Bum thumb - the final edition

On the 3rd I had my thumb surgery. I had trigger finger from repetitive use, namely painting our whole house, culminating in a 12 hour paint-a-thon wherein my thumb was never the same again. It’s frustrating because I used to be able to do things like paint for 12 hours with no problems, but not anymore. So my tendon became inflamed and would no longer fit through the tendon sheath, which meant that I couldn’t bend my thumb. It got worse and worse, until I finally decided to just get the surgery done. 

It was super simple. We went to the surgery center and within 30 minutes they’d numbed my hand and I was waiting for my turn. My friend, Anne, just happened to be right before me, so that was funny. It was like a surgery conveyer belt, super fine tuned process. Everything went well and quickly, and before I knew it, Matt helped me get dressed and we were headed home. 

They wrapped my hand up nice and padded and protected and I had to leave it like this for 2 days. 

My guys spoiled me with lunch, and then Debby and Izzy brought a delicious Greek meal. 

And I rested and healed. 

giant hand! I didn’t have any problems, I’m basically a model patient. 

I thought I was getting my stitches out on Friday and that I’d be back to normal. That was my first dose of reality that this was actual surgery, and I would need time to heal. No stitches removed for me. I got my new instructions to keep the bum thumb wrapped and protected and not submerged. In December. 😩

I got my stitches out a week and a half later, and I thought for sure this would be it, and we could get back to normal. But no, then I got steri-strips and had to still keep it protected and covered and not submerged. 

Basically, you should understand your surgery before you do it, otherwise you’ll have lots of surprises. 

*phases of healing. 

It was hard and frustrating and made December busyness go very slowly, but we made it. This last pic is today and my skin isn’t so tight anymore, my thumb bends again, and the swelling is going down all the time.

i am back to painting, but now i switch hands, take lots of stretch breaks, and call it good after just a few hours. I’ll be happy to not have to do this again.