Yesterday I had that small cyst on my ring finger joint removed. I had to be at UVRMC at 6 a.m. but the surgery didn't take place until later. The first while was spent filling out yards of paperwork, alarming the admit nurse who said I needed to get ready for general anesthesia (I told her that I was NOT having general anesthesia) and having tests done to make certain my heart would take it. It will. I have that great slow heart rate I inherited (50). Then the anesthesiologist and I had a discussion. I did not want general anesthetic. I mean, really, it was my FINGER!!!! ;) You would have thought it was my head they were removing. They finally let me choose to have my arm put to sleep with Novocain. Well that was an experience. I had to have a feeder tube put in the bak of my hand and that was terrible--only because Dr. Wilson couldn't get the needle in the vein. After several tries, he finally succeeded but by then my hand was already black and blue. He said: "We need to do this because the finger has a lot of nerves in it and it would really hurt without any pain killer." Well, I don't know what he thought the back of my hand felt like. I had my arm wrapped and held above my head to force out as much blood as possible. Then a tourniquet was put on the upper arm. The medication was fed into the tube. It was then, because I started feeling light headed, that I found out that I was still getting some general anesthesia. Drat! I thought some of the drug was just leaking back but I have since learned that "to make me calm" he had decided to give me a little something. The result was that I slept most of the day. I did stay awake for the surgery but they didn't let me watch. They put up a little tent thing between me and the surgeon for antiseptic reasons. Another Drat. After doing the things a nice patent does to get released, I went to AnnMarie's. I fell asleep almost instantly on her comfy sofa and Matthew covered me with his special blankie. (That was after I had told Alyssa I felt fine and would help her fix lunch.)
I had an appointment with the chiropractor after I woke up (finally). When I walked in his nurse assistant noticed my VERY black and sore hand. She put a Microcurrent treatment on it for 20 minutes for a soft tissue injury. The electric current used to stimulate pressure points is equal to our body's own natural electric current so that it cannot be detected during treatment only by a slight and occasional tingling. Because of its close proximity to our own body's current, Microcurrent is thought to work on a more cellular level to aid in the healing process. The theory is that electrical balance is disrupted when the body is injured at a particular site causing the electrical current to be disrupted and change course. Microcurrent is a physical therapy modality providing electric current in millionths of an ampere. The Microcurrent Stimulator has the ability to relieve pain, increase the rate of wound healing, increase protein synthesis, stimulate the regeneration of injured tissue, stimulate lymphatic flow and relieve trigger points. Because microcurrent flows at one millionth of an ampere it is delivered on the same scale as the current the body produces on its own in each cell, it is therefore physiologic. Microcurrent is subsensory and cannot be felt while it is being delivered because there is not enough current to stimulate the sensory receptors. When I left, only a small shadow of the bruise remained and all the soreness was gone. So while it sounds like snake oil, in my case it really worked. Thank goodness.
I remember, when as a kid I had a problem something like this, the Dr. sat me on his table, gave me a local, got out his scalpel and cut it out. He put in a stitch, put on a bandage and sent me home. In a few days, he took out the stitch and gave me an all-day sucker and sent me home. I get these stitches out on Monday. We'll see how that goes. Want to bet there is no candy. I'll bet this costs a lot more than Dr. Colombo did as well.
