Clumsy Thumbsy

Jeff was so excited to take his annual Super Bowl weekend trip with a great group of friends. They all flew to Colorado and stayed in his buddy's mountain cabin in Fraser (near Winter Park) for a weekend of snow skiing, guy time, and of course, football. The group is a mixture of Texans and Broncos fans, so at least some of them were excited to see the Broncos play in the big game.

Somebody rented a regular sized car for 5 grown adult men and they barely fit for the 2-hour car ride! (That's what happens when men are in charge, ha!)

Ski lift selfie - awesome!

A group shot before the big game.

The guys had a GREAT time on their trip! Jeff called me each night talking about awesome the skiing was and how much fun they were having as a group. One night, Jeff mentioned casually that he had fallen while skiing at the bottom of a slope. He said his thumb was hurting but he thought it was fine. Coincidentally, another buddy in his group also hurt his thumb which ended up turning all shades of black and blue by the end of the trip. Jeff felt lucky that his wasn't hurt as badly.

After returning home and getting back to his normal routine, Jeff and his buddy both were still struggling with their thumbs. Jeff's buddy ended up going to see a doctor, and he was diagnosed with what's called "Skier's Thumb." Yes, it's an actual condition! Anyway, that doctor told Jeff's friend to wear a special brace and he would be fine after a few weeks. After hearing that, Jeff assumed that he too had Skier's Thumb and so he got the special brace to wear as well.

A special brace for the self-diagnosed Skier's Thumb.

After a couple of weeks wearing the brace, Jeff's thumb was not improving at all. In fact, he had NO strength in it at all and couldn't do many of his normal activities. He finally made an appointment with a hand doctor to get it checked out. And that's when I realized how bad the injury must've been -- he would only visit a doctor if he was desperate!

Sure enough, Jeff's thumb ended up being a completely different issue than Skier's Thumb. He had actually torn the main ligament in his thumb, rendering the thumb unusable. In order to repair it, he would need surgery to take another ligament from his wrist and then rebuild the one he tore in his thumb. After surgery, he would need to retrain his thumb how to move with physical therapy and exercises. The doctor said it would take 5-6 months to fully recover.

Well, anyone who knows Jeff understands that this was a super bummer of a situation. He's not one to take something like surgery lightly. But his thumb was useless and he needed to get it fixed. So Jeff went for the surgery, giving me few details except where to drive him.

Before surgery. No, he's not happy I'm snapping a picture.

After they prepped him for surgery, I had a moment to speak with his surgeon. It was then that I learned that this was a much bigger deal than I had anticipated - over 2.5 hour surgery! And afterwards when I saw him in recovery, I couldn't believe the big cast on his arm. I was shaking my head at what little information I'd been given and how ill-prepared I felt. Men, ha!

After surgery, he was all smiles. HaHa!

It was a much bigger cast than we anticipated.

Jeff handled the surgery well, although the anesthesia really did a number on him this time and he was sick for two days. He was MISERABLE with the cast and couldn't wait to get it off so that he could have more mobility and begin the flexibility exercises to get his movement and strength back.

Before the stitches were removed.

The post-surgical splint. Much better!

Jeff knocked his physical therapy out of the park and was fully released by his doctor at his 2-month checkup. He's still working to gain strength back in his thumb, but he's almost 100% there, way ahead of schedule. Here's hoping Mr. Clumsy Thumbsy is more careful next time on the slopes! :-)