Surgery for a broken hand?

[Hedy]

Since you DISers are the experts on all medical procedures:
DMom is going to be taking care of a friend of hers who is having surgery for a broken hand (her dominant hand, if that matters). DMom's expecting it to be pretty intense, but I didn't know if anyone with experience had anything she should be looking for?

 

[disprincesspatty]

My daughter's boyfriend had his hand operated on because he broke it. I think he had some pain afterwards, but other than it being in a cast and not being able to use it for a while, he was fine. He managed a whole semester of college without using his writing hand.

 

[Mackey Mouse]

I have never had surgery for breaking anything....I have broken my leg and have had it casted for 6 weeks and it was very painful. Hopefully someone else with more experience on surgery for a broken hand will step up here and answer your question.

 

[goldcupmom]

I had a single broken bone in my dominant hand following a car accident. Bone in back of hand between pinkie & wrist. Had 2 screws put in. Other than the 1st 48 hours of pain(and an allergic reaction to meds) & the inconvenience of not being able to use my hand for 6 wks, it wasn't too bad. I never had a cast, just a hard 'channel' that part of the hand/arm went in and wraps on it. After the sutures healed, I was allowed to take that off to bathe.

I imagine a lot will depend on how extensive the surgery is & what it's for. Mine was under 2 hours and was outpatient.

 

[Shugardrawers]

I had surgery to repair a broken wrist on my dominant hand. I was firmly casted to just past the middle joints of my fingers and thumb. Writing was an experience. Learning to wipe my tushie left handed took a bit of coordination as did learning to pull up my pants, button my jeans, drive my car, tie my shoes, you name it. Almost everything you do is affected. It's inconvenient but most people are very helpful when they see the cast. I didn't find that the pain lasted all that long. I wore the stiff cast for 3 weeks and a less restrictive one for another 4 weeks.

Aside from personal hygeine, the biggest problem for me was food preparation. Opening a can, cutting anything, pouring anything, was all kind of tough. For the first few days, my mom or whoever was helping me draped a towel around my neck when I ate because I seemed to get more on me than in me until I got better at eating left handed I lived on microwave foods and cereal bars so I'd suggest a LOT of help in those areas. Also, your mom's friend of course may be totally different but my wrist was quite weak for a long time. Help carrying heavy groceries and with heavy cleaning chores like cleaning the tub was needed for a few months.

I would suggest to your mom not to wait for her friend to ask, just jump in. A lot of times we don't like to ask for help because we don't want to burden people or be a pain. Especially something like this that may require a lot of intimate assistance in the beginning. After a couple of days at home, watch, and if she seems to be struggling, just say "here, let me help you with that". Some she'll learn to do on her own quickly like pulling her pants up and some she really should just let someone else worry about, like cleaning the tub.

We are actually quite adaptable and just about the time she gets to where she can do pretty much anything she'll be out of the cast. Then the real fun starts with the PT