Saturday, November 22, 2008

Three days post-op for ulnar nerve transposistion

Saturday

Notice the jellyfish sting looking marks - ie significant bruising (I'm not one that usually bruises easily)


Notice they stop at the bandage from the pressure - weird.





I'm half way to not having to keep arm elevated all the time....woohoo! The bandage isnt changed until a week after. I can flex the arm a little easier today, being careful not to force the arm. Im twisting wrist, moving up and down/left/right, and moving figers ok.

What does the arm feel like today?
Fingers still feel fat and feel slightly numb.
I won't describe the arm as usually pain, more of a burn and thats when I move it or hold it up as I move - like if you held your arm straight out and held a book, the burn you would feel in your arm is similiar. Every now and then there is pain, I can tell the incision area is a little sore but the bandage is so big. The actual pain though is not bad. I take meds only at night now just so I sleep better. When I had the 'in situ' procedure on the right arm that much smaller incision was sore for some time so I fully expect that to be worse since this incision is about 6-7 times longer.

Today it was slightly itchy, but not directly in the incision area.. at least itching just in the bandage works.

The bruising is really out today..in a way I've never had before after injury/sugery. It looks like I was stung by a jellyfish near my armpit, red/purple odd shaped lines - but it is not sore to the touch there like it was the day after the surgery. Intrestingly enough if I pull the bandage back a little there is _no_ bruising there - it seems the pressure from the bandage stopped it right on a straight line. I had a couple 'cramps' in my index finger.. they werent painful but the finger just flexed and tensed up for a few seconds.
The hand this am felt cool again, my Wife came back today and felt my hand and thought the same thing, although not too much different than thw right to cause concern and there was no lack of color or blueness either. Later in the day it was the same temp as my right arm.

We babysat my Niece and Nephews tonight (1,2, 5 yrs old) and their dog. So with my surgery and my dog being there... we were always on the lookout from their dog wanting to say hi.. and the kids playing around. I assumed the recently usual position on the couch with the arm propped up above heart level on two big pillows.

I had to drive shortly today although I dont recommend it yet if possible. There was an accidental alarm triggering at work and no one else was available so I put a pillow on the armrest, set my foot up on the paperholder in the door and was good to go (work was only about 10 minutes away and it was a saturday night). It wasnt bad driving like this..but for safetys sake you only have one hand so avoid as long as possible.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey, i know this was sometime ago, but can you elaborate on the bruising at all? Mine is similar to the way you described but darker and more severe in day 3. How long before yours began to dissipate?
Jstar62@hotmail.com

Adam Tuliper said...

I just recall it was significant, don't recall when it began to dissipate unless its on here somewhere :)
I seem to recall it got worse before better and then dissipated. It will go away though, everyone is different. I've had procedures with little bruising others had a lot and prob vice versa for some things I can't recall. Just keep it elevated and it will move. I had mine elevated virtually all the time , you?