I had bone on bone arthritis pain in my right thumb (I am right-handed). I did an injection, but no help. I had arthroplasty surgery.. tightrope procedure. No implant, the space where bone was removed is filled in with blood; fluids from area, and eventually scar tissue. I had the surgery 24 January 2020. I had about 3 weeks of physical therapy. I had a bout of diverticulitis and that knocked physical therapy out for me for two weeks. Then covid-19 hit my county (Dougherty) here in Georgia hard. Shelter in place except necessary outings.

I had talked with my NP at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville... about some esophagus issues I am having. She said I should not go out in public at all. I called to cancel my physical therapy appointments and the therapist asked if I would be interested in telehealth appointments. I said yes, and he said he would call me the next week to set it up. I did not hear back from him and no answer when I call.

I tried finding exercises beyond what I was doing in the physical therapy office... I have seasonal allergies going on and had asked the physical therapist if it got where they were too bad for me to come in what exercises I could do. Instead diverticulitis hit. He said to put small objects in silly putty or play dough and pick out. (I put assorted small buttons in it). I was already doing that in the office, but different putty with beads. He said I could do a few exercises with support (like pillow) of arm and wrist and do lifts with a soup can or pound weight. I had done that once in office. I have tried some things on my own like turning the door knob a few times. Sometimes I just open my hand as far as possible and close. I squeeze the play dough for a few minutes.. until my hand gets tired or uncomfortable. I squeeze the dough and pinch it and twist it.

Are there other exercises I can do to help my thumb to recover?

It seems like to covid-19 virus will be around for months to come. I don't think we have hit the height of it yet. Our county has had 60+ deaths and I think over a thousand positive cases.. and we are but about 4 weeks or so into this pandemic here. They are building a 24 patient critical care unit here. It is a temporary building. Our hospital is overloaded with patients that need ventilators.. this will provide 24 more (they only have twelve now). The National Guard and CDC are providing extra medical personnel. The even more rural counties around us are also using our hospital.. their cases and deaths are increasing too.

Scary times and trying to take care of myself.

ZeeGee

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