| MandoMan |
05-07-2020 06:52 AM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Madelaine Amee
(Post 1760032)
I have been to two hand surgeons. One was Dr. Cynthia Harding, she is an exceptional hand surgeon but you are going to wait probably two months, maybe longer or an appointment.
The last time I had trigger finger it was in the middle joint of the middle finger on my right hand, and I also had the accompanying node in the palm of my hand which was extremely painful. So not only did I have the nauseating triggering from the finger, I also had extreme pain from the node. I called Dr. Harding and could not get an appointment for three months. Then I was recommended to an Indian Doctor who had just started practicing here in TV, his main office is in Lake Mary. I got an immediate appointment, I did not have to wait, he had an Xray machine in the room, took Xrays and explained in detail what the problem was and suggested a shot in the joint. I was dreading the shot because the last one I had was just awful, he did an excellent job and I hardly felt it. I did need to go back for another shot about a month later, but after that I did the hand exercises he recommended and have had no trouble since. He is Dr. Vikram P. Mehta M.D., FACS. Phone 407-3334548.
As I said above, his clinic is in Lake Mary, but he has a small office building off 441N just before you get to Rte 42. I highly recommend him.
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I’ve also had success using foreign doctors I’d never heard of, for various problems, such as an appendectomy.
I’d like to add one thing, however. When I was a late teenager, back in the early seventies, I worked as an Operating Room Technician (scrub nurse) at a big hospital in Denver, working the 3-11 shift while going to high school full-time as well. Most of the surgeries I scrubbed on were emergencies or surgeries that couldn’t be squeezed into the daytime schedule and needed to be done soon. A LOT of those surgeries were hand surgeries. Most were done by one or more of three board-certified hand surgeons. Some were done by general orthopedic surgeons. Occasionally a general surgeon tried one. The board-certified hand surgeons also spent quite a bit of time in the daytime correcting the mistakes of orthopedic surgeons. After watching all these doctors at work, I decided that if I ever needed serious hand surgery (apart from, say, a simple cut), I would insist on a board-certified hand surgeon. Hands are special and much more complicated than arms or legs. It’s wise to get a surgeon who has been fully trained in hands for several years and has done a difficult surgery a hundred times, rather than one who spent a nine week rotation in hand surgery during an orthopedic residency and does that surgery once a year.
Not only does the training matter, but of course some surgeons are simply much better with their tools and techniques than others. I worked with over a hundred surgeons, and definitely some were much better than others. Unfortunately, it’s hard to know which ones are best in the O.R. Unless you have a friend who works there who can say, “If I had your problem, I’d only go to this person,” it’s easier to learn a little about how long people waited in the waiting room, and when it comes to your hands, that’s not really what mattered. But again, I’m so glad your shot and physical therapy worked. |
