Day 16 – Cast removed
I arrived at the Toronto Western hospital at 1 o’clock on July 5 to have my cast removed. I had some high expectations at this point because the cast was rather tight and I felt that once it was removed I could stretch out my fingers and the healing process would begin. When I arrived, I was brought into a room to meet doctors and nurses that support Dr. Steven McCabe. They cut off my cast and remove the bandages underneath. When the cast came off my wrist had an overwhelming tingly feeling. It felt like a bunch of bees buzzing around inside my wrist. I also had no strength at all so I held my hand when raising my arm. It felt like if I raise my arm my hand would fall off. I have to admit that I was a little bit queasy looking at the stitches and the funky shape of my hand. It was obvious that the cast was too tight in one area of my wrist which caused the swelling to go on either side including my fingers.
These are pictures of my stitches both on the top and bottom side of my wrist. They seem to have healed properly but I’m not very comfortable with my wrist exposed. It feels like it should still be in a splint which will be the next step after Dr. Steven McCabe examines me.
I think Dr. Steven McCabe was satisfied with the operation but was a bit concerned that I could not move my fingers or make a fist.
He told me that I would wear a splint for the next week but I had to do some serious work on my fingers. He said that after the first week I could remove the splint five times a day to do wrist exercises. A nurse removed my stitches and then I was brought into another room to meet with physiotherapists.
The physiotherapist was also shocked that I could not move my fingers or even touch my index finger with my thumb. She washed my hand and then fitted me with a brace. She then gave me a series of exercises that I should do five times a day. See day 18 for a video of these exercises.
Proximal Row Carpectomy - PRC 