As the title would lead on I am getting ready to have wrist surgery and I did not realize the anxiety that would come with it. I am right handed and I'm having my right wrist worked on. I have a tear in the TFC and will be having a ligament transplant as best I can figure out. Dr Gibbs in Bryan is handling the procedure and I've heard good things about him.

I've got two weeks to figure out how I'm going eat, sleep, dress, shower, type, write etc for the 6 weeks I'll be in a cast and then the next three months after that where he has explicitly told me I can do Zero lifting with my right arm.

I am struggling with depression and anxiety right now like I never dreamed I would. I've been a worker my entire life. I started turning wrenches and screw drivers when I was about 6-7 years old. Yeah I have a degree from A&M and I own a marginally successful business and I know my true identity is in Christ but dang if I'm not worried I'll never be able to use my right hand for work again. I'm hoping someone on here has had a similar surgery and can talk some peace into me and if not talk some reality into me and I will start accepting that I need to transition into the boss role more and hands on less.

I guess the blessing in disguise is that it hurts enough daily that I actually sought help and that on its face it appears to be repairable before major arthritis kicks in which I have seen from friends and family is extremely painful.

Thanks for reading

Caleb

Not wrist but arm surgeries on both arms at different times. The last time was 6 months no lifting with my dominant right hand.

Get through the surgery. You'll be fine. You own your own company so you don't have to deal with the corporate HR BS, so you are good there. My advice - get you some old man slip on jeans. The biggest problem I had was buttoning my pants. If you get old man jeans, no one will really know. I had an old army ranger teach me to lace my boots one handed - so that was pretty easy. Eating was tough with my left hand.

You probably can still do just about everything you need to do, left handed. You'll be a ton slower, but it can be done. Also, I don't know the size of your company, but work on managing and growing your people while you are down. It will help you in the long run. Plus, taking it a little easy for 6 weeks will probably do you some good.

Curb your expectations on recovery. You will likely get back close to 100%. If you work out, continue to do so. Just do everythign 1 armed. It will curb the right arm's atrophy and will facilitate in the recovery, but always look at what you can do, not what you can't.

It is easy to say not to worry about surgery. I've had 1 knee and 3 arm surgeries. I will have to have more on my right arm. I keep putting it off because it is more of a pain in the mule than anything else. Not all that scary, just a paiin. I'd say it isnt a big deal, but anytime you go under the knife, it is a big deal.

One last tidit of advice - work on using your left hand. Practice writing, typing, eating, everything. You will be way ahead of the learning curve. My left hand is stupid so I had to send it to remedial training. Trust me, though, you don't want to figure out how to wipe your azz, eat, dress yourself when you have to. Learn now while you still have use of your other hand.

I'll reitterate again - concentrate on what you can do.

Make sure you get hooked up with a good occupational therapist. They are great at helping problem solve with methods to deal with the limitation.

I've had two prior wrist surgeries on my dominant hand- one to repair a distal radius fracture, and the other was to repair a torn tendon in my R thumb that snapped on the hardware from the previous surgery (which obviously was annoying as ****)

I echo what Hoosegow said- basically you need to simplify your activities of daily living. Make cooking and cleaning and dressing yourself easier. Learn to use your non-dominant hand- as Hoosegow said, it will put you miles ahead with your recovery without it being too onerous

And above all, early mobility is KEY.

Had wrist surgery, was the most painful experience I have ever had for the first 48 hours or so and I have had several other surgeries. Be prepared for that.

Make life easier, don't push it. When it comes time for therapy, take it seriously. Use food as medicine, use water as medicine. Stay away from alcohol and sugar and bread. Pray and go to church. Do not be afraid to find a therapist if you are still dealing with these feelings. Walk and stationary bike can help to move your body and your mind. Keep in mind what you consume can add to your stress and anxiety. Lastly, when healthier, take 5 sheets of newspaper every morning and crumple them in up with your injured hand while keeping your arm horizontal on the table to build up strength. Tiger Woods did this. It works.

In trying to find something positive, the forced usage of your non-dominant hand is supposed to correlate with more brain activity and possibly creativity.

Alzheimer's websites suggest the use of a non-dominant hand to increase brain fitness.

Good luck.

Had wrist surgery about 30 years ago. Don't remember the exact name of what was torn. Ligament on the pinky side in the area of that bump on your wrist. Dominant hand.

Been a long time. Remember it was pretty painful until they casted it. This was the surgery I learned not to get behind pain from. Had a cast halfway up my bicep for a month. They didn't want you to twist your forearm. That wasn't much fun. Then a forearm cast for another few weeks. Then a brace thing for a while. Remember always being surprised at how much it hurt when they took a cast off and it had to bear it's own weight.

Don't remember much about the therapy or recovery specifics. Think it was a good year until it was back to normal. Can say it worked and haven't had any issues with it. Shoulder surgery was much worse. Also always amazed at how well the human body adapts to things like this. I remember figuring out how to drive my standard car, sign checks left handed, etc.....Mine was before smartphones and keyboards being an integral parto f everyday life, Those will probably be a challenge for a while.

Good luck!!