I guess it's not very good of me to post something about my finger and then not give an update... Well here is the update that's over two weeks past it's due-by-date. As I type this, I'm typing rather awkwardly with 8 fingers instead of 10. Somehow I've managed to get some sort of system going, where with my left hand the ring finger does most of the work. So, why am 2 fingers short? No, they didn't chop them off, although that seemed to be the idea of some of my students...
I went to the specialist hand surgeon on three weeks ago (on the Monday) only to be told that in order for him to do anything he needed to see my xrays. Well, because I never got my xrays printed, I went off to the radiological clinic again to get a print out. Before I went there I dropped in at the hand therapy place down the road to get a proper buddy strap (see the photo).
I showed everyone the cause of my pain, which is really only a very small piece of bone, but at the same time it was still significant. I could finally see what the doctors were talking about, which was good. The following Thursday I went back to the specialist, ready for a finger operation. But he took one quick look at my xray, shook my hand, and sent me back to the hand therapist. Because the bone fragment was less then 30% of the area it came off, apparently it will heal itself, so I didn't need surgery. He told me that I needed to see the hand therapist again, so I walked there for my next appointment. Oddly enough, although not so oddly for me, I fainted when the hand therapist was trying to work out my range of movement, and so I was there for a little longer recovering on the floor. I felt rather important when they turned the building air-con up for me and offered me a banana :) After a quick lie down on the floor, and being really quite embarrassed, we talked about recovery. I have yet to make another therapist appointment, so I should really do that soon! But basically my prognosis was that I have to have it strapped for 12 weeks, without playing any sport/music etc for 6 weeks. That night I checked on Google if I could get some sort of medical term to describe the injury, and it seems that my injury is a 'volar plate avulsion'.
The 6 weeks are for the bone fragment to heal, and the remaining 6 is for the ligament. I worked out that the volar plate isn't a bone, but the ligament that keeps the knuckle stable, and is supposed to stop your finger from bending back too far, along with other things. Well, when I stopped the ball in indoor soccer, that ligament stretched as my finger hyper-extended backwards, and as it did it tore some bone off with it. Hence the fact that I now have limited movement in my finger and I have at least 12 weeks of recovery time. The hope is that in 12 weeks, or really 9 weeks from now, I'll be able to put my hand in a full fist again.
At the moment this is what my finger looks like (without my buddy strap).
It's still slightly swollen, but not badly at all, and the bruising on the outside is virtually gone, but I still feel pain so now it's time for the insides to heal. On both my index and middle finger the crease lines are hardly there because they don't move much, except when I exercise them, so it looks quite strange, and the skin is quite soft because it's been stretched (by the swelling). I still have a bit of pain occasionally, and can't run/walk/do much physical activity because it jars it too much, but I'm getting there and can do most things normally, or at least with the three other fingers on my left hand if needed.
I am learning to be patient, but it's very difficult. I would love to play soccer, but for the moment I can't. Even 40min of training last week was bad and I had to put ice on it. I also can't play piano properly, but I'm trying to use my other three fingers because I get bored. And I would love to pick up my guitar again, but that one's going to have to wait a little longer.
So, how's that for an update? Sorry about the length, I get a bit carried away telling the whole story. But there you go!
