Not looking much better, is it? Six weeks later.
In fact it looks a bit like an angry chorizo. Doesn’t feel too good either. 😦
Last week I started physiotherapy at a place recommended by my surgeon. A friend of his – a ‘hand specialist’ no less. Yeah right.
I showed up for the first appointment last Thursday and the ‘hand specialist’ was nowhere in sight. The attendent looked quite miffed when I said I wanted to speak to him before they started doing anything to my hand, so about half an hour later I got to see The Man. He said it would take at least ten daily sessions to start off with and then sent me out to get started. Turns out this specialist doesn’t actually touch patients – he has a bunch of minions (most of them look fresh out of grad school) doing all the work.
My ‘treatment’ turned out to be ten minutes under an infrared heat lamp, two minutes under a laser beam and then a five-minute massage. And each 17-minute treatment not only cost money but also took more than two hours out of my life (one hour just getting there and back). So I went again on Friday and then again on Monday morning … and walked out never to return. It was so packed in there on Monday that I was going to have to wait almost two hours for my 17-minute treatment. Which frankly I can do at home. So that’s what I’m doing now.
I can use my hair drier to heat up da finga and instead of the laser I’ll just glare at it (The Ray™). And I’m way better at massaging than the two ‘therapists’ I experienced. Boy, ineptitude and disorganisation really bug me – especially when it comes to my health. I still half-suspect the op wasn’t even necessary but I’m not going there (for now) . . .
casa azahar 
Gee, sounds more like a spa treatment than actual physio. If they threw in a hot masseur and a facial I might pay.
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I doubt a spa that gave you a number when you walked in the door would stay in business very long. On Monday I was given number 81 and the guy I saw having his leg massaged was number 53.
Honestly, after you get your number in this place you’re basically left to fend for yourself with getting all the parts of the ‘treatment’ done. And having the massage done an hour or so after the heat lamp seems to defeat the purpose of doing the heat thing, I should think. As for the laser, I’m sure that’s just thrown in as a ‘special effect’.
My doctor friend Agustín agrees with me that this particular place wasn’t worth the time and money. He suggested that I soak my hand in warm salt water and gently move it around, which sounds quite pleasant to me. I’ll try that this afternoon.
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…or I could give you “da flame” for half price 😉
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eep! 😯
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My ‘Paddington Bear Hard Stare’ comes free.
Of course, donations of beer and sangria to the cause will not be refused. Well, it’d be rude 😉
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Mmm…some sangria would go down very nicely right about now.
Meanwhile! I just had a class with my student Isa who’d just come from physio for her back and she said she felt fabulous. Turns out the place she goes to (about a 15 minute walk from my house) is very professional and you can actually make an appointment – Isa is in and out within a half hour. So I called them right away and will be going there next Tuesday. Yay!
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I found an old silver ring that I used to wear on my middle finger … now it more or less fits on my left pinky (okay, it’s a bit loose, but at least I can get it on).
Feels good to have a ring on that hand again. Though my favourite one – the silver mobius strip – will have to be repaired after being cut off before the op.
I mentioned wondering if the operation had actually been necessary.
The day I went to the private hospital for an x-ray I was told by the GP on duty that it was probably a broken tendon but not to worry because he could arrange to have it fixed that very evening. Phone call to plastic surgeon.
Oh surprise – surgeon could fit me into his busy schedule around 6pm … ended up being 7pm and the surgeon was quite insistent that this injury needed to be dealt with immediately on an emergency basis (he joked that if it wasn’t referred to as an emergency then, with regard to my insurance company, he wouldn’t be paid and I would have to pay).
What did I know except the first joint of my finger was totally floppy. So I had the op and several check-ups with the surgeon. And then I got that awful gastrointeritis, which I mentioned to the surgeon in passing and he said this was clearly another emergency situation and I had to stay at the hospital until 8pm when his trusted friend could have a look at me.
I said no way no day – got an appointment with another specialist for the next day who was not a friend of my surgeon. He said I was probably fine but recommended a colonoscopy sometime soon just to be sure.
Last time I saw the surgeon he recommended this other ‘hand specialist’ friend of his – well, you all know how that turned out.
It’s curious that every doctor – and even all the physio people at that icky place – showed surprise that I had severed my tendon just by pushing too hard against the sofa. The first question was always – ‘oh, knife accident, eh?’
Perhaps the ‘knife accident’ was my surgeon hoping to make a few extra euros from an easy operation that only required him cutting my tendon and sewing it up again.
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Hmmm, might it have something to do with private insurances and health care run for profit?
Maybe this public run and financed somewhat crappy health care system we have isn’t so bad after all…?
Yes, my pay check is way much lower than the ones of my peers abroad.
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It’s complicated. With private health insurance you can get in to see specialists almost immediately, have ops done, etc. And the private health hospitals are like staying in a hotel – very nice.
