Medical Update

Sheila and I went to my primary care doctor this morning for a follow-up visit pertaining to my partially amputated left thumb.  The plan was to make sure there is no infection, make sure it is healing well and, if it is ready, start removing stitches.

My doctor says that, considering the situation, my thumb is looking very good so that is good.  This means that Sheila and I did a good job of keeping it clean even though that was unbearably painful!

After taking a close look at the wound, she decided that at least some of the stitches needed to come out today.  She was afraid that the skin would start healing around and over the stitches so they needed to come out.  

Unfortunately, I still have some exposed nerves and the whole area is hyper-sensitive.  Removing the first couple of stitches was painful but 'tolerable'.  The next couple of stitches were unbearably painful though.  Just touching around the area was remarkably painful.  My whole body broke out in a soaking sweat due to the pain!  This is where we stopped and discussed some options.  I opted for some topical Lidocaine to be applied...  wait a half hour...  then tackle the last of the stitches.  

I hardly felt anything after the Lidocaine did its thing so the remainder of the stitches were removed.  Since I was no longer feeling any pain, she did a bit of squeezing around the wound to see if any infected puss would emerge...  no puss, no signs of infection.  

Then we looked at the x-rays.  The radiologist's report stated that I had a chipped bone.  Actually, the bone of top digit of my thumb was cut down leaving the bone open.  Ensuring no infection is very important considering the open ended bone so it was good that I did a course of antibiotics.  If this wound worsens, I'm to go see my primary care again immediately.  For now, though, there is no sign of infection which is a very good thing.

I napped for a couple of hours when we arrived home in the afternoon then we did some grocery shopping.  That didn't go well...  my thumb was throbbing again and I was not feeling well at all.  As Sheila headed to a cashier, I headed for the car so I could sit down.  

I'm feeling "okay" now.  I'd say the pain is in the 'moderate' range...  also, my thumb is seeping a bit which can be expected.  Clean-up and redressing should be fun again tomorrow.

Also worth mentioning is that I've been pumping a lot of extra and emergency medications over the past week to keep my mast cell issue as stable as possible.  Even with all the extra and emergency medications, I've had some mast cell issues (today while grocery shopping was one of those times).  So far, I've been able to stay ahead of any mast cell issues including anaphylaxis (which typically is far too common for me).  I'll just need to be careful coming off all these extra medications.  This could make my mast cells quite unstable.  Keeping my mast cells stable is a very fine balancing act.

On the positive side, things are going as well as can be expected, under the circumstances.