I came home from hospital last Wednesday. Had the drain device removed on Monday - much less painful than I expected, the worst part was peeling off the dressings.
Unfortunately it would appear that the operation I have had is of the rather unique variety of procedures which gets worse as opposed to better on every subsequent day of so called "recovery".
Every day a new nerve in my arm reawakens from the operation and presumably realises "oh, actually, I appear to have been severed or severely damaged. Let's make my condition known to my human straight away!".
The result of this is that straightening the arm out or putting on anything other than a zip or button up top is very difficult. I have also taken to moving around with that arm slightly bent at all times. Touching the outside of the arm is a no-no as the sensation feels like very bad sunburn.
I am seeing my Consultant tomorrow so I will be able to get some advice as to whether I am doing the right thing by trying to stretch the arm out despite the pain and stiffness. It's nothing anyone has done wrong by the way, these are all common and recognised effects of this procedure. The benefits are supposed to outweigh the drawbacks and that is the basis upon which anyone having an operation gives informed consent. Unfortunately there is always some collateral damage which could sadly affect me for the rest of my life.
However I hope that what is happening here is that things are getting worse before they start to get better, fingers crossed.
At least it wasn't my dominant arm!
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