I Hate My Doctor's Office

[terpkristin]

Or maybe it's the nurse, i don't know. i had surgery on my hand yesterday, and called this morning at 8:30 a.m. et with a few issues. no response yet, and frankly i'm not optimistc i'm going to get an answer today.

first, my hand is still numb from the surgery. at the end of the surgery they put local anesthetic in, and that was supposed to wear off after 8-12 hours. it's been ~30h at this point and i still can't feel my pinky,

second, i can't tell if my hand is wrapped correctly, as i apparently took off all my dressings yesterday as i was waking up and had to be re-wrapped by the post-op staff who didn't put protection betwee my fingers so my mom had to try to re-re-wrap it and frankly, she didn't know what she was doing.

third, with the way my hand is wrapped, i can't use any of my fingers and i thought i was supposed to have pretty much full use. i also thought i'd be able to take all these dressings off after 3-5 days, but i apparently have to leave them on for the full 11 days til my post-op appointment.

i can call back and say it's an emergency, but i don't think it truly is. but i don't want to mess up anyhting by my hand being wrapped wrong or by not having feeling, and i've not heard anything from the doc's office (despite my message at 8:30 am and another at 130 pm). the surgery center just called to see how i was doing, they just said to follow the instructions on my discharge sheet and call my doc. how f'n useless!!

anybody got any other ideas?
/tk

[bulletsponge]

hmm id go back to make sure everythings alright

[rkmsuf]

Get Dr. Rosenpenis on the horn!

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by bulletsponge

hmm id go back to make sure everythings alright

they're an hour away. i'm not going back unless they can see me, which i might know if the f'n nurse bothered to reply to my call.

/tk

[rkmsuf]

just keeping calling. don't be shy. change your voice if you have to; pretend you are Kevin Garnett or something.

[oliegirl]

Shouldn't someone have called you today to see how you were doing and just a general check in? Anytime anyone in my family has had any kind of surgery we get that type of call the next day...I'd keep calling back until they either put you through to a live person or someone called you back. Sounds like you have cause to be concerned...

[Flasch186]

well I'd assume that's if they dont see you all of the time

[Izulde]

I'd say keep calling until you get through. Or is there a closer hospital you could go to?

[st.cronin]

Call oliegirl's vet.

[rkmsuf]

Somehow the typing is going well.

[oliegirl]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

Call oliegirl's vet.

LOL

[terpkristin]

Well, the surgery center called and asked how I was, and said I should call my doc (and i was like, "um, yeah, i have been."). but finally the nurse called back and said that the lack of feeling can be normal for a day or two after surgery (um..ok...never had that before, though i guess it's possible, especially if i'm swelling over a nerve...and if that is "normal," WHY DON'T THEY PUT IT ON THE POST-OP PAPERWORK?!?) Anyway, I went there and got re-bandaged up, in a less restrictive wrap than before (i can move all my fingers now, sorta).

I'm still a little concerned, as it was a tech that did it, didn't see the doc at all, and the tech kept saying that as long as they didn't touch my tendons, i can remove the dressing in a day or so and move my fingers as much as i want, but if that was the case, why did the doc's instructions specifically say to keep all the bandages on until the 10th when i go back and why would the doc have bandaged up everything in the OR? anyway, i'm not stressing on that too much, i don't THINK they messed with my tendons, and if they did...well, not much i can do about it now but try to be nice to my hand (which i am being, including following the post-op instructions about not taking it off til the 10th instead of taking the tech's advice).

i guess the good thing about the lack of feeling in my hand is that i still haven't felt a need to take a pain pill, i can't feel anything in there anyway right now, so aside from being tired, i'm clear-headed...

/tk

[Eaglesfan27]

I don't have any advice for you tk, but one of my mentors in my 3rd year told me to be loved by my patients and be thought of as brilliant, there was only 1 real trick: Call people back promptly. He was right, I think that is a huge plus for my patient's perception of me as I schedule 4 15-minute periods spaced out every 2 hours throughout the day that are just for calling patients back. Often, it ends up being a break as I don't have calls to make every day, but when I do, it is very handy.

[kenparker23]

What type of surgery did you have. What was your preoperative diagnosis?

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by kenparker23

What type of surgery did you have. What was your preoperative diagnosis?

bone spur removal, bone biopsy + fix anything else wrong he found in there
edit: previous fracture with ORIF in that bone (head of 5th metacarpal). guess the bone spur was big, the ORIF scar I have is only about 1/2" long, max, but the incision for the recent surgery is about 1.25 inches. plus 2 arthroscopic entry points on the backside.

[kenparker23]

Couple of things:

are you referring to the distal metacarpal? (the area that articulates with your fingers) or the proximal 5th metacarpal (articulates with your wrist)

When you say orif do you mean a pinning or plating of a prior fracture?

Not sure why you would have arthoscopic portals for this procedure. I doubt that a scope was used to biopsy and/or bone graft your finger.

It sounds like you had a hypertrophic nonunion of a 5th MC fracture.

Most likely numbness due to swelling. Should improve.

It should be ok to loosen the dressing, esp. in the setting of a numb finger. Before you do this, check with your orthopod as I would not want to take any responsibility for a malunion or nonunion.

I can say more but I usually refrain from giving medical advice on this board. Hope you feel better soon. If you have any problems feel free to PM me.

[AZSpeechCoach]

Hope you're well tk.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by kenparker23

Couple of things:

are you referring to the distal metacarpal? (the area that articulates with your fingers) or the proximal 5th metacarpal (articulates with your wrist)

When you say orif do you mean a pinning or plating of a prior fracture?

Not sure why you would have arthoscopic portals for this procedure. I doubt that a scope was used to biopsy and/or bone graft your finger.

It sounds like you had a hypertrophic nonunion of a 5th MC fracture.

Most likely numbness due to swelling. Should improve.

It should be ok to loosen the dressing, esp. in the setting of a numb finger. Before you do this, check with your orthopod as I would not want to take any responsibility for a malunion or nonunion.

I can say more but I usually refrain from giving medical advice on this board. Hope you feel better soon. If you have any problems feel free to PM me.

previous orif was done with them re-breaking it and pinning using percutaneous k-wires (2 of them). it was the distal end of the metacarpal.

now i have it re-dressed (by the tech at the ortho's office), my fingers are freer, but i'm still going to be a good girl and keep the bandages on until i next see the doc. good to hear from someone else though that the numbness could be a result of the swelling.

thanks for the tips, kp!

/tk