UCL Surgery Update

Above: Thumbs up before surgery

Ok first of all, please excuse the typos and all of the mistakes I’m sure will follow. My left hand is my new ‘dominant’ hand for the next 10 days or so. Typing will be slow and arduous for sure so don’t expect my usually long updates!

Also, a warning on a couple of the pictures. They are fairly graphic pictures of the inside of my thumb. Not any blood or anything like that, just the hole in my hand where they did the repair, a ligament and some sutures. Still, if pictures of surgery freak you out, you should just close the page now.

That being said, the surgery on Tuesday went well. 70 minutes in total from start to finish. Even thought I had a local block for my arm and was sedated, I remember some of the procedure which is pretty cool.

Above: My UCL ligament being pulled back into place

According to Dr. Rust the UCL rupture was very clean. A very tiny fragment of bone came off with the ligament which made it really easy for her to know where to place then anchor for reattachment. Once she had that figured out, everything was set in place and I was sutured up and in recovery in no time. Between pre-op, actual surgery, and post-op recovery, I was only at the facility for 4.5 hours total. Not too bad.

Above: Suturing the incision site from the inside out

Currently I have on a huge splint to immobilize my thumb. I can’t tell you how bad this sucks. Try to NOT use the thumb on your dominant hand for a while and you’ll understand. Fortunately the splint comes off on April 2^nd when I go into a spica cast. Still, it’s amazing what I can do with just my left hand. I’ve even switched the mouse on the computer over to my left hand for the next 10 days which is working out quite nicely. Anyway, I’ll post more soon as things progress.