Before I decided to have LRTI surgery I had researched and interviewed two different ortho surgeons. Both explained the surgery to me but neither explained how long and difficult recovery would be. I have read all of the previous entries on this site and have a question that I have not seen addressed yet. Just a little background information here surgery was October 12, 2022. Three days after surgery original cast was so tight that it had cut off circulation to my hand and an ER visit later removed it and re-positioned it with less padding. On the fifth day post surgery I was taken out of the heavy cast and put into a spica splint which pressed directly over the sutures on the thumb and was quite painful. At three week mark the original splint was replaced by another one that was designed to be worn past the area of sutures to make it more bearable. The initial OT was pushing me to touch my pinky at the three week mark and put small pegs into a board which was impossible to achieve. After switching OT’s the new OT indicated I should not even be attempting PT until the six week and not at the aggressive level the first OT was doing. At six weeks I was moved to a shorter wrist splint which was somewhat better but the area of the hand was still very uncomfortable and especially painful after mid afternoon till bedtime with requiring 3 to 4 hours a day of icing and or heat. I was also doing PT exercises at home four times daily. 10 weeks post surgery the ortho looked at the hand and said my stitches which were supposed to be dissolvable were not dissolving and impeding healing and contributing to the pain. He started me on a dose pack of methyl prednisone and gabapentin. Currently at 79 days post surgery The gabapentin is starting to give me some pain relief. My questions are thus: has anyone else experienced a similar problem with sutures that did not heal as expected? Also, since the surgery my entire hand now gets extremely stiff and sore which was never the case prior to surgery. It’s almost as if the surgery stirred up arthritis in the remainder of the hand. My doctor now states it will be a one year recovery. I’m trying to remain hopeful but being in pain every day for three months really wears a person down.