Friday, August 21, 2009

The ride continues

Quick update: 
I went and saw The Hand Guy this morning.  Quick in, quick out, no real resolution.  He looked at the x-rays and feels the bone is definitely broken.  He was non-committal about it, but I got the feeling he felt the break was more severe than the previous doctor had.  Options, they are three:
1.  Do nothing.  Advantages:  free, easy.  Disadvantages:  Potential for decreased mobility of joint, strong possibility of severe arthritis in 10-15 years.
2.  Cast, for up to 12 more weeks.  Advantages:  Cheap, not too invasive.  Disadvantages:  12 freaking weeks in a cast?  Kill me now.  Oh, and it may not actually accomplish anything.
3.  Surgery.  Advantages:  Probably the best prognosis for full recovery.  Disadvantages:  Well, it's surgery.  Never a fun or risk free proposition.
 
He sent me away with orders to get a CT scan and chew on my options.  I managed to get the CT scan taken care of this afternoon.  I scheduled a follow up with The Hand Guy for Thursday the 26th.  Once we can look at some higher resolution images of the break, we'll choose a plan and run with it.

4 comments:

WheelDancer said...

Good luck with this. I had a shoulder issue that took over six months to figure out what was going on and when the MRI results made it to my shoulder doc, he indicated that he'd had no clue as to the extent of the damage and all the interconnected issues and recommended, strongly, that surgery was in my future. It's now been a year and it was the right choice. I hope your path to a solution ends up well.

Apertome said...

Man, this really sucks. I hope you won't need surgery, but if it's necessary, go for it ...

Johnny said...

Sorry to hear about that! I have a non-union piece in my big toe joint from when a car ran over my foot this spring, and it's rough when there's little anyone can really do. Those little bones hurt like the dickens, though. I hope you're able to get by without the cutting, but maybe they'll give you the bone? :)

LvilleTex said...

dang!