Now it's time. I not only have serious base of the thumb arthritis, aggravated, I'm sure by non-stop knitting for several years, I also have a trigger finger--er, thumb. When you can't open jars, or doors, can't button a blouse and have to keep "un-cocking" your thumb with a pop, it's probably time. I returned to Doctor Number Two, who took one look and sent me to the surgery scheduler. I warned him not to repeat the grind test. I inadvertently perform it on a daily basis.
I knew that my hand would be out of commission for weeks, if not months, so Jay and I climbed some rock outcroppings above Ogden by way of a via ferrata the day before my scheduled surgery. A via ferrata is a set of rebar steps you climb wearing a harness and clipping onto a cable with a carabiner as you ascend to the top. It was great fun and exhilarating to feel like a real rock climber and I felt ready to tackle recovery from a pretty small surgery.
Five months later
Surgery. Cast. Cast off. Splint on. Splint off. No knitting. Three months pass without being able to button, open lids, turn doorknobs, clip fingernails. Now, why did I do this again? My hand looks deformed and it still hurts. Advil pm is my friend, and even walking across the yard was exhausting for the first few months. They say this is a surgery that you're glad you had a year later. It might take me that long! I guess you can't have a joint taken out and replaced by a tendon and have it all better right away, but I thought I was tougher than this. So what started out as a painful thumb that didn't work is now a weak thumb that still hurts occasionally. And it still sticks out like a sore thumb.
