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Count your blessings

5K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  Bob Pauli 
#1 · (Edited)
and your appendages!

I am going in for surgery tomorrow on my casting hand, having ruptured the radial collateral ligaments on my casting MCP (meta-carpal phallangeal) joint of the thumb while sparring at karate lessons.

Needless to say critical to casting, guitar, weight lifting, and even simple things like tying a shoe or opening a jar. I am reminded every day when I try to turn the key to the ignition of how important the thumb is.

Out of commission for a couple of months at least... just a reminder to take very good care of your flyfishing tools!
 
#3 ·
Thanks Mark -

unfortunately it's the start of bonefish and soon to be steelhead season out west and the tarpon expedition is now pushed way out as well - but still I am glad it's going to affect 2-3 select weeks instead of the heart of the striper season, that's for sure!
 
#7 ·
Gee, that's a bummer. Best of luck with the surgery. So does that mean Acklins will have to wait 'til March or April?

The older I get the more I assess the risks of certain activities and the possible consequenses re. fishing. No more pickup basketball, touch football, etc. I even avoid fishin rocks or bolder fields for fear of spraining an ankle or twisting a knee.
 
#8 ·
Juro, best of luck on the surgery. As previously said, this is probably a pretty good time to get it done. You know, we are not getting any younger. As Fred, indicated, there are some things we used to do that we don't dare do anymore. To wit, wading some of those rock-laden streams with a strong current. Not! Or how about, during some great fishing, waiting too long on a flat on the bayside when the tide has turned?

Keep well.
 
#11 ·
Sorry to hear that the "sparring injury" was that serious. Good luck and get back to shape soon. Being a "one handed hunt and peck" typist will just bring you back to the same level as the vast majority of the rest on Fly Fishing Forum! Speedy recovery...the West Coast Steelies and the 'bones can rest easier for the time being.

Pete
 
#12 ·
Update -

so I had the surgery... first time under general anesthesia. woke up to giggling nurses.

I am thinking OH NO... why is the johnny on backwards... it was HAND surgery! then i remembered thats how its supposed to be

so I asked... what did I do?

apparently I liked the IV hooch so much I would reach out and beg anyone in scrubs for a doggie bag of the medication while being wheeled to recovery! No recall of it

been a lot of stress in my life lately, it was good to feel euphoric for a change even if chemically induced (but I promise not to make a habit of it) :)

ten days later the cast came off, replaced with a melt-on 'spica' cast which hurt like hell when my hand swelled at night or at work but I figured out how to coerce it with boiling water into a more ergonomic form.

at first my casting thumb looked like a fenway frank with a nail painted on it - no shape and off colored and no flexibility, numb too. big incision (radial ligament) still very sensitive

It's looking better now, but there's two months in the spica cast ahead :Eyecrazy:

I might be going 100% lefty if a tropics trip opportunity comes up sooner (good discipline!) and the heat would probably make the ol spica fit like a glove by the time I returned to the frigid northeast for the rest of recovery... hmmmm :cool:
 
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