Tomorrow I have a follow-up appointment with the surgeon who performed my carpal tunnel release. I am going to have to explain why I did not follow his directions about not unwrapping my hand. It is not infected and it seems to be healing very well and very quickly.
The reason I unwrapped it is because it got wet in the shower, even though I covered it with plastic and taped it. It was bedtime and I was already uncomfortable, so I unwrapped it. There was no way I was going to be able to sleep with all of that bandaging being wet. It had already started to itch my arm. I felt his instruction was more about not getting the incision wet, so I chose to unwrap it.
Since I unwrapped it I have been able to keep it bandaged and dry. It does not have all of the padding the doctor used, but it is dry. In addition to the bandaging, I have been wearing the wrist brace that the doctor prescribed before the surgery. Without it, I get these electric shocks to the fingers if I move my hand too quickly. That is probably the other reason the doctor told me that I must keep it wrapped.
I know I put most of this in my last post. I guess I’m just trying to gather my thoughts for when I have to explain to the doctor why I did what I did tomorrow morning.
I am assuming that he was going to take off all the padding tomorrow anyway. I still have to allow the stitches to remain for another week. He will take them out then. I think that’s what he told me. Of course, I was pretty high when he did.
I don’t know how long it will be before the movement of my hand can happen without the electrical shocks. And there is still a minimal amount of pain. Other than that, my fingers have felt better than they have in a very long time.
After having been in recovery for at least two weeks I suspect that I will be pretty rusty on the saxophone. However, it should not take long to catch back up and start some serious work. And by work, I mean practice. I still am nowhere near being able to play in public. That’s my personal opinion.
I will have one question for the doctor tomorrow, and that is about my hand going to sleep when I go to sleep. I am still waking up with some numbness and tingling in my hands. I still think it has to do with my shoulders, or maybe the alignment of my neck. I think there are nerves much higher up than my hands & arms being pinched when I lie down to sleep. Of course, the numbness is not near as bad as it was before the surgery.
At any rate, this is all becoming very tiresome. Maybe this is as good as it gets. Maybe I will have to just deal with it. But at least now I think I can play my horn without my fingers beginning to hurt or go numb.
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