My carpal tunnel operation
Discussion
It's early, it's Saturday, I'm bored, so I thought I'd paralyse you all with excitement and tell you about my operation a week or so ago. 
Into the private hospital, 7:30am, have a check-up, take blood pressure, get told my op will be late morning. They ask me to leave a urine sample in the bathroom, which I do, in a cardboard cup. I wait in the room, reading my two magazines, and wait, watching tv, and getting bored. A nurse pops in at 11am, tells me 'won't be long now' and I'm sat in the room bored again.
By 1:30 I have had a gutful, this is ridiculous, so I go stamping around the corridors to find someone to ask what the hell is going on. This is not the NHS, treating a nose bleed, this is a £3000 private hospital surgical procedure I'm in for.
I find people, who tell me it is now my turn, and rush me to the operating theatre, where I am just about to be prepped when the surgeon asks me if I have had the fully sterile hand wash? Nope. Right, off the table, into a bathroom, wash my hands with ordinary soap, and back onto the table......
A swill down with alcohol, to sterilise it, couple of injections in the palm and it feels like a large stick has been jammed into it. A nurse picks my sterile hand up, thrusts it under her armpit
to support it and applies a tourniquet to my bicep.
The surgeon steps forward, slices me deftly open, there is no pain, just a tugging sensation.
My whole hand suddenly spasms, like a sharp electric shock! "Whoops, sorry, got a bit close to the nerve as I was cauterising some bleeders" says my surgeon.
All stitched up, nurse whips of the tourniquet before gangrene sets in, "8 minutes" she says gleefully. I guess they operate on a peace-work process. I could almost feel the nextvictim being laid on the table as I was wheelchaired out. 
I was taken back to the room and given a run down on how to look after the hand, some exercises to do, and that I need to use it as soon as possible.
The urine sample was still sat in the bathroom, the cardboard cup looking decidedly soggy and wet by now.
(All you people who knock the NHS, it ain't so much better when you spend 3 large to go private)
Having been warned that I'd be laid up for days, immobile, hand raised on cushions 24/7, in pain, no movement, I was actually back out in the garage two days later cutting and fabricating on the hot rod.
I'm not stressing it, keeping it clean and it doesn't really hurt much, but as the nurse says, the WORST thing I could do is 'couch potato' it and leave it unused.
The stitches have to stay in for two weeks!?
I had the operation Thursday, and by Sunday I'd finished the fabrication jobs and had the motor back out ready to turn the chassis over to weld underneath.
Into the private hospital, 7:30am, have a check-up, take blood pressure, get told my op will be late morning. They ask me to leave a urine sample in the bathroom, which I do, in a cardboard cup. I wait in the room, reading my two magazines, and wait, watching tv, and getting bored. A nurse pops in at 11am, tells me 'won't be long now' and I'm sat in the room bored again.
By 1:30 I have had a gutful, this is ridiculous, so I go stamping around the corridors to find someone to ask what the hell is going on. This is not the NHS, treating a nose bleed, this is a £3000 private hospital surgical procedure I'm in for.
I find people, who tell me it is now my turn, and rush me to the operating theatre, where I am just about to be prepped when the surgeon asks me if I have had the fully sterile hand wash? Nope. Right, off the table, into a bathroom, wash my hands with ordinary soap, and back onto the table......
A swill down with alcohol, to sterilise it, couple of injections in the palm and it feels like a large stick has been jammed into it. A nurse picks my sterile hand up, thrusts it under her armpit
to support it and applies a tourniquet to my bicep.The surgeon steps forward, slices me deftly open, there is no pain, just a tugging sensation.
My whole hand suddenly spasms, like a sharp electric shock! "Whoops, sorry, got a bit close to the nerve as I was cauterising some bleeders" says my surgeon.
All stitched up, nurse whips of the tourniquet before gangrene sets in, "8 minutes" she says gleefully. I guess they operate on a peace-work process. I could almost feel the next
I was taken back to the room and given a run down on how to look after the hand, some exercises to do, and that I need to use it as soon as possible.
