Hi everyone, first time poster but i have lurking on this site awhile and think it is truely amazing and reassuring to see so many getting together to help fellow sufferers.
Little bit about me and my situation... about a year ago I had what i thought was a not so bad fall where i landed on both my thumbs and jammed them. At the time the injury was shrugged off as a minor sprain and looking at it now, definitely went undertreated. I am a mechanic quickly went back to work after the fact. Long story short, I have now developed full blown post traumic arthritis in both thumb ip joints.. (yeah it happens that fast!) Needless to say it has gotten quite painful and debilitating to the point that I have not been able to continue working. I have been going through all the regular forms of conservative treatment with little or no improvement and doc has already mentioned the idea of fusion in the near future.
I am 30 years old and hopefully have many more working years ahead of me. I truely love my job and cant picture myself doing anything that doesnt involve working with my hands..
So I am just basically looking for any insight from anyone that has had this particular surgery done at a younger age or at any age for that matter that could answer some of my questions?
I do feel that I could still function even as mechanic with the inability to flex my thumb at the end as the last few months I was working I had them taped solidly in extension at work because of the pain and was still able to do most anything, but the whole situation raises many questions for me.
Sorry for the long post, but any help would be appreciated. Thanks