My Visit To The Doctor 8-25-2016

Dr. Ronnie Wolfe

 

I went to an orthopedist today, because I have "trigger thumb" on my left hand. I had surgery on my right thumb several years ago.

When the doctor came in, he talked about what trigger thumb is. He squeezed my thumb really hard (and it hurt really bad) and told me how the trigger thumb worked (as if I didn't know). He pressed the top of my thumb and explained all the parts of the thumb. I thought I might be in an anatomy class.

He said he thought I should not have surgery right now but should first have a shot of a steroid first. He just happened to have brought a needle with him.

He asked me to place my left hand face up on the stretcher (bed), which I did. Then he said, "I will explain each thing that I will do before I do it," and he did.

He said, "I am now going to wash your thumb with some antibiotic stuff to make it clean, which he did. Then he told me to relax my hand so he could give me the shot. I was all ready for the shot when he said, "Now, this is the smallest needle in the world so that it will not hurt so much." I didn't believe him.He said he would stick the needle in my thumb and that I would feel a little stick. Why didn't he just do it? He said, "The pain will be short, but the pressure will go up into the upper part of your thumb and hurt pretty bad, but it won't hurt but just about three seconds.

Before I could process all that information, he surprised me by sticking the needle in my thumb and shooting the medicine in the thumb. I groaned really loud, and he said, "I knew you would do that." Then he said, "It's all over." Well, it was not over. My thumb really hurt until the Novocain took effect.

That was the longest 10 minutes I ever spent in a doctor's office. When I got to my car, I reached for the keys and almost dropped them, because now my thumb is numb, and I cannot feel anything with my thumb.

He encouraged me by saying that I must wait four weeks; and, if the thumb is not better, we can do it all again (maybe three times total).

I am home now surviving, my thumb feels better, but it still clicks every time I bend it. I am not sure that four weeks will do the job, but at least the doctor is not here to describe those four weeks to me.