I went back to the Dr for my follow up today. They took the bandage off, had me move my fingers around some, took some xrays, put a splint back on, and told me to come back next week to get the stitches taken out. He said everything looks good. The swelling has gone down a lot and this time the splint is a much lighter weight/smaller splint, and my fingers and thumb have more freedom. So thats's nice. I might actually be able to use 2 hands to type soon. But it also kinda freaks me out because my wrist feels much more exposed, and like I could mess something up. But the Dr basically said my bones aren't going anywhere (due to the pins), even if it hurts or feels awkward. They also made a sort of trap door in the splint, with one part that is removable, with velcro. So if I happen to go for a walk or something and get sweaty, I can access the pins and gently swab the area around them with some peroxide. Very cool. Apparently there is a whole associates degree for learning how to design and make such things... "orthopedic technology". Who knew! I also found out that the pins will stay in the whole 8 weeks (7 more), not 4 weeks like I thought he originally told me. And of course I will need PT after everything is said and done. He said I'll prob only regain 66 - 75% range of motion even after PT. I guess fortunately I don't play a sport or instrument competitively where that might matter more. Oh, and for the grand finale... in answer to everyone's questions of how they remove the pins at the end: they just yank them out.
Seeing the pins for the first time...
4 stiches that will come out next week, one for each spot that they inserted the scope . And of course the 2 pins. (the purple line is from a marker, not bruising, and some of the yellowish-orange discoloration is from the iodine? that they scrubbed my arm with before surgery).
2nd splint: my fingers and thumb have more freedom now, and the swelling has gone down a lot since day3.
