Surgery and Quilts

My sister had surgery on her hand today. It was done at the Orthopaedic Surgical Center in Asheville, NC.



Isn't this a neat sign?









Can you see how the tree trunk on the left side of the sign has an image of a joint?

Did you notice it in the first picture?












Thankfully it went well. She is well plied with pain killers. So far she hasn't said anything really funny that I could blackmail her with later. Guess I should have insisted on general anesthesia (just kidding).



Dr. Bruce Minkin of Carolina Hand Surgery Associates was great. He took time to explain to us how he fixed her finger with a pin, drew on the pictures, personally went over her do/don't list. if you need a caring physician to deal with a hand injury in the Asheville, NC area please consider Dr. Minkin.










Here is a great picture of her finger with the pin complete. I hope this isn't too graphic. I'm a nurse so I find this fascinating. Dr. Minkin was able to straighten the bone. The pin stabilizes the fracture so the bone can fill in at the fracture site.


She has described how weird her arm/hand feels. She had a regional block so she got to be awake and involved in her surgery. Apparently the arm weighs quite a bit, we just don't realize it because we have all our muscles working together to make it all work together.

The quilt aspect of this post tonight is the theme her hand surgeon has going on in the office. They have quilts through out. I was very intrigued by the round one. The staff states it is about 20 years old. It is mounted on plywood. I did get to check quite a few up close. They were hand sewn and quilted. Sadly not one of them had a label to tell their story.