Dr Kyle Eberlin Is a young plastic surgeon with an Impressive volume of work and well published.. He was booked until late October.
I arrived in Boston on October 25th. I met with Dr Eberlin and Jay on October 31st. He examined my left hand and drew his plan on myleft arm.
The strategy is to phase the surgeries over a couple of a surgeries for maximum benefit.
The first surgery November 4th will focus on:
1, increasing the range of motion of my left wrist.
2. increase range of motion of my knuckles in opening my hand .
It's a surgery day and will take 2-3 hours. An early morning surgery at 530 am.
We arrive at 415am and wait til
630 am to be called. It turns out the delay is due to Emerson
Hospital not sending the covid results to MGH.
Doctor Kyle Eberlin does a final assessment and decides a more aggressive approach is necessary. His team includes 5 surgeons.
The surgery lasts 4+ hours. It's noon when I awake to an incredible amount of pain. I feel like I am going to pass.m out. Most pain ever, well beyond a scale of 1 to 10.
It's overwhelming. I receive a quick dose of pain meds... it's lights out. It's 3 pm when I awake again .still extreme pain. More pain meds. More sleep.
Wake up after 5 pm. Painful but manageable. The nurses want me to walk. It's been a long day for mom and fletcher. They want to go to home. It's Been a long day for everyone,
The Honda Civic requires me to bow low to enter. While I will probably be ok getting in the car at the hospital. I doubt I will be able to get out in Concord. My mother and Fletcher are both in their early 80s. I am exhausted. To complicate matters, I forgot my Duopa medicine so my Parkinson's is in full effect. This is a recipe for falling...
MGH has no beds available. 100% occupancy. I am the last patient in ICU in the entire Hospital. I try to stand up with the help of two nurses but 2 steps and I freeze.
At 8 pm they find a spare bed. Mom and Fletcher go home. Fletcher returns 10pm with my Duopa meds.
The end of a very long painful day. I finally feel safe and relax.
I enjoy three ice cream sandwiches before finally going to sleep.
I learn some valuable lessons about surgery and Parkinson's.
-if your injury can in any way increase your odds on falling be proactive exhausting medicines, surgeries, therapy, home modifications , etc
- Few Parkinson's patients have elective surgeries
- Few doctors have experience with special needs of Parkinson's
-Parkinson's patients can become more sensitive to pain resulting in increased intensity of pain
-Hospital policy dictates patients medicines must be stored in hospital pharmacy under hospital control
-Surgery excites Parkinson's tremors causing pain, insomnia in the area of surgery.
-Iinform your neurologist of an upcoming surgery and request medicine to prevent tremors complicating recovery.
-inform doctor of need to stay overnight before going home
