Joe, I checked in hoping for better news.  I'm so sorry you are having so much discomfort, and wishing that the better news will be forthcoming soon!

11 hours of nepenthe last night!  Not continuous, but restful, much more so than the previous 3 nights.
 

At 10:59 AM, EST, or 1559 GMT, the Winter Solstice occurs.  I will NOT be at Stonehenge freezing my behinder off.  The blocks on my right hand are wearing away, slowly.  I have more feeling in the ring finger, but the little finger remains numb.  I have no more pain meds other than the over-the-counter stuff, and it's not helping where the pain is occurring, at the wrist. When they do the implants, they drill into both of the joint's bones, and hammer the implants in.  This requires clamping the arm to immobilize it, and the shock from the hammer travels down the bone to the point where the arm is clamped.  I finally took the chilled water circulator into the bedroom around 3:15 AM, and got about 3 hours of sleep. At times, the pain was on a scale of 0 - 10, up to a 9. Stitches come out tomorrow and maybe a little more swelling will go away.  I have a compression sleeve on the arm, which doesn't allow the fluid in my hand and finger to move down. I thought I had a compression glove, but can't find it.
Meanwhile, oldest cat is not eating the new food.  Called the doctor's office, they recommended to put some of the old food in front of her and see if she eats it.  Well, she did, so, it's just a matter of convincing her that the new food is even better.  It should be, it's over 3 times the cost of their old food, and that was $36 for 15 pounds.
 

once the incision heals, in a week or so, I can go back to the pool, use the spa, shower normally, but I'll be restricted to no more than 10 pounds lifting on that arm from now on.

Well, false alarm.  The therapist said she didn't think the stitches are ready to come out yet.  Very large pocket of fluid on the underside of the elbow, so she devised a pad that has irregular elevations to "massage" that area and also liberally taped up my arm and wrist with kinesio tape to help draw the fluid toward the lymph node.  She said ice is better than heat, in that heat could cause further inflammation. Besides, ice feels much better, numbs the pain, reduces the swelling, and doesn't have adverse side effects.