Support Person

I have unexpected become a support person this week.
Sadly not for someone about to have a baby but for someone who is going through open heart surgery.

A dear friend of my mum's has come to Hamilton from Rotorua (only place to come) and today she went to surgery.
She came to Hamilton on Sunday and I got told she was here Tuesday. So I skipped and jumped as fast as I could to her ward and said 'hi'.
Now I have been visiting her everyday, supporting her through her stay and today I supported her all the way to theatre.
As I write this I am waiting for the call from the hospital to tell me she is out of theatre and that her triple bypass heart operation was successful. She does have relatives but as her brother lives on an island 30 East of Auckland he is not readily available to her and her Nephew is in Rotorua but he can not be here in Hamilton all the time to support her. So she asked me to be around if possible, I was more than happy to help her as I know she is very dear to mum and their friends in Rotorua.

We have a long road a head.
She will spend the weekend in Intensive Care, I will visit but she will hardly know I am there.
Then she will move to the Cardiac ward and I will visit her lots more there.
Eventually she will be able to return to Rotorua where she has many wonderful friends to support her through the next 3 months of her recovery period.

Definitely turning into a village supporting one of their own.

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.

Balloons and Hands

Steve is home from having his surgery.

All went well and a part from feeling a little spaced from the drugs this morning, he is doing well.

His hand is all bandaged up with a piece of plaster of paris running up the front to stop him bending it. he now needs to keep it up on a pillow or in a sling for a couple of days to assist with not having it swell too much.

He had a skin graft taken from his left hip, just below his underwear line, it is a lovely black and blue colour already from a haematoma but he says it is not painful, just looks nicely bruised!

He has a nice amount of pain relief to keep him nice and comfortable over the next couple of days. He has a Physio appointment on Friday and then sees the surgeon again on Tuesday. Busy time for him but also lots of time to relax and get better.

Ben's school has finished today for the summer holidays, so he is now off until Feb 2010! But we thought of this and he is off to Holiday Programme tomorrow and Thursday so he is not at home to bother Daddy, Alex will be at Daycare for the 2 days, give dad some peace and quiet.

The boys and I decided we wanted to do something for him, so while he was sleeping we blew up lots of balloons and hung them around the dining room.

They say "We Love You Get Well Soon"

It was cheaper than going to the Florists and buying a balloon that said the same thing, plus we had much more fun doing this.

Surgery Time

This is what Steve's left hand currently looks like

It is called Dupuytrens Contracture.

Dupuytren’s contracture is a condition in which tissue in the palm of the hand covering the finger tendons thickens and scars. This tissue becomes tight and shortened, contracting the fingers inwards toward the palm.

The development of Dupuytren’s contracture usually occurs quite slowly over many months, or even years, (in Steve's case it has been develpoing over the last 10 years) though in rare cases it can develop suddenly. It can affect any of the fingers, but it most commonly affects the little finger and ring finger.

Dupuytren’s contracture is a relatively common condition but its cause is not fully understood. In most cases it does not occur until after the age of 40 years (Steve has had this since his early 30's) and it is more common in men than it is in women.
Dupuytren’s contracture runs in families so it is thought that genetics can play a part in the development of the condition. ( No one in his family has this, although my Uncle has, so does that mean our boys are at a higher risk of getting it?) Other factors that increase the likelihood of developing Dupuytren’s contracture include:

• Diabetes (as Steve has this then this will be the underliying cause for him)
• Smoking
• Alcoholism

Once the condition progresses to a point where the condition is limiting or disabling, surgery is usually recommended. Surgery involves removing the excess tissue in the palm and returning function to the fingers.

And this is the stage that we are at now with Steve. In fact today is the day of his surgery to get it fixed on his left hand.
It will involve surgery of just over an hour, where they will remove all the thickened tissue along the tendon on his hand and then his finger will straighten out. Unfortunately this will leave him with a big hole in his hand so they will take some skin from his hip and put a skin graft on to his hand.
So when he wakes up he will have a suture line on his hip and his left hand will be bandaged up with a back slab to stop him moving it!
He will have appointments with the physiotherapist each week to help him to gain use back in his finger.

He also has this disease in his other hand on the same finger, (he will need surgery on that in a couple of years time) his thumbs, his feet and in his groin.

In the picture below you can already see the thickening around the tendon on his little finger on his right hand, but his finger is still relatively straight for now!

However his feet do not bother him so much as he walks on them so this stops the tendon from contracting like his hands due to the weight from his body.

So we are in for a quiet Christmas with me recovering from my neck accident and him out of action with one hand. Don't think we will be getting much done over the holiday time apart from sitting around and enjoying what ever sunny weather we are lucky enough to get!