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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Me and my operation: carpal tunnel syndrome | Mail Online

Me and my operation: carpal tunnel syndrome | Mail Online: "Me and my operation: carpal tunnel syndrome by ANGELA BROOKS, Daily Mail.

I've been looking at articles about carpal tunnel syndrome in press and other medias. Below is a story from the British Daily mail. I write my bulleted comments between the lines.

The NHS undertakes 37,000 operations a year to tackle carpal tunnel syndrome - a condition in which the wrist nerve becomes compressed.

Here, Julie Jewitt, 40, a hospital theatre sister who lives with her partner and two children in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, tells us about her operation and her surgeon explains the procedure.

The patient says:
  • Julie Jewitt found carpal
  • carpal tunnel operation
  • cured her hand discomfort
Strange sensations in my left hand started seven months into my first pregnancy seven years ago. I had pins and needles in my fingers which woke me up at night.
  • Pregnancy
  • Pins and needles in fingers "woke her up at night"
When I woke in the morning, my fingers would feel completely dead, but once I was up and about, that feeling would fade.
  • Fingers feeling dead
  • The feeling faded
I had a vague idea what it was, so I put off going to see my GP for two years. When I did finally go, he immediately told me he thought it was carpal tunnel syndrome and sent me for tests.
  • Two years before visiting her GP (General Practitioner)
I knew a carpal tunnel release operation would combat the problem, but it was a matter of plucking up the courage. I decided I had to take action when it started to affect me at work, so I arranged an appointment with hand surgeon Douglas Campbell.
  • Operation would cure
  • Getting the courage
  • Affecting work
He said it would be done as day surgery under local anaesthetic. They would wrap a tourniquet around my arm and then make an incision in my wrist, which would relieve the nerve under pressure.
  • Surgery
  • Local anaesthetic
  • Incision in her wrist
I arrived at the hospital midmorning. Mr Campbell came along about 15 minutes before the operation and gave me an injection of local anaesthetic.
  • There is nothing about the diagnosis
  • Did she go direct to the hand surgeon?
  • How about ENMG or mediracing?
  • How about ultrasound?
I was very nervous walking to theatre, partly because I was among colleagues and partly because, as a nurse, you feel as if you're there under false pretences. At the back of my mind was the fear that they might find something else.
  • The patient is a nurse
  • Fear for finding something else
Mr Campbell provided a running commentary of what he was doing and it took no more than ten minutes. I left theatre with my arm bandaged and in a sling.
  • The operation took 10 minutes
The bandage was taken off a week after the operation and the stitches were removed four days later. The scar is so small, it's hardly visible. My sleep is back to normal - my only regret is not having the operation done sooner.
  • Bandage was taken off a week after the operation

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