The urine sample was still sat in the bathroom, the cardboard cup looking decidedly soggy and wet by now.
(All you people who knock the NHS, it ain't so much better when you spend 3 large to go private)
Having been warned that I'd be laid up for days, immobile, hand raised on cushions 24/7, in pain, no movement, I was actually back out in the garage two days later cutting and fabricating on the hot rod.
I'm not stressing it, keeping it clean and it doesn't really hurt much, but as the nurse says, the WORST thing I could do is 'couch potato' it and leave it unused.The stitches have to stay in for two weeks!?
I had the operation Thursday, and by Sunday I'd finished the fabrication jobs and had the motor back out ready to turn the chassis over to weld underneath.
eldudereno said:
Interesting stuff as I need both my hands done. Didn't realise it was done using a local though.
How bad was the CT that forced you to get the OP? I'm sitting here now typing with my right hand going numb with some pins and needles too.
Oddly enough, I haven't suffered for several months, but I know that every time it comes back it is worse. How bad was the CT that forced you to get the OP? I'm sitting here now typing with my right hand going numb with some pins and needles too.
About a year ago at work we had to do some really heavy pulling and lifting, for a week or more, I was in agony and misery, and that was the final straw, I decided to get it sorted, and it has taken this long, with tests, scheduling times etc. I work offshore, so had to find a date that coincided with when the surgeon was available.
Even working at home, in the garage, grinding and cutting stuff, I'd get an attack, and I'd have to basically stop doing any heavy or repetitive work, playing X box, etc, and it would take days to go.
The main problem was my hands going dead at night, and sometimes I'd be waking up every ten minutes with that horrible tingling numb feeling in my fingers, which would develop into throbbing pain after several days.
Sometimes I couldn't even carry a cup of coffee without the fingers going numb.
I've only had one hand done this time, so I shall see how it goes before I have the other done.
I think I would have had quicker/better service going NHS!
King Herald said:
I think I would have had quicker/better service going NHS!
Doubt that. When I had mine done (5 years ago, and it's still fine, FYI) I was told it'd be a year to 18 months before he op, as it was considered non-serious. Well it was bloody serious to me, as it was stopping me from working.'How long if I go private?' I asked on the Monday. Come in Thursday, was the reply. In at 07.00, on the slab at 08.00 and home for 11.00. £1100 all in. And the same surgeon who would have done it on the NHS.
King Herald said:
eldudereno said:
Interesting stuff as I need both my hands done. Didn't realise it was done using a local though.
How bad was the CT that forced you to get the OP? I'm sitting here now typing with my right hand going numb with some pins and needles too.
Oddly enough, I haven't suffered for several months, but I know that every time it comes back it is worse. How bad was the CT that forced you to get the OP? I'm sitting here now typing with my right hand going numb with some pins and needles too.
About a year ago at work we had to do some really heavy pulling and lifting, for a week or more, I was in agony and misery, and that was the final straw, I decided to get it sorted, and it has taken this long, with tests, scheduling times etc. I work offshore, so had to find a date that coincided with when the surgeon was available.
Even working at home, in the garage, grinding and cutting stuff, I'd get an attack, and I'd have to basically stop doing any heavy or repetitive work, playing X box, etc, and it would take days to go.
The main problem was my hands going dead at night, and sometimes I'd be waking up every ten minutes with that horrible tingling numb feeling in my fingers, which would develop into throbbing pain after several days.
Sometimes I couldn't even carry a cup of coffee without the fingers going numb.
I've only had one hand done this time, so I shall see how it goes before I have the other done.
I think I would have had quicker/better service going NHS!
Foxtrot Oscar said:
Have to ask, and sorry you had to go through an op, but what the f
k is carpal tunnel?
It is where the groove that goes through the wrist (that contains the tendons and the median nerve) is a bit too small, and if the tendons get inflamed they tend to crush the nerve, and that cuts off feeling to some of your fingers. k is carpal tunnel? At best it is an irritating tingling, at worst it can lead to paralysis of some of your fingers, pain, disability etc.
