Hand Update

The last time I posted about my hand I thought it was healing and that all would be well. Unfortunately my hand never completely healed. The swelling around the cut never improved and I still had loss of movement, so I decided to go have it looked at. The regular doctors referred me to an orthopedic hand doctor because they could feel it pulsing. The hand doctor discovered through an ultrasound that the artery I damaged had healed incorrectly and had fused with a nearby vein. The problem is that the high pressure blood from the artery is being directed into a vein that is not meant to withstand the pressure. It has created a small aneurysm that needs to be repaired--that is what you can feel pulsing in my palm. It is very rare that this happens, but unfortunately it happened to me.

The hand doctor (within our Yale Health plan) referred me to a hand surgeon out of our network (but still covered because of the referral). He examined the reports and looked at my hand and felt surgery was necessary. At first I was afraid that it would need to happen immediately, but the surgeon felt it wasn't urgent and could wait until mid October. So my surgery is scheduled for October 13th.

I am very thankful for:

• Excellent doctors who figured out what the problem is
• The fact that his is 100% covered by our insurance--even though the surgery is not "within" our network
• I am not in pain. I do not have full use of my hand now (about 90%) and the surgeon felt it would be back to 100% within about 3 weeks after surgery
• My sister Allison is coming to help me for a few days after the surgery!
• My small group is able to help me after Allison leaves!

Please pray:

• That my attitude would be one of trust and faith in God--that I will not be worried or fearful
• For a quick recovery so that I can get back to taking care of Hudson by myself
• That Jason would be able to get all the work done he needs to--the week of my surgery is one of his busiest of the semester.