Surgery, Yes, Surgery. What would an athletic type of person be without some sort of surgical story.

My tale starts about 10 years (1999/2000?) ago after falling off of my mountain bike and hitting the palm of my hand on the corner of a partially buried brick. Soon after my fingers started losing sensation and if I touched particular places on my forearm, it was painful and I could make my fingers twitch. I got an appointment with a neurologist who ran me through a battery of tests to determine that there was indeed nerve damage and it should get better ... it didn't. As a side note, if the neurologist wears suspenders, a bow tie and horn rimmed glasses, you should run away as quickly as possible. The testing was painful.

Fast forward to October 2009 and I knew that I'd lost functionality in my right hand, I had (constant) pain in my fingers (typing, teaching Group Fitness, using weights, etc), and started to use the computer mouse with my left hand. The severity of the neuropathy is such that I have lost mass in my right hand as well as have clawing of my pinky and ring fingers. I knew I needed to get it taken care of when I started dropping food (held with chopsticks) into the soy dipping bowl. The signs became impossible miss, it was at that point I decided to see a hand specialist ... this is the story (newest to oldest, of course).

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February 19, 2010 -
Aaah ... scar massage, ultrasound, moist heat ... an easy day at Therapy. Group Exercise class, tried to do an plank with both arms, got through a couple (using a fist for support instead of an extended wrist) and decided that was enough. How much is too much weight to pass though my recovering elbow?

February 17, 2010 -
today was a special two-fer, an appointment with the OT (occupational therapist) and the Hand Surgeon. Since my level of discomfort increased, I didn't have to play with the red putty. Traveling and tired are apparently not good for surgery recovery, this time I had a lower grip strength (we had to test twice, just so I could try and get a grip number higher than my original test) and greater overall discomfort. The good news, my flexibility in my right hand is increasing. More good news, the Surgeon said I should start using my arm more than I have been. He also didn't say anything bad, except to remind me that it will take some time to recover AND it is a good idea to get the blue advance boarding pass when flying, it gives my arm a rest.

February 16, 2010 -
Everything hurts today. Time for a rest. I shudder to imagine what I'd be feeling like if I didn't take some precautions when traveling this past weekend.

February 15, 2010 -
Ow! Arm hurts! The level of discomfort is bringing tears to my eyes (literally). I haven't slept well for the last two nights, my rental car uses a funny angle to turn the key in the ignition, familial stresses (long story) - all makes for a very unhappy Kelly. I did use my sling (This time, I waited to put it on until I was through security). I had originally planned on checking my bag, but the darn line was too long and I was running behind, so I asked the gate agent about getting a pre-boarding pass. I felt like such a loser. Weak, lazy, there were many unpleasant expressions running through my head as I decided to ask for a pre-board. However, the gate agent was terribly kind and said that the passes aren't just for older people who walk slowly. The flight attendants were less nice about aiding me with putting my bag up. Disembarking back home was more amusing. One flight attendant got my bag down (he'd been teasing me all flight), asked about my injury (it really was from falling off of my mountain bike), the ramp agent said "stay off of the rollerblades," told him it was a bike accident (he sounded more sympathetic), and it just seemed like more people asked what happened this time. Also, the flight attendants were far more amusing in their pre-flight instructions to the seated masses. So, far one of the worst days I've had since my surgery. I think this one tops the realization that I can't use chopsticks.

February 13, 2010 -
Travel time! Today is the adventure trip from scenic home to the Sierra Nevada mountains (well, practically), I'm off to a touch north of Placerville (which is North-ish of Sacramento and South-ish of Reno, NV), to meet my brother and see an ailing relative. So, for once I decided to play injured and opted for the visible sign of injury - I wore my sling through the airport, on the plane and through the Sacramento airport. It's quite a challenge, I had a carry-on and a laptop bag. If you haven't flown with a laptop, you do have to take it out of the bag, place it in it's own grey bin; take the laptop bag, your shoes, removeable clothing and place it into another bin, then take the suit case and toss it all onto the conveyer belt-like thing. I tried to do this one handed, and generally speaking I don't recommend using that method. The best part about this leg of travel, there were only 37 paying travelers on this flight, so I got a row all to myself, and a very helpful flight attendant to toss my bag into the overhead bin. Wondering how I got the bag out of the overhead bin? I stood on the seat, grabbed the bag with my left hand and pulled. It did miss my head and I did not use my right arm at all. Eventually, my brother and I met (neither of us realized that Sacramento Airport has two terminals), and went to get the rental car. While waiting, I realized it would probably be a good idea (at this point) to take the sling off, there could be something concern with someone renting a car with only one usable arm.

