Hand and Neck Update

Steve is now 7 days post hand surgery and all is going really well.

He has been to the Physio, who took all his bandages off and gave him a splint.

The fingers are looking really straight, although they are being held that way by dressings at present. He has a cotton wool bolster over the finger in the picture below, so you can't see the whole wound.

 

He still has to wear a splint at present but she made this one out of plastic rather than plaster of paris. It means it is much more usable.

It was quite amazing to watch her make the splint. She first turned on the electric fry pan with water in it.

 

The she got out a sheet of what ever colour plastic she wanted (she went with red for Christmas) cut it to size and moulded it to fit around his wrist. If she didn't like how it moulded then she simply put it back in hot water or blew the hairdryer over the edge to soften it again and then remoulded.

Her words to us were 'do not leave in the sunshine!' and 'if it feels funny anywhere, then just heat it and reshape it!'

Amazing stuff.

He has since been back one more time and the splint is now been cut to wrist level. This makes life so much easier for Steve as he can now actually move his hand at the wrist. He has even had the bolster removed off the wound.

The next step is to allow the graft a couple more days to heal and then to start bending exercises. He will have to open and close his whole hand and see how fast the graft goes back to pink, this checks the blood flow to all areas. If all is good then he has to start bending the finger every hour doing a small range of motions she has shown him to get use back into the finger that has been bent over for the last 10-15 years.

So everything is on track there.

Me and my neck? Things are progressing slowly, I feel like some days it is 3 steps forward and then 1 big one back!

I am getting a lot of pain at night when sleeping. I can not sleep on my side as this puts strain on my neck. Problem is that I am a side sleeper or tummy sleeper and these are the 2 most uncomfortable positions at present!

I am now sleeping a lot on my back but this is still painful sometimes. So sleeping is fun at present!!! Not.

I can drive but any sudden jerking is not good. So when I come to an intersection and have to keep looking from left to right and back again trying to assess the traffic to pull out, then this is pulling on my neck and hurts. Other little movements whilst driving are also painful. So even though I can drive I'm trying not to very much if I can help it. Although this is slightly difficult given that Steve is not driving at present due to wanting to not do anything that will knock the graft or put any strain on it whilst we are getting it to take! But seeing as he is now in a splint just to his wrist and everyone is very happy with him I don't think it will be too long before he is given the all clear to drive again.

I also found out the other day whilst at the caravan that swimming is very uncomfortable! Just the whole motion of swimming and keeping your head up in front of you puts my neck in a very wrong position that hurts. Even on my back you are trying to keep your head above water and therefore the muscles are pulling etc. So, even though I remember from last Christmas the fact we didn't go swimming at the pool very much as it was very hot and the pool is a hot pool, the boys will want to do some swimming, so I guess I will be sitting in the pool a lot whilst they swim around. Of course Steve is not swimming at all, but he could always get in and sit at the edge, at least that would be cooling if it gets too hot! But we also have the beach to go to so we can all wade in the waves and do wave jumping etc. There are ways around our little problems this Christmas!

So between us we make a right pair this Christmas time, but we will still have a relaxing time and just do what we can with a limitations! Will be fun.