what is called an “open” carpal tunnel release. I will actually be having a “mini-open” as depicted above. If you’re more curious (and not squeamish), there’s a description complete with photographs available here.
Posted at 6:37pm

Oct 27

Awake or Asleep? Yes!

Kiyo wonders:

I wonder if he will be awake during the surgery
The 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 before, but wasn’t warned about it. That procedure didn’t require recovery other than from the medication, so my wife and I went to see a movie later that day. A week later I asked her if she’d like to go see that same movie. Even with prompting, all I could remember was a couple of flashes of that day, almost like still photographs.
Posted at 6:17pm

Oct 27

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 for the theme, and to David and Marco for this wonderful platform.

Posted at 6:05pm

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