Be warned, the photos below will show my finger in all it's mutant glory. With that said, here's what happened with my pinky finger up until today.
I left off with the day after surgery in my last post. I had 3 pins to hold the bones in place and 2 other pins that went through my finger to hold the brace in place.
When I went in for my check up 1 week after surgery the Dr. was satisfied that everything was ok and I was on the mend.
After 3 weeks of weekly follow ups it was time to start removing some of the pins. He started with the pin you can see below. This was put in place to keep my knuckle from moving.
I was shocked when he pulled out needle nose pliers. With no anesthesia he pulled and twisted and before I knew it the pin was out. It was one of the strangest pains I've ever experienced. It only hurt a little, but it was a pain that was foreign too me, deep inside of my bone. Have you experienced this?
With that he said I should keep the brace and other pins in place for another week and so we were finished in less than 5 minutes. Then I was off to the mountains with visiting friends to go bang on rocks with a sledge hammer!
That wasn't smart as I ended up hitting my finger pretty hard with a large rock. I didn't know at the time, but I actually bent the brace. It was worth it though because I discovered a new mineral at that locality, iridescent garnets!
The following week was the same scenario except when the Dr. pulled off the bandage he laughed out and said, "Did you hit your finger!? The brace is bent!" I sheepishly replied, "ya a few times!" He laughed then pulled out the needle nose pliers again, but this time he clipped the brace pins off on one side, then pulled. They came out a bit smoother as these pins were only through my tissues and not bone.
Then he sent me to the x-ray room down the hall. Zap, and back to see the Dr. He suggested keeping the other pins in for one more week if I didn't mind.
I agreed, without telling him I would be going to Osaka the following day for a gem and mineral show.
Osaka was great and I stopped by Kyoto for a night to take in the city after two years since my last visit.
The morning I left Kyoto i hopped on the bullet train back to Tokyo and was in the Dr.'s office again at 3pm. God I love the shinkansen. Doc pulled out the last two pins and I was healed! Well, kind of. I was immediately sent in to rehabilitation across the room. Now, under normal circumstances I would be going once a week, but I had to leave the following week. So my therapist advised me the exercises to do and to soak my finger in room temperature water each day after work. Well, I have been doing the physical therapy, but not the soaking... Maybe that's why my finger now looks like this.
I've got about 60% movement range, but because the knuckle isn't correct my finger sits kinked if you will.
It's really only a problem when I reach into my pocket or try and collect small things in my hand. The doctor did tell me in the beginning that I may need surgery down the road for something like this. Now it's looking like that will be needed. I'm just glad it still works, albeit partially. So that's the conclusion, at least until I have surgery!
Thanks for reading!
