Physiological update
Have you heard the one about the three neurosurgeons walking into a bar? Maybe I’ll tell it to you sometime! I will say three neurosurgeons had Mary Jo and I cracking up last week.
Made me think of the countless jokes I’ve heard over the years about lead guitar players.
Speaking of the music front, I have developed a way to attach a bottle neck to my hand using Velcro and fabric tape. I can play around some slide guitar tunes.
I am uniquely privileged having friends scattered about the country. When I get inquiries from several people over the course of a week or so I know it’s time for me to post an update on my recovery progress. I had a lovely conversation with my buddy Al Bonnis who currently lives in Tennessee, Mark and Deb checked in from Arizona, had a little email exchange with Mike Ward in Michigan, Deb in Pennsylvania and Rick Ruskin in the Pacific Northwest. I take these inquiries as a general indicator that it’s time for me to provide an update, and I do appreciate the well wishes.
So here it is:
Basically, my neurology team are telling me that my finger functions exceed what my recent EMG test would indicate I can do. So that’s a good thing, however what my fingers can do are relatively minor, small motions. But I can move all of my fingers and my thumb.
By the way, the EMG test is a fascinating thing. It involves putting a needle in muscles and then shooting an electrical current through that muscle. Somehow the machine they use has the ability to measure variations in the current, depending on the responsiveness of this muscle.
It is a fascinating process, but as you might imagine, it hurts.
I still have constant pain in my ring finger and my little finger. It basically starts at my elbow and continues down to the tip of those digits. Very similar to the feeling you get when you really whack the “crazy bone” in your elbow! Sometimes it’s just tingly, sometimes it’s a searing pain. Sometimes it feels like needles being pushed into the tips of my fingers, up into my palm and into my wrist. Which hurts a lot thankfully, that is occurring less and less!
My little finger is basically numb. My ring finger has sensation but it’s really weird how it registers touch. And to use my consistent measure of independence in progress I still can’t pick up a set of keys with my left hand.
As the narcotic fog continues to lift, I’m becoming increasingly aware of other limitations and shortcomings. For example, I noticed this week that the flexibility of my left wrist is so limited I can not hold the guitar properly. So I’ve got a little work to do there. However, I am gaining mobility in my shoulder. I sincerely appreciate the fact that this is a big floating joint that’s capable of performing many different functions and has an incredible range of motion. And mine is partially frozen.
I got all kinds of exercises to do for both my hand and my shoulder with all kinds of apparatus to go with it. My hand therapist is very encouraging and very supportive of my explorations to find various ways to engage the muscles, joints and nerves of my left hand. She gets really excited when I come up with methods to move or stretch my fingers, she listens intently, offers suggestions, and insists that I do certain exercises.
My shoulder therapist is a different story. She is strictly at paint by numbers kind of person. She wouldn’t care if I was getting personal attention from a master yoga instructor. Honest to God I could come up with a revolutionary approach to shoulder therapy and I don’t think she would give any consideration at all. And as you might imagine, I am not, nor never have been a paint by number is kind of guy!
But that being said, I am making progress on range of motion on my shoulder and that’s what counts.
It is all slow but steady.