My father 81 needs wrist surgery for a bad fracture and I am worried

@HammyHamster So glad all has gone well for your Dad. His experience was much the same as mine! And he has the bonus of the incentive of wanting to get back to driving again!!
Best wishes to him. I hope he gets a lot of support from his physio and occupational therapy groups once he graduates to them. We had lots of fun working and laughing together to get back to normal, and providing support for each other during times when the going seemed really tough

@Quizzer Yes my father had a nerve block in the arm. The surgery took slightly over an hour to do.

@Dowsabella Yes my father joked that he will be setting all the alarms off if he walked through security checks. :D

@Sarahleigh I am so sorry to hear about your mum. I am pleased she has had her operation and all went well. I hope your Mum makes a speedy recovery.

Again thank you all for your support and replies.

Update: Pleased to say that my father had his surgery and it was a distal radius wrist orif and had a plate and pins inserted. All went well, and he found it an interesting experience. First 24 - 48 hours he had some pain but nothing that pain medication could sort out and manage. So now I have a bionic dad with bits of expensive titanium in his wrist. He seems to be in ok spirits but is getting frustrated and wants to get back doing things himself and getting back to being independent. Has an appointment in 11 days time at fracture clinic for a checkup and removal of bandages and stitched also an appointment with an OT for the start of physio on his wrist. Like I said he is wanting to get back to driving and being independent, but he will not be driving until he has got good movement and grip.

Again thanks for your support and replies it is very much appreciated. I will try and keep you all updated as this post may help others in the future.

HammyHamster

Sorry to hear about your Father. I do hope the surgery will go well.

Speaking as someone who fractured their left wrist about 7 months ago. Please think about how your father will cope when he gets home

My fracture was relatively simple after slipping off a bus. Small break on the left distal radial bone.

My arm was in a cast for 5 weeks and was very stiff and painful when the cast was taken off. Movement was really restricted.

Apparently, being in a cast immobilises lots of healthy nerves, muscles, tendons etc which need to be woken up again with physio. Even after the bone has knitted together!

I do regular physio prescribed exercises every day and see an NHS physio ever 4 to 6 weeks.

However, although l am slowly getting the movement back l still have a fair way to go.

Best Wishes for quick recovery.

They are rushing to surgery after 9 days? My DGS has been told up to 6 weeks and he is 13 with good strong bones and a love of milk and cheese (calcium to mend bones).

They may be suggesting pins now because of a long waiting list. I would want to wait a bit if it was me, simply because I have had 2 falls (nothing broken except teeth), but it took me a few months to heal properly and get over the shock.

He may well not have a general anesthetic anyway, but his age is no barrier to surgery as long as you can get him out of the germ- ridden hospital the same day.

Can I emphasise the importance of your father doing all the exercises the physiotherapists give him.

I had an uncle, aged about 80 and quite fit but afflicted with deep depression. He dislocated his shoulder. He was given exercises to do to get his arm back in order but because of his depression, did not do them, saying there was no point he was crippled for life and he was! He ended up with an almost useless arm, without strength, and with limited movement.

My 90 year old friend had both her knee and hip done under local ( not at the sane time I will add) she was so funny she said the surgeon told her she had been chatting away to them snd she remembers saying ‘ they re doing an awful lot of work on this building I can hear the builders banging away’ little realise it was her own bones being sawed and hammered that she could hear, we had a good laugh afterwards.

I had a complex op on my wrist done under local (nerve block) anaesthetic. Less risky.

If your father doesn't have surgery what is his likelihood of being able to use his wrist/arm how he would want to. Loads of people in 80s have surgery and recover well. He feels he is fit so surely his prognosis is good.

One of my line dance buddies aged 82 broke her wrist badly last year, she slipped over when out hiking with friends and had to have her wrist pinned. In the past she has had many health problems but like your father she is very active and viewed being unable to drive for a few weeks more of an inconvenience than anything else. After surgery she was soon back to her many activities going out daily with the help of lifts from friends until she was able to drive again.