On the other hand, the private health hospitals are not nearly as well-equipped as the public ones. But it can also take ages to get in to see a public health specialist (by which time you might be dead).
But one thing is for sure – you will never have to worry about the public system booking unnecessary ops for easy profit simply because they are already so backed up that this wouldn’t be possible.
Remember when that idiot was going to operate on Nog’s ear? Then we got a second opinion. Grrrrr…..
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Good luck with the new physio place. That finga still looks rather sore.
Sending soothing thoughts :hug:
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Had my first session at the new physio place today and while the treatment is similar it just feels so much more professional and organised there. So I think I’ll stay with it.
Slight differences from the first place. I get 15 minutes of microwave heat, then 3-4 minutes of laser applied by the technician himself, and then about 4 minutes of ultrasound. After that a nice massage and instructions to keep my hand moving as much as possible (squeezing the ball, flexing, massaging it myself).
Apparently the skin has attached itself to the scar tissue on the tendon, so this will have to be gently separated. But it seems basically a question of keeping things moving.
Anyhoodle, I’m much happier with this place. At least they control the number of people showing up and the care given feels a lot more personal. And it’s just a 15-20 minute walk from home.
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That adhesion (and its separation) can be a bit uncomfortable, but I believe that it is one of those things, the sooner it is done, the better. It only gets worse, and more difficult by being left.
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A bit uncomfortable? Yeah, I wonder if leaving it for a week or so when I left the first physio place has ‘set me back’ a bit. Ah well, at least I’m going now. Kind of resigned to losing two hours of my life everyday for the next couple of weeks.
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*sigh* No longer so resigned to losing two hours of my life. Especially when it’s 40º and walking there and back at midday leaves me feeling quite limp.
My initial ’10-pack’ of sessions is up at the end of this week (after wasting 2 of them at that other place) and I don’t think I’ll be going back after that, even though it was suggested that I would need more physio than that.
Apparently the laser and ultrasound are used for their anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects (not particularly effective, imho) and so other than the heat the only thing I’m really getting from the rehab place is a five-minute massage. Which frankly, I can do myself.
I’ll see out the rest of the week, but after that I’m on my own.
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Maybe HMH can give some advice on mobilisation of the finger as well.
I would imagine that the key thing is to be keeping it moving, and gradually increasing the amount of that movement.
How you increase the strength without risking further damage though, I wouldn’t like to say.
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Well, to be honest, the head honcho there (or rather, son of head honcho) bends my joint back so far to ‘straighten’ it that I’m almost speechless with pain – and everything inside tells me that although some pain is par for the course that it shouldn’t hurt that fucking much. Also, this guy doesn’t seem to like my ‘attitude’ (such as when the heat lamp thingy is just sitting over there then why have I been waiting ten minutes for it?).
Yeah, I’ll ask hmh for some pointers.
Talking it over with Nog during lunch, he tends to agree with me. If I’m wasting two hours a day for a 20 minute treatment that really isn’t doing much for me … well. Might as well just take things into my own hands (or hand – the other one).
One thing I did notice today. When you commented on the Nothing Ventured blog about making mental notes of progress. Well, I remember just before leaving for Lisbon a month ago that I had to hem a pair of trousers for Nog and it was excruciating – couldn’t barely hold the material between my fingers and ironing was also hell.
Then today I wanted to put some lace trim on a nightdress (after frantically hacking off the long sleeves the other night because it was too fucking hot!) and hey! It hardly hurt at all. So there is definitely better movement happening from a month ago.
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Well that’s good – re the progress – anyway.
Even the best of physios seem to have some sadist in them though. When I was recovering from an operation on my knee, my physio, who was a lovely lady, and extremely good, told me she could make me levitate off the couch. And when she bent my leg – she bloody well could as well!
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You see, I just don’t agree that extreme pain is beneficial or necessary for the healing process. I could be wrong, but I’d rather listen to my own body about this sort of thing.
How can a daily five-minute massage and torture session be better than me moving, massaging and manipulating the joint – just until it hurts too much – several times a day?
I’ve also found the anti-inflammatory creme that my doctor friend Agustín prescribed for me a couple of weeks ago. I’m now using it as suggested, three times a day, and doing a lot of movement exercises (constantly scrunching my little rubber ball, moving my fingers almost all the time…). That should do as well as the laser and ultrasound stuff in terms of alleviating the inflammation.
In fact, after just two days with the creme I’ve noticed a marked improvement, just doing this on my own.
I think the other thing I’ve learned is not to favour my left hand so much – that even when it hurts a bit it’s better to push it a little to grab onto things, and also in my yoga class, to at least try doing things I wasn’t able to do a week ago.
Perhaps hmh will show up with some good advice and tell me if I’m on the right track or not. But it does actually feel better doing things this way.
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As you say – listening to your own body surely must be right?!
Particularly as you say, if you are actually pushing yourself to do what is uncomfortable and extending what you can do rather than letting discomfort limit you.
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