My wrist operation went without a hitch. My forearm now has a splint and a casing with a thick bandage on, with four fingers sticking out. The recovery period is going to be three months, all told.
During the preparation for the surgery, the anesthesiologist explained to me that they were going to do a Bier’s block. ‘Nothing to do with beer— it’s named after a German doctor August Bier’, said he.
The Bier’s block involves the injection of a local anesthetic solution (such as lidocaine) into the arteries of an upper or lower extremity, from which the blood had been squeezed out, or drained by gravity. The careful application and use of two tourniquets isolate the bloodless and numbed arm or leg from the central circulation system.