In March of 2022, Tim Kaeter suffered a traumatic hand injury at work.
“I was checking on a machine that’s got a big auger in it and there was a piece of metal in there,” said Kaeter, a rough grinder by trade. “My fingers got caught on it and it pulled my hand in and it cut me all the way around. It cut all the tendons and nerves, and it cut an artery.”
The resulting surgery and treatment saved his right hand but left him with searing pain. The nerves and scar tissues balled up into two neuromas in his hand.
“If I had bumped either one of those, it would send lightning bolts through my hand and almost drop me to my knees there with so much pain,” Kaeter said.
Long road to relief
Kaeter sought treatment at a clinic near his home in Waite Park, Minnesota. That’s where he met James Drinane, D.O., who at the time was not working at Sanford Health.
Photo by Sanford Health
“He had multiple surgeries before he came to me,” Dr. Drinