I had the op not the one I went in for but hey ho

[Tricia-P]

confused I am

so to day surgery come this way, take a seat in this cubby hole, duly the sugeon came to see me, had a look at my arm shoulder elbow hand tapped banged pulled and pinched. not pleasent and several times i had to remind him about RA he seemed puzzled, I asked if something was wrong, noooooo

but you are showing not only the ulnar nerve being compressed but carpal tunnel and I think you havea problem with your neck. before I operate i think we need to do some more tests. My heart dropped and i nearly exploded i asked if he knew what i'd put myself through, he then said he wanted 2nd opinion, so 10 mins later this chap turns takes my hands turns them over thentook my left thumb and bent it towards my palm, it took sometime and a box of tissues and top up of oramorph to get me off the ceiling. Guess what my pals he didn't know i had RA and i did look very well.

after much whispering, he and my surgeon came and said that they believed i had both carpal tunnel and ulner nerve compression. we then elected to have my carpal tunnel done first to see if that eliviates enough of the probs. if not more tests etc.op went well i had local which i never felt as my hand was so numb

So im home had quite a good night rested my arm on the bedside table.

this morning getting dressed was fun much amusement as hubs trying to pull pop socks up and the rest of underwear, i'll draw a veil over that lol.

thanks for you good wishes.

gentle hugs to all

Tricia x

ps if any of you hadcarpal tunnel op let me know hints and tips welcome.

[emandedmum]

Something is better than nothing, so I'm told, so I do hope it help you. I can't quite believe that they didn't know about your RA, how ridiculous! Can just imagine the fun and games you had getting dressed this morning, I hope he didn't put ladder in your pop socks...Get better soon x

[Hidden]

Oh Tricia what a kerffufffflleee.. whatever..

I had both hands "done" around 20 years ago. They don't usual do both at once but I was so bad with it they decided to so. My daughter was a toddler at the time and she is 23 now. I don't think they do it the same now, because I had general anaesthetic.

When I came round I had two big footballs on the ends of my arms and boy did it hurt. Like blooping razor blades. I tried to feed myself, but couldn.t it hurt to life a plastic spoon twixt end of forefinger and bit of thumb that were picking out from the footballs.

Any road up good painkillers helped and I was let out a day later. I couldn't even pull my knickknacks up, I could pull them down but not up! Like you say draw a veil over that bit. I lived on cheese and tomatoe sarnies because that was all my stupid ex could no (should hear him no bragging about his cooking prowess and I say pity you couldn't do it when you were bleeping married, you ****head) Any way another story. Don't know if this helping at all.

The long and short of it is that the relief I had once they healed up (about 3 weeks) was worth all the pain and inconvenience.

How the hell did the hospital miss the fact that you had RA, I propose asked NRAS to lobby the NHS to get colour stickers on the front of files, according the debilitating disease you have, or something so basic to let anyone picking it up that you have something else wrong. what did they think was causing the problem anyway. My god you put your life in these peoples hands!!!!

I always go on to long. Just to say I wish you speedy recovery and hope it has done the trick.

Take care

Julie x

[Hidden]

Hi Tricia, haven't had carpal tunnel but have had synovectomy on both wrists, was ment to be carpal tunnel at first but then decided I didn't need it.Like Julie said lots of pain and discomfort but the op worked so I'm sure yours will too. So frustrating for you though when you have to keep explaining things and not even knowing you had RA makes me so mad why didn't he read your notes? or if he did, didn't read them very well.

Take care

mand xx

[Hidden]

Hi Tricia

Pleased to hear you are home again safe and almost sound! What a mess though, BIG COLOURED STICKERS on files definitely the way to go! How can they possibly miss such a chronic condition? Beggars belief it really does, but don't know why I am so surprised it's about what I've come to expect of our slowly failing NHS. Not that I'm in any way cynical you understand!

Anyhow you're home and done with for the time being. Hope you are not in too much discomfort. I suppose the second opinion proved useful in the circumstances but just makes you wonder why it wasn't thought of before the day of the op.!

Make sure you get plenty of rest, lots of help and plenty of brews whilst you recuperate

Lyn x

[Hidden]

Hi Tricia-P

I had carpal tunnel op on left hand last november.

Been pain free from day one.

Could not do all the post op exercises because of joint damage to hands

but my advice to you is do all the exercises you can as well as you can plus some extra stretches.

good luck

take care Sue x

[Sharon56]

Oh my goodness Tricia you have been through it again. Hope you are feeling a bit better today.

[Hidden]

did i tell you bout when i was admitted to the hosp were i work in dec09, reaction to sulphasalazine.. nurse came over with two green capsules, was wearing red allergy bracelet... they were only about to try to give me tramadol..., what are those i innocently asked...tramadol...the nurse said... yep youve got it the tramadol im allergic to!!. i pointed wildly to my red allergy bracelet.........!!!!!!!, had they bothered to read my chart./notes!!!, hence I HAVE NEVER wanted to be a patient there since......!!!!