February 11, 2010 -
Play with putty day! Is it considered cheating if you use the other hand to make sure you keep the putty in the right place during your exercises? I asked my OT (Occupational Therapist) if she thought I could get the putty through airport security. She didn't think so. I get to use the red goo for strengthening and well ... I can't imagine trying to explain that one to airport security. They'd probably think it was an explosive. I'll bring my super-sized, super-squishy foam tennis ball with me.

February 9, 2010 -
They tried to make me go to rehab and I will go go go ... I want to be able to use chopsticks again! So, it's off to rehab I go. Today's torture started off pretty well, joking about how the therapist is referred to as the person who causes pain when met on the street. I mentioned to her, because I'm a trainer /group fitness instructor, I get the same reaction from people (the 'Oh great, how are you going to make me hurt today'). As an example of this perception, one of my group fitness ladies asked if my name was Kelly de Sade, yes, sharing that same famous name. So we are viewed in the same manner and can laugh at the perceptions of others. Today's exercises were much like last weeks, except I "cheated." For some of the exercises, since I don't have full strength, I used my other hand to guide the movement and apply pressure as needed. That does not mean I made my left hand do all the work, it was only an assist. What else, still working on integrating all of the fingers on my right hand into typing. It's odd the things you never think about until you stop and examine how you are doing something, do you think of how you've adapted to changes in your personal abilities and your environment. One more thing, I need to do a better job of training the dogs to not run into my elbow or not use my hand as a paw rest.

February 4, 2010 -
Third trip to rehab. Considering how my hand has been bothering me for the last couple of days, I'm darn happy for the reprieve from the strengthening exercises. So, yes, the hand has been hurting me (after all there is a 2 inch incision from wrist to palm) and my fingers hurt/tingle or generally feel "tired." Something else I've been noticing in the last few days is that I don't really use my pinky and ring finger for typing like I should. I've adapted to not using those fingers for typing since I've managed to lose functionality. I wonder for how long I've been doing that.

February 2, 2010 -
Second trip to rehab for Hand Strenghtening.
Up to this point I was pretty darn confident that I would be able to get an "A" in Rehab, after today, I'm not so sure. In addition to the moist heat and ultrasound, I got to start on the strengthening exercises. I feel like such a wimp. I never really realized just how weak my right hand had become until I was asked to use my fingers to squeeze the silicon blob. The first technique was to simply squeeze, the second was to take two fingers at a time while using a scissor type motion to squeeze the blob, the third was to squeeze the blob from above using my fingers only. I neglected the most important part of the final two exercises - I was supposed to keep my fingers unbent during the activity. That was a very frustrating 15 minutes (5 minutes per exercise)

January 28, 2010 -
My first trip to Hand Therapy. The first thing when they do when you go to Physical Therapy is assess how you are. Apparently my grip strength on the left side is 50 and on the right is 22. Casey also measured the differences in my range of motion between left and right, the range of motion isn't substantially different. Today's treatment was moist heat, ultrasound, electrical stimulation and going over the incision sites with a small hand held massager. Oh and some stretching. Homework - massage the incision sites

January 18, 2010 -
The sutures get removed, darn it looks gross.

January 17, 2010 -
Not driving the manual lasted a whole 5 days. It is actually more comfortable from an ergonomics point of view (turning the ignition in the truck was far more painful on the right arm, a challenge with the left, so I just decided to try the jetta, it was much easier), I also discovered I could shift using my left hand.

January 12, 2010 -
The large dressing is removed, I'm free of the sling and I've been given the OK to drive (however, the Surgeons preference is for me to drive the automatic, not the manual).

January 11, 2010 -
Against other peoples judgement, I decided to go back to teaching my regular Group Fitness Class. My Group Fitness ladies were very surprised to see me walk into the room and their eyes were huge when they saw the dressing. So, I waited until most of the ladies arrived before I explained why I was gone and what I had done.

January 6, 2010 -
Bored now. Since the surgery, I have activity restrictions. Mostly, don't do anything with the right arm (as if I could with a dressing that stretches from above my elbow to just below my fingers). Alas, if I could only master buttering toast with my left hand. Dave is also very amused that I have to ask him to open bottles.

January 4, 2010 -
The big day, surgery. Todays procedures are alleviate the compression on my right ulnar nerve at my wrist and elbow (Ulnar Nerve Transposition and Guyon's Canal Syndrome). It was a long day.