What will it take to have my hands back?
As of yesterday, an MRI, and depending on the results of that, possibly surgery.
I visited an orthopedic surgeon yesterday who has been seeing me for a year. I told him I'm at wit's end, since my tendonitis has now cost me one job and seems to never really get better no matter how many lifestyle changes, steroid shots, months of PT, NSAID doses, counterforce braces, electro-stims, massages, paraffin baths, and habitual stretches I do. I told him that I'm reentering physical therapy starting next week, but that my concern is that my problem may too severe for the more conservative treatment methods out there.
He did a couple of tests in the office to see what kind of movement or touch elicited pain or discomfort. After only a few of those, he immediately turned around and said that it was time to get an MRI to determine whether surgery is needed.
I wasn't actually aware that surgery was even an option, but sure enough there are two options: open surgery (more invasive but more common) and arthroscopic surgery (tiny surgical instruments/smaller incisions). The goal is to remove any diseased muscle, debride any decaying/torn tendons, reattach healthy muscle to the bone, and other possible procedures that depend on how messed up your arm is. Either method is outpatient, but there are some risks -- you may have persistent weakness in that arm, and you may never be able to completely straighten it. However, the success rate in terms of getting rid of the pain is very high after you recover, and the recovery time itself varies.
So the determining factor will be the MRI. I've never had an MRI before so I'm feeling some trepidation -- not because of claustrophobia which I don't think I have, but because I startle very easily, and I tend to fidget when uncomfortable. I'm doing research today about coping with MRIs.
I've also never had surgery in my life. However, I'm not going to overthink about it until I know for sure that it's the next necessary step.
The good news from the ortho visit: I may not be afflicted with this for the rest of my life.
I visited an orthopedic surgeon yesterday who has been seeing me for a year. I told him I'm at wit's end, since my tendonitis has now cost me one job and seems to never really get better no matter how many lifestyle changes, steroid shots, months of PT, NSAID doses, counterforce braces, electro-stims, massages, paraffin baths, and habitual stretches I do. I told him that I'm reentering physical therapy starting next week, but that my concern is that my problem may too severe for the more conservative treatment methods out there.
He did a couple of tests in the office to see what kind of movement or touch elicited pain or discomfort. After only a few of those, he immediately turned around and said that it was time to get an MRI to determine whether surgery is needed.
I wasn't actually aware that surgery was even an option, but sure enough there are two options: open surgery (more invasive but more common) and arthroscopic surgery (tiny surgical instruments/smaller incisions). The goal is to remove any diseased muscle, debride any decaying/torn tendons, reattach healthy muscle to the bone, and other possible procedures that depend on how messed up your arm is. Either method is outpatient, but there are some risks -- you may have persistent weakness in that arm, and you may never be able to completely straighten it. However, the success rate in terms of getting rid of the pain is very high after you recover, and the recovery time itself varies.
So the determining factor will be the MRI. I've never had an MRI before so I'm feeling some trepidation -- not because of claustrophobia which I don't think I have, but because I startle very easily, and I tend to fidget when uncomfortable. I'm doing research today about coping with MRIs.
I've also never had surgery in my life. However, I'm not going to overthink about it until I know for sure that it's the next necessary step.
The good news from the ortho visit: I may not be afflicted with this for the rest of my life.