AdeTuono said:
King Herald said:
I think I would have had quicker/better service going NHS!
Doubt that. When I had mine done (5 years ago, and it's still fine, FYI) I was told it'd be a year to 18 months before he op, as it was considered non-serious. Well it was bloody serious to me, as it was stopping me from working.'How long if I go private?' I asked on the Monday. Come in Thursday, was the reply. In at 07.00, on the slab at 08.00 and home for 11.00. £1100 all in. And the same surgeon who would have done it on the NHS.
They then told me what I already new: Acute Carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands, and charged me £80 for the five minutes it took to explain it.
Then I booked an appointment, in June, to coincide with time off work, and then they canceled it as the surgeon was going on holiday for a month. Then they explained he only operates two times a month.
So, finally, a year after I first went to see them I finally got the op, on one hand. If I get the other done I may well go to another hospital and see if I get better treatment, as it can't be any worse than the one I used last week!!
What bugs me is when I first asked at the hospital, about pricing and waiting lists, I was told "There are no waiting lists at Rowley Private Hospital. Call us and we can have you admitted within days"
King
Should have had them both done at the same time. 8 minutes one arm 2 mins swap over 8 mins next arm. Job done and off home. I have to say my experince of going private is better than yours. Mrs dropped me off at 09:00 and came and collected me at noon. The most painful bit was that she filled in the time by going shopping in Cheltenham. Are you massaging the wound? It is supposed to help with breaking up the scar tissue so not forming an uncomfortable ridge in your palm.
You will probably find the urine sample is for random drugs testing of the surgeon so he needed a clean sample.
Should have had them both done at the same time. 8 minutes one arm 2 mins swap over 8 mins next arm. Job done and off home. I have to say my experince of going private is better than yours. Mrs dropped me off at 09:00 and came and collected me at noon. The most painful bit was that she filled in the time by going shopping in Cheltenham. Are you massaging the wound? It is supposed to help with breaking up the scar tissue so not forming an uncomfortable ridge in your palm.
You will probably find the urine sample is for random drugs testing of the surgeon so he needed a clean sample.
Smart roadster said:
King
Should have had them both done at the same time. 8 minutes one arm 2 mins swap over 8 mins next arm. Job done and off home. I have to say my experince of going private is better than yours. Mrs dropped me off at 09:00 and came and collected me at noon. The most painful bit was that she filled in the time by going shopping in Cheltenham. Are you massaging the wound? It is supposed to help with breaking up the scar tissue so not forming an uncomfortable ridge in your palm.
You will probably find the urine sample is for random drugs testing of the surgeon so he needed a clean sample.
Well, many people told me I'd be daft to have both done at the same time, but if I'd known it was going to be so easy I'd definitely have got both knocked off at the same time.Should have had them both done at the same time. 8 minutes one arm 2 mins swap over 8 mins next arm. Job done and off home. I have to say my experince of going private is better than yours. Mrs dropped me off at 09:00 and came and collected me at noon. The most painful bit was that she filled in the time by going shopping in Cheltenham. Are you massaging the wound? It is supposed to help with breaking up the scar tissue so not forming an uncomfortable ridge in your palm.
You will probably find the urine sample is for random drugs testing of the surgeon so he needed a clean sample.
I'm doing a bunch of stretching exercises several times a day, but nothing was said about massaging the scar.
As far as I know the urine sample is still in the bathroom.
Nobody collected it during the 8 hours I was in the hospital.munky said:
good grief never mind your hand, what on earth have they done to your arm?
That is a crappy cover up of a tattoo, done by an idiot who could not be bothered to listen to instructions about what I wanted doing. A$$hole. I never let him near me with ink again. 
a boardman said:
someone at work is having both done in 2 weeks I think.
Two weeks? You need to have a chat with Smart Roadster. His surgeon was much quicker.Smart roadster said:
Should have had them both done at the same time. 8 minutes one arm 2 mins swap over 8 mins next arm. Job done and off home.
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