Hi, thank-you all so much for your well wishing and sharing your experiences! I had a total wrist @arthrodesis. The initial three weeks were much more painful than expected. Kind of a total nightmare.

Week 4 I am using the hand again and encouraged to stretch and strengthen. All signs point to a very positive outcome but I was definitely questioning my decision for a while.

With the hip I had a very good outcome. 15 years on can run, dance etc after awful damage - like the femur was literally fused with my pelvis when I was waiting for the insurance to come through. It was cross polyethelene on titanium- and I got pretty much all the mobility back.

Every one is different in their preferences - I have tended to go with the more radical-but-sturdy-and-proven surgical options. Would prefer one big surgery every 25 years then to go under the knife every five years. But it depends what what is feasible with home life - different for everyone I guess.

Anyhow just thought I'd write back to say it's working out, share my own outcome and thanks again for your empathy in my time of need.

Wrist and Ankle microsurgeries are very involved and I know of a few , who never fully recovered ! God bless