Hi Becca,

Don't take this the wrong way because none of us want you to have to through surgery but maybe this is some sort of blessing in disguise. I know you must be so frustrated, but CRPSbe made a good point with the injury making CRPS worse.

Heck you haven't been at this that long, maybe getting the original injury healed is going to be a game changer for you. That would be wonderful! What a relief in a way to know you've had a pain contributor all along. I am kind of a nut about follow up imaging for this very reason, but sadly it is sometimes difficult to get.

The article Bio sent looks great and I think between your Stanford team and your surgeon you'll be able to get what you need with anesthesia. Stanford came up with the pre-op neurontin recommendation so they are always looking at ways to decrease chronic pain development. There are all kinds of things they can use, even liposomal lidocaine solution which gets put in the surgical field and the little liposomes open over 3-4 days keeping things calm.

Vit C and Vit D have been shown in studies to help heal fractures sooner. So get those on board.

The one thing I would highly recommend is a conversation with your surgeon about the small cutaneous nerves that run through the skin. The larger of them often get cut during procedures and they really don't have to be. If your surgeon is careful, they can be identified and marked with blue so that they stay in his/her vision. These little nerves can handle some stretch and getting pushed out of the way but they cannot handle getting cut. When I watched videos of nerve repair surgery before my big procedure I saw the surgeon do this and she said it can make a big difference for the patient because they are less likely to form a scar neuroma.

Hang in there and try not to worry too much. Getting you healed is a good, good thing. Hmmm, lucky about that twist and fall after all I guess....