Thursday, April 06, 2006 |
Eric Gagné To Have Second Elbow Surgery; Ned Colletti Doesn't Feel So Well, Either
Related stories:
- Jon already has two posts up about it, including a link to his original 2005 story. Money quote: "Baseball people are dumb. I love 'em, but they're dumb. That's the naked truth."
- Steve Henson's Times story, which says Gagné will have his surgery Friday.
- The AP via ESPN has this particularly insulting-to-our-intelligence quote from Ned Colletti:
"We obviously had no idea this was going to occur," Colletti said. "Eric pitched 14 games last year. We're all smart enough to know you don't know what you're going to get when the guy comes back.
Of course not, which was why you gave up a pair of starters for a garbage-time pitcher like Lance Carter and an expendable closer in Danys Baez. Sheesh. - The inevitable BTF snarkfest. I would like to highlight this excerpt from the Chronicler:
The nerve being removed is his [ulnar] nerve.
This is disastrous.
You know when you hit your funny bone, and feel it all up your arm? That's your ulnar nerve.
The nerve runs all the way up your arm, and shoots off into several nerves in your hand, that control quite a few important functions.
I know this because I severed my ulnar nerve in an accident a few years ago. The surgeons were able to put it back together, but I still have several residual effects:
1. I cannot spread my index finer and middle finger to the width that I used to be able to, nor to the width I can on my other hand.
2. I have a significant amount of numbness in my pinky finger. It pretty much feels like I have a callous on that side of my hand. I very rarely use my pinky finger while typing at this point, as I just don't have any idea where it's going most of the time.
3. This is going to be hard to describe ... put the four fingers of your hand together, and tuck the thumb below your hand. There's a muscle there, that will kind of stick out, as the thumb is pressed against it. It's a convex curve.
Now, before I had my nerve put back together, and while the nerve regenerated (a process that took close to a year, probably), I did not have this muscle; the curve was concave. The muscle there is enervated by the ulnar nerve, and didn't grow back until the nerve had regenerated to that point.
I still have a pretty weak grip between the thumb and index finger.
4. The dexterity of my fingers is rather limited, though I am still very much functional as a human. But there are a few piano pieces I can no longer play, just because I can't get my fingers into the proper positions.
5. My forearm strength has decreased from where it was, though it's not like I was some super-athlete before.
Here's the thing: this is a good result, and it's a result to having the nerve repaired. They're just taking out Gagne's nerve. I really don't see how that can work out well for him, as so many hand functions depend on that nerve.
I'm not saying he can't pitch again, but I would suspect it will be extraordinarily difficult for him to come back.
I should clarify -- he might be able to pitch, literally. But gripping the ball is going to be very difficult, and his forearm strength will be sketchy.
In the week between my injury and the surgery, I struggled mightily to cut a sandwich with a knife.
: 4/07/2006 10:37:00 AMNewer› ‹Older
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