Another update: My course of Augmentin ended yesterday. I had a follow-up appointment today for the recheck and suture removal.
The distal half of the incision has fully closed, but the proximal end has not. The outer skin layers still have some gapping. Two of the four sutures came out, but the other two are still in. I'll have another visit in one week. There is still a bit of redness and a small but noticeable amount of edema yet.
Still no loading of the hand yet, and I am to stop even working on ROM, to ensure the incision closes up. (I had already backed way off on that, actually.) They have zero concern with my getting the ROM back in time, it's just not time yet. We don't want to reinfect, so getting the incision to close is the primary immediate goal. Typing is okay, but they want me to avoid even closing the fist. I think it may behoove me to start wearing the brace from the OT around the house during the day, and not just while sleeping.
They have no concerns at this point about doing lifts that do not load the hand. Leg machines are fine. Upper body machines where the arm and not the hand is the point of contact are fine. The PA who was the main contact today (thought in consultation with the surgeon) was mainly concerned with wound care and cleanliness, so we discussed how to take care of that. Interestingly, one of her big concerns was that I not seal in sweat or other moisture, and thereby cause maceration. (I learned a new context for that term today!)
The overall four weeks' no loading guideline from the head surgeon puts me at no press/bench/deadlift for sure until 21 Feb 2023 at least. I brought up that there's a local gym doing a push/pull meet on 01 Apr 2023 that I had been planning to enter. They don't have a concern about that timeline in principle, though we did discuss that I'm not looking at time to train up fully for it. I did ask specifically if there was a concern with the stress itself if I were looking at, say, 90% of my PRs at the event, and there was no concern on their part. Entries must be postmarked by 18 Mar 2023, so I have time to think and to see how things go.
Our family has a YMCA membership yet, so I scoped out all three in the area today for machines. I have available to me various combinations of: hack squat/hip sled leg presses, a couple other kinds of leg press/squat machine, the ubiquitous hip ad/abductor machine, leg extension and seated leg curl, seated calf press, and an adjustable pec deck/rear delt machine that might adjust enough to work without hands. I think I can also manage using the arm cuffs for hanging knee raises on a machine to get something functionally akin to the Nautilus pullover. I know it'll be a lot of bro-style fooling around, but I want to do something. I'm also considering some careful unilateral dumbbell work, like clean and press.
To steal and expand on another man's apophthegm...I find I am not mentally and emotionally normal in the absence of hard physical effort, either. Prior to learning about proper strength training about six and a half years ago, I had an extended period of being fat, weak, and broken. I refuse to go back to that. But that's a story for another time...