I had my wrist pinned a few years back. Admittedly, I wasn't 80, but I have other underlying health conditions. I requested the surgery to be done under a local (block) anaesthetic, something which my surgeon couldn't quite understand, and had to return to the hospital two days later for the proceedure. They kept me in overnight because my arm was totally numb and I couldn't feel where it was or what it was doing, but other than that it was totally successful. Physio started within a couple of weeks, and about 2 months later I was back practicing the (classical) guitar - in a very limited way, admittedly, to start off with - but I had no retriction caused by the surgery. I was told I could drive as soon as I felt I could handle the car in an emergency!! As long as he religiously does the exercises, he should be beck driving fairly soon!!
Just a word of warning: if he has to go through a security check, just let them know he has metal in his arm!!

If your father does not have the operation, he will probably never be able to use that wrist and hand properly again, so please try not to worry,

If your father is worried, he is entitled to ask for another surgeon's opinion, before consenting to, or declining the operation.

My aunt was 90 when she fell and broke her hip. She had THR with no complications and lived another eight healthy years. Try not to worry.

Yesterday, my mother (aged 84 and with dementia) broke her right hip and was operated on today. Luckily all has gone well - it was worrying last night when the hosp said they would not be resuscitating her if her heart failed at the beginning or after the op. Living about 250 miles away I was unable to a last minute visit.

My Dad was 81yo when he broke his wrist. He went to A&E but overheard the doctor say: he’s an old fella, just patch him up. Dad intervened and told the doctor he was still driving his car; living independently (Mum had died 7yrs earlier) and still enjoying a round of golf and that his quality of life was very important to him.
The doctor apologised and his wrist was properly treated.
He made a full recovery

Best option. I had 2 TKR in my late 70s, he will be fine.

Hope it goes well Hammyhamster.

I think the good old nhs decode what the best outcome for the patient will be and treat accordingly- the risks of gen anaesthetic will be advised…wishing him a speedy recovery and getting back to independence.

PS Just saw your last post. My friend was also on blood thinners. That meant that that they had blood on standby, just in case. It wasn't needed and she was told that pinning a bone isn't very invasive, but obviously it's best they know.
Good luck to both of you.

My friend broke her wrist when she was 96! She had it pinned and it healed quite well. She had some very slight restriction in flexibility, but nothing which affected her day to day activities. She lived to 101 - fit and reasonably healthy and mobile till the last couple of months!

Hello.

Again thank you all for your replies and reassurance it is appreciated.

@KarthikYogaraj I live at home with my elderly parents and I have been helping my father with things he cannot do like cut up his food into bite size pieces etc. You made a good point about falls. I will ask my father to look into that on his follow-up appointment. Thank you. Yes my father want to get back driving because it is costing a fortune in taxis. He knows he cannot drive until he has got good grip so it will be at least 6–8 weeks depending on how his surgery goes.

My father was called this morning to attend the Stafford Hospital hand clinic for his surgery. To say I am worried is an understatement. I hope all will go well because he is on blood thinners (clopidogrel) he did tell the nurse who phoned, and she had a word with the surgeon who is doing the surgery, and she phoned back and said it would be ok to do the surgery today. So that is where we are at the moment. I will keep you all updated on how things go.

Again, thank you.
HammyHamster

KarthikYogaraj

Surgery on an older wrist that isn't uniting on its own is pretty routine and the pins usually settle it. The bit you can actually get ahead of is the fortnight he'll be one-handed in the cast, because that's where an independent person gets frustrated. A few cheap one-handed aids make a big difference, a kettle tipper, jar openers, elastic laces, and your local British Red Cross often loans equipment short-term for exactly this kind of recovery.

The other thing I'd chase, given he came off a chair, is a falls-prevention referral through the GP or the fracture clinic, as a fall causing a fracture is the trigger for that and it's easy to let it slide while everyone focuses on the wrist. On driving, the cast rules that out, but most get back to it once they've regained grip. Is he managing okay one-handed at home for now?

Good practical advice. I'm sure all will go well.

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