Postpone operation date?
Hello Dr Bland. I'm in a quandary: my carpal tunnel pain has all but disappeared! This is almost certainly due to the fact that because of my current sciatic pain I have not been able to play the cello for over three months! I am likely to need surgery for my back, so in the meantime it might be an idea to indefinitely postpone the CTS operation - what do you think? I realise that coming off the list will mean that I have to go through the electrode tests again at some point in the future, but I can't go on postponing and postponing dates - or can I?
OK, seems like a good idea - how do I go about making an appointment? I will be surprised if the conduction tests do not reflect the improvement I have noticed - I feel sure it is no coincidence that it matches exactly with the time I have been on this enforced break from the cello.
I've made a booking for 23rd Feb - letter will be in the post. Changes in symptoms are usually, but not always, matched by changes in the nerve conduction studies so hopefully they will be better. JB
I'm afraid I will have to postpone my appointment this week (23rd). The sciatica, which had been gradually getting better until last weekend, is now so bad that I cannot walk more than a few steps without a great deal of pain. Driving is also quite uncomfortable, so getting to the hospital, as well as from the car park into the building, makes it all (quite literally) a bit of a pain. I do have an appointment at the weekend for a cortisone injection into the offending disc, so if all goes well I should be mobile again very soon. I will contact you again at that juncture. Do I need to phone anyone, or is this note sufficient? JAC
No need to phone anyone. So that you do not get forgotten I will actually move the appointment back by a month to 22nd March. Let me know how you are doing in a couple of weeks. JB
Well at present we do not have a date set for surgery so whenever it seems appropriate we will simply put you back into an operation slot. In general I am always somewhat reluctant to operate on people with few or no symptoms so in that sense if you are fairly happy with your hands at present I am quite willing to go along with deferring surgery indefinitely. As we have not tested them since June I do think it would be a good idea to check them again just to see if the symptomatic improvement is matched by an improvement in nerve conduction studies - how would you feel about dropping in for a re-test? JB