Aspiration
I had my hand specialist's appointment today, in which my ganglion cyst was aspirated. This basically means that the doctor takes a needle, sticks it through the top of my wrist into the cyst, and sucks out the liquid inside - a transparent jelly a bit like vaseline but thicker. He then pokes a few holes in the cyst in the hopes of preventing a rapid recurrence by letting the liquid leak out as it enters the cyst. It's an unpleasant procedure in the sense that it's never enjoyable to have someone pierce your skin with a needle and then poke around, especially without anaesthetic, but I'm greateful that the procedure can be carried out with minimal preparation, because I'd hate to have to find time to keep returning to the hospital, those places freak me out.
Apparently, cysts recur 50% of the time following aspiration. Either way, there's a big bandage around my right wrist despite there being no injury in order to apply pressure to what remains of the cyst, and the feeling of pressure inside my wrist has completely gone. The joint, muscles and tendons feel like they're not used to all the empty space vacated by the horrible thing, and there's a sort of anxious bruise-like soreness to the wrist, which I expect will fade pretty quickly. Since I row and I'm reheasing for a show in the next few days, I hope there are no complications!
Posted by nlvp at March 17, 2004 08:05 PM