every surgeon has a trusty 'sidekick'. it could be a PA or NP but they always have one or the other who is who they rely on for the more minor stuff and who you sometimes see when you go for the appt follow uups or they are the ones who do call backs for the surgeon? this is the person you need to cotact at the surgeons office and let know about your ongoing symptoms. it does sound like you had alot more than just bursitis going on in there. the strange thing about your case is when i asked my ortho(and believe me i do have one of the very best) about any actual finger involvement due to the shoulder problems i had, he told me that more than likely it was my c spine problems that was causing it. it all kind of depends upon just what is actually wrong with your shoulder to begin with as to what will actually show up as symptoms. it just really does sound like you suffered some level of actual nerve compromise somewhere up there,either in your shoulder post op or during that surgery or like i mentioned that c spine area. i seriously doubt you suffered any real neck damage just from that scalene block they did,i had the same thing. i would think the ONLY real way that could happen would be if that anesthesiologist who did your scalene block somehow some way,actually hit your ulnar nerve during that block,which would be almost an impossability i would think anyways. one thing you can do here is simply do a bit of research on 'scalene nerve block" and see where they actually place it with regards to that neck/c spine area. all i can remeber is it went into the side. this would at least give you an idea of the area involved,you know what i mean?
your symptoms sound like the major part is actually affecting your ulnar nerve which would also be the c 8 nerve up in your c spine. i suffered ulnar damage from my spinal cord surgery and my last two(at first it was the same last three fingers but that middle finger came back in a couple weeks)fingers were numb and tingly for the first three years post op. but i also suffered damage to other nerves too,like the median and radial. this would affect the adductor and abductor muscles(fine motor muscles) in your hand/fingers too. i lost that as well,but only in my left hand(hence the great typing here?).
honestly,getting an MRI done on that shoulder again and also including the c spine area i really do think would be your best bet at finding the true source of your problem/area where the nerve is being affected? i know you do not have ins,but really,something just is not right up there from what you described that just NEEDS to be found out. you have direct nerve compromise somewhere from that c spine thru the shouder area given what symptoms you are now displaying. the surgeon who did that surgery really needs to recheck his work he did on you. since you started feeling this post op,he does owe you some help here and possibly he could do that MRI as part of a follow up so you may not have to pay the whole thing ,or some other way you could work it out? it just needs to be found out. you should have regained ROMS in that shoulder post op too if you did follow your post op PT to the letter. something is not right up there if you did do everything you were told to do and you ended up this way,you know what i mean?
the one thing i found with this particular surgery,anything in that shoulder? is the post op excercises and then the hands on PT part of rehab is very very crucial in regaining any ROM again. not like other surgeries i have had where little or no real PT was needed, this one in that shoulder is just very much needed. that shoulder joint is just one of the most moveable in many directions we actually have,so any surgery done on it is just that crucial to fully regain anything back in it. i completely tore that very top tendon nd partially tore the one under it and oh boy was it ever painful. i have had to have six surgeries and one on my spinal cord and the dissipation of that scalene block with the rotator post op was absolute hell for me. it IS one of the most painful surgeries one can have,so i would imagine yours was pretty awful too.
one way or another,you just really do need to find out what is going onup there with that shoulder and any possible c spine involvement too. this surgeon could have(it all depends upon how close he came to certain nerves during surgery)hit that ulnar somehow during your surgery and it would not have shown right away or maybe it did,i am not too certain just what symptoms were there post op for you? but you DO need to see that ortho again for a follow up appt to find out what was done inthere and hopefully he can better define the problem for you. if this was not there pre op,he needs to check it out since he could have caused it during surgery. you just don;t really know ya know? i really do feel for you here with this. i know what its like to suffer post op with really crappy pain and losses after a surgery. you just need to find where that nerve is being compromised at. even obtaining whats called an EMG would help in better finding where its at and i would seriously doubt that it would cost as much as an MRI. this would help to actually narrow down the area with testing up that arm to the c spine area for you. just one other type of test for your symptoms that may show something for you. i do wish you lots of luck with this. please keep me posted. FB
