My hand surgeon warned me that diabetics do not generally have good results with a cortisone shot for that condition (and I had experience with a shot for “trigger” thumb, too). He felt he had to try the least invasive step initially to try to clear the condition and I had an appoint for 2 weeks later to check results. The cortisone shot did not work; there was no difference in my condition in any amount of time within those two weeks. I did not have another injection.
The fact that the hand surgeon was right in his doubt the cortisone would be effective actually gave me more confidence in his judgment and experience. He was very aware of the vulnerability of diabetes to these types of hand malfunctions and that helped me believe in his assessment that surgery was the necessary treatment.
So I had surgery to correct the problem. I went home with my hand wrapped in considerable padding and protection but my fingers were left exposed to the first knuckle so I could tie my shoes and hook my bra. I live alone so being able to dress myself and get stuff done myself was imperative. I had very little post-op pain. Tylenol worked fine. There were no extremes to endure. I went back in 5 days and all the covering was removed and reduced to just a neat bandaid.
In a week more the stitches were removed and nothing covered the now-healing incision wound. Throughout the healing I had nearly no pain or worry and I was able to maintain my regular habits.
A physical therapist gave me a half hour immediately following the suture removal to teach me some routines to help me regain strength and function. He demonstrated the particular exercise and had my “good” (left) hand perform it easily and correctly. Then I tried it on the afflicted hand, which was not surprisingly lousy at some of it. I got trained on how much to do, how often, and advised of benchmarks to look for for progress.
Within 4 weeks of the surgery I was getting quite adept and the incision was healing nicely. Diabetes may thwart skin healing, so it took a while before it looked less noticeable. By practicing my PT exercises a few times a day, I had normal function, no pain, and visibly acceptable healing by 6 weeks.
I had had been advised to ser the surgeon if any concerns arose interfering with full hand function and there were none. I never returned to his office after the day the tiny few sutures were pulled and I got my PT instructions.
You are unlikely to have success with any cortisone shot if you have diabetes (I understand the disappointment) and I would not advise a second shot. Accept surgical repair with confidence and know you will gain back your hand with competence and convenience in a matter of a few weeks.
The only outside help I had was a kind neighbor who drove me to the surgical center at the crack of dawn for my procedure and waited to drive me home. After that, I drove myself to all follow up appointments.
Wishing you good luck and complete recovery. Don’t be scared.
Sorry if this was TMI. I thought a full picture of it would make it realistic and less worrisome.
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