OT: wrist replacement?

Ugh, I'm getting more x-rays Friday. Apparently my left thumb/wrist has lost all padding in the joint and ... something else. They called it CMC joint osteoarthritis. And something else. I hate doctor-ese. It's the cost of spending my life actually using my hands to type and then taking up quilting/stitching when I did. It hurts. And I can't do handwork right now. And they say the right one is not far behind. They are talking about putting it into a brace that would keep me from bending my thumb to meet my other fingers or from breaking the line of arm to wrist to hand. Tough to work like that.

And they say that joint replacement is a real possibility. Anybody every have that joint replaced? Does it mean you can use it again, or just that it stops hurting? I go see the hand surgeon next week or the next and I'm not getting much specific, which usually means that the doctors I'm seeing right now don't actually know anything specific about the outcome.

Surely one of our number has had that CMC joint replaced. Maybe?

Sunny would be sucking my thumb but it hurts

Reply to
Sunny
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If you can't suck your thumb.try your big toe. I'll never forget my Dad telling me that after I hit it with a hammer---thumb not toe. It made me LOL and eased the pain abit.

I don't know about wrists but Mr Joe had both knees replaced at the same time and they are still working well. We 'interviewed' a coupla Drs before deciding on one.

Hope some of us can give you a list of questions to take to your Dr. Let us know what he/she has to say.

I sure hope you can get some relief.

I do remember my Mom having 'lost all the flesh' from RA/Osteo in her one hand/thumb area. She did use a brace and continued writing letters... not as many or as often but she did keep doing it on her 'good days'.

Gentle hugs Butterfly

Reply to
Butterflywings

FWIW, my dad recently had a brace of the kind that you're talking about. His thumb joint was incredibly painful but he found that the brace helped right away. He used it for a month or so IIRC and then no longer needed it. So a brace might be a good thing to try while you are deciding about surgery.

Allison

Reply to
AllisonH

I am left handed and have lost most of the padding in the second thumb joint [closest to the wrist] I wear a brace most days to keep the thumb lined up. I have lost a lot of strength [cannot pick up a glass of water if the glass is round], and my writing has changed. Interestingly, the keyboard allows me to continue writing. Handwork is done when the pain isn't too bad.

Drs have told me NSAIDs, then cortisone shots, then joint replacement as the sequence of treatments to come.

G> Ugh, I'm getting more x-rays Friday. Apparently my left thumb/wrist

Reply to
Ginger in CA

My mom had it done about 25 years ago, after a lifetime of typing mostly on manual typewriters, multiple carbons. The first couple of weeks after surgery was a little rugged, but she was back doing crewel embroidery in about a month. Never had a complaint about her hands after that. Talk to several hand surgeons. Try PT and bracing first. If it doesn't work, you can go into surgery with confidence.

Kay

Reply to
Kay Lancaster

I can't help with the replacement but I just wanted to say you guys are all so great. The amount of knowledge and experience here is so vast. What a terrific group. I can offer best wishes for a working wrist Sunny. Taria

Reply to
Taria

To add to Kay's response: I have 2 braces for the Fibro flare-ups for my hands. I wear one--hard for night that goes to the base of my fingers and another -- soft for day that just goes a bit above the thumb. The hard one has 'steel' in the palms and is made of leather and the soft is plastic with a soft sturdy fabric. Both are held on with velcro. Be careful of the plastic as it can get a 'bit worn' at the base of the thumb. When it does get it replaced or you will get a blister pronto. I've padded both in rubbing areas with 'moleskin'--layered if necessary--as I also have neuropathy in the hands. So far, it's prevented the blisters.

Gentle hugs Butterfly (just realized I've been holding my 'collective breath' for months)

Reply to
Butterflywings

Sunny,

I haven't had my thumb joint replaced yet, but I'm scheduled for the surgery in May. After doing lots of research, I discovered there are a few different ways it's done, and I'm having the surgery they talk about in this link (warning, it's a lot of medical mumbo-jumbo ).

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My ortho doc is a young 'un who doesn't like cortisone shots and/or splints. She says the shots can destroy the joint further, making the surgeon's job harder, and the splints work great but they can leave the thumb stiff and make the muscle deteriorate. I need my thumb muscle for quilting!

BTW, mine came about from using my left hand splayed out flat on the ruler, holding the ruler in place by leaning on it as I use the rotary cutter in my right hand.

Google CMC joint replacement and you'll find lots of help groups (the arthritis foundation has one too) with lots of people in various stages of recovery from the surgery. All in all, everyone seems really positive about their outcomes.

