You may be wondering why the Duct Tape picture for this post? Well I never had any external stitches, only medical suture tape which always made me giggle. They always say you can fix ANYTHING with Duct Tape, and know now that it is true. 
Today was officially three weeks since I had my endoscopic carpal tunnel & cubital surgery done on my right hand & arm. The suture tape has been slowly peeling off over the last week which has been mildly annoying. My physical therapist Kathy said if it does not come off after three weeks to just go ahead and remove it, which was exactly what I did. I took a warm shower this morning, after which I slowly and carefully peeled off the little bit of remaining tape…the pictures in this post show the results.
Okay, well certainly nothing I would enter into a beauty contest, but overall better than I had expected.
Cubital Tunnel Incision (3 weeks post op)
Endoscopic Carpal Tunnel Surgery (3 weeks post op)
I have pretty decent mobility, but still have limited use of my hand. I am able to move my arm in most directions pain free, only lifting it straight up above my head still hurts a bit. With my hand I can make a fist, pretty tight but nothing I’d want to go boxing with lol. I am able to pick up light things, my cell phone, a can of soda etc. I seem to be able to type decently, though it still frightens me a bit and I try hard to be careful and limit myself. The incision in the middle of my hand hurts the most of the three, likely due to the location. The pain over the last week has been pretty tolerable, I generally take Advil or Motrin to help with the swelling then maybe one pain pill before bed.
I still have a fair amount of swelling, but it is improving and isn’t nearly as bad as it was a couple weeks ago. My only real complaint so far is that my hand is still “asleep or numb” for lack of better words. The numbness that I feel is three fold what I had prior to my surgery, my ring and pinky fingers feel nearly dead. This has not improved at all, but I have been assured that it is normal after this type of surgery and that the feeling should return, but that it can take months for the nerve to repair itself. I would lie if I didn’t admit that it was depressing, but I am pushing myself hard to recovery because I want my hand(s) back!! I do plan to go through with the surgery on my left hand & arm, but am waiting for some sign that the surgery on my right side actually worked before moving forward.
