Thread: Carpal Tunnel

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yeah but you'll be glad when it don't hurt, therapy is the best thing. A lot like missing the chisel and hitting your hand.

I have never used a VA hospital and never will. I've seen and heard of too much pain and suffering and inept doctors. A buddy in Phoenix, Glen Neyenhuis, had been dosed with Agent Orange in Vietnam while on river boat duty. Glen was barely 60 and complained of leg pain, not to the point he could not get around, just some pain.

In those days, all of us would gather around a large table outside one of our friend's buildings on a commercial lot. Glen went to the VA one day and they administered an epidural steroid injection that afternoon. The next morning, we found him face down on the table with a spilled cup of coffee. He was dead as a doornail. No VA for me.
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The VA is the template for the future of American healthcare.

Single payer system, with equal access for all.
Under funded and over scheduled, with no means to eliminate or remove ineptitude.

In fact, ineptitude will be present by design, reducing the work load by eliminating a percentage of the more critical and delicate patients.


BUT those in charge will get rich beyond avarice.

Back to PT. It's definately worth it no pain no gain. My Physical therapist offers free use of his facility for 50 dollars a month. So once you finish PT you can continue to use same equipment on your own and get free advice. Pretty good deal.

Originally Posted by stovens

Back to PT. It's definately worth it no pain no gain. My Physical therapist offers free use of his facility for 50 dollars a month. So once you finish PT you can continue to use same equipment on your own and get free advice. Pretty good deal.

not to be smart butt but how is $50. free?

I agree with you Tech. I had one brother and next door neighbor
die at VA Hosp Nashville, and my other brother almost died there.
He was in the VA 38 days and almost died too, then someone discovered
he only had a case of gout.
Hope they can get thing straightened out.

Originally Posted by cffisher

not to be smart butt but how is $50. free?

Poor terminology on my part. You can go in everyday day and use his facility(which is like a gym) at whatever time you want ie free use of facility, not fee free. But when you figure insurance billing is charging me 20 dollar copay for one day of therapy and I was going 2 days a week, 50 bucks for thirty days is a fantastic deal, especially since it has the specific equipment I need to strengthen my knee, and other stuff I could benefit from for the upper body(not part of my knee-PT therapy)
Hopefully that makes more sense? I was tired when I wrote that and didn't want to grind out the details! :0

Therapy is great and needs to be taken serious ANY time you can get it at that kind of rate is great. I was lucky when they replaced my knee. They (insurance) paid for all of it the therapy before surgery and then again after. It makes a difference

I had my last physical therapy appointment in Tucson (VA) on Monday and last follow up with the surgeon yesterday. Both seem to be happy with the progress.

I’ll still be doing PT at home, and the hand is stiff in the morning till I start using it a little but I can use it for light/medium work now……and no I’m not pushing too hard (tempting as it sometimes is). The Dr says it will probably still be a couple of months until it’s healed enough to go back to anything real strenuous.

Overall the surgery was worth it, I’m not in constant pain and I should be able to get back to doing most of the stuff I used to .



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Progress is a good thing.....…….and eliminating the pain as well.

Originally Posted by Mike P

Overall the surgery was worth it, I'm not in constant pain and I should be able to get back to doing most of the stuff I used to ..

That's great news. Glad it's working out for you.

Ditto! My right knee is responding as well to The "experimental" PRP treatment (Platelet Rich Plasma) injection. This is where they draw blood from you and spin it down to platelets and plasma. This is then re-injected into your knee hip or whatever, where the natural healing process is magnified for old farts like us! I went from taking elevators to avoid stairs because of the osteoarthritis pain, to using stairs again and being able to hike on my days off when I want to relatively pain free. Anything that brings mobility and pain control naturally or surgically I am in favor of. The day I can't walk is the start to the end!

Originally Posted by Mike P

Overall the surgery was worth it, I’m not in constant pain and I should be able to get back to doing most of the stuff I used to .



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That's good news mate.
I'd been wondering how you were getting on.

Thanks everybody. Overall I'm pretty happy with the recovery although it gets a bit aggravating not being at 100% yet, but only time and not overdoing it will eventually take care of that.

Out of everything the thing that bothers me the most is not being able to shake hands. I made the mistake of taking an offered hand a few weeks ago and it damn near dropped me to my knees. It just goes against the grain not to shake someones hand when it's offered and then have to explain why you can't. We shake hands without thinking about it and until now I never realized just how often we do that.




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When we were younger studs we probably used to mentally roll our eyes as the "old folks" talked about ailments and doctor trips. Now that we're the ol' goats, it's us. Almost as many threads about repairs to our bodies as our cars...……………..Mike, Steve, Me...….who'd I miss?