Hope this helps!

Billi

Reply to
Billi

For no particular reason ... I guess it was just a job that had to be done and I was available, I clerked a court trial about cortisone injection damage. It was a whole lot more than anyone wanted to know. The risks and damage cause by those injections is maybe not lethal but mighty close. The testimony from the 'victim' as well as the experts would make you throw you hands in the air, back up a few steps and r-u-n. AND, I probably won't ever get over our sweet Leslie having a screw-up with her hip replacement. Proceed. But be very particular about what and who. Polly

Sunny,

I haven't had my thumb joint replaced yet, but I'm scheduled for the surgery in May. After doing lots of research, I discovered there are a few different ways it's done, and I'm having the surgery they talk about in this link (warning, it's a lot of medical mumbo-jumbo ).

formatting link
My ortho doc is a young 'un who doesn't like cortisone shots and/or splints. She says the shots can destroy the joint further, making the surgeon's job harder, and the splints work great but they can leave the thumb stiff and make the muscle deteriorate. I need my thumb muscle for quilting!

BTW, mine came about from using my left hand splayed out flat on the ruler, holding the ruler in place by leaning on it as I use the rotary cutter in my right hand.

Google CMC joint replacement and you'll find lots of help groups (the arthritis foundation has one too) with lots of people in various stages of recovery from the surgery. All in all, everyone seems really positive about their outcomes.

Hope this helps!

Billi

Reply to
Polly Esther

"Sweet" Leslie as Polly so kindly puts it (man-oh-man do I have her fooled!) is heading towards a jaw replacement- and a wrist and ankle starting to fail as well. I can sympathize with Sunny. You hear about hip and knee replacements all the time and the surgeons seem to have them pretty well figgered out. The more 'exotic' replacements are kinda scary. I get cortisone shots in my neck which are done under an x-ray type machine so he knows exactly where the needle is going. Someday I'll have the neck surgery but for now the injections are working. (Living alone during the surgical recovery period- with a lifting restriction of less than one pound and not being able to turn or move my head nor drive for 6-8 weeks- makes the surgery impossible for me.) Getting older is a b***h!

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

For no particular reason ... I guess it was just a job that had to be done and I was available, I clerked a court trial about cortisone injection damage. It was a whole lot more than anyone wanted to know. The risks and damage cause by those injections is maybe not lethal but mighty close. The testimony from the 'victim' as well as the experts would make you throw you hands in the air, back up a few steps and r-u-n. AND, I probably won't ever get over our sweet Leslie having a screw-up with her hip replacement. Proceed. But be very particular about what and who. Polly

Sunny,

I haven't had my thumb joint replaced yet, but I'm scheduled for the surgery in May. After doing lots of research, I discovered there are a few different ways it's done, and I'm having the surgery they talk about in this link (warning, it's a lot of medical mumbo-jumbo ).

formatting link
My ortho doc is a young 'un who doesn't like cortisone shots and/or splints. She says the shots can destroy the joint further, making the surgeon's job harder, and the splints work great but they can leave the thumb stiff and make the muscle deteriorate. I need my thumb muscle for quilting!

BTW, mine came about from using my left hand splayed out flat on the ruler, holding the ruler in place by leaning on it as I use the rotary cutter in my right hand.

Google CMC joint replacement and you'll find lots of help groups (the arthritis foundation has one too) with lots of people in various stages of recovery from the surgery. All in all, everyone seems really positive about their outcomes.

Hope this helps!

Billi

Reply to
Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

I had a cortisone injection in my shoulder for 'frozen shoulder'. Lets just say it didn't tickle. Mine was done on Christmas Eve and my physio said not to lift the turkey. DH had to lift all the roasting pans out of the oven.

"Leslie & The Furbabies in MO." wrote in part 'I get cortisone shots in my neck which are done under an x-ray type machine so he knows exactly where the needle is going. !

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Reply to
Dee in Oz

Owie!!! That sounds painful! I have always just had physical therapy for my frozen shoulders. Many years ago, I had a cortisone injection in my hip- now that was awful! Since I am a 'chubby chick' the doc had to go really, really deep to reach the joint. I thought I'd pass out before he was finished.

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

I had a cortisone injection in my shoulder for 'frozen shoulder'. Lets just say it didn't tickle. Mine was done on Christmas Eve and my physio said not to lift the turkey. DH had to lift all the roasting pans out of the oven.

"Leslie & The Furbabies in MO." wrote in part 'I get cortisone shots in my neck which are done under an x-ray type machine so he knows exactly where the needle is going. !

formatting link

Reply to
Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

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