Nancy has had neuropathy in both hands for some time, no feeling in her fingers which was getting dangerous. She can't tell when she picks up something, has burned herself as a result. Plus her hands hurt all the time...hasn't affected her ability to pinch however.
She is a painter and does some contract work from time to time(recently illustrated a child's book) so this affects her ability due to problems holding a brush. She also does beautiful caligraphy which is also affected so her problem needed to be corrected.
We have an older couple next door in our apartment bldg.(not older than us) that we're good friends with and she was talking to him about his carpal tunnel issue. He told her about a new method he was about to have done that corrected the carpal tunnel problem. A few days later he came over to show her and we both were amazed...a week or less recovery, feeling back in the fingers, no carpal pain, etc. Total return of feeling, i.e...loss of numbness has taken longer but initially had limited effectiveness. Now, nearly two months later he's back to normal. We decided it was time for Nancy to pursue that same procedure...it's not a surgical process. After getting a denial overturned by her health insurance(involved a letter to the Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner), she was scheduled and had it done yesterday. She was ushered in, very nervous, less than 20 minutes later she came out all excited and with her right hand bandaged. The procedure involves first numbing the hand from the wrist up. After scrubbing the area, they make two small "holes" in the area...one in the palm and one in the wrist. Using tools they developed(more about that), they insert a thread into the palm hole, back under the skin through the "tunnel" and out the hole in the wrist. Then rethread it back through the wrist hole outside the "tunnel" to the hole in the palm, that's where both ends are now visible. They then saw the tunnel by pulling the thread back/forth, giving the same result as formerly achieved using the old method of an incision from the palm to the wrist and cutting the area to relieve nerve pressure. She'll remove the bandage later today and use a couple small bandaids on the entry holes. So far there has been little to no pain, a Tylenol allowed her to sleep through the night and took one this morning before taking off to attend a funeral. Me...I'm still trying to get my hip replaced so haven't been to the gym in over two weeks.
This newer method addressing the carpal tunnel was developed by two Chinese brothers about 20 years ago and has had good success. Initially, I'm told, they used available instruments to do the procedure but later developed their own version. Again, I have no pure info on that, just second hand from staff. Frankly I'm thrilled for Nancy, she's on cloud nine herself and plans to have the left hand done next week along with a followup on the first hand. My granddaughter in Florida had the old method done a few years ago and her hand was pretty much useless for nearly two months. Nancy will have full use by the time she goes in for the second hand to be done. Dr. said to keep her hand out of hot dishwater so you know how that got milked here at home, but she was able to shower and wash her hair this morning...all the time talking about how there's no pain. No heavy lifting for a couple weeks but after that it's whatever she's comfortable doing. We're pleased to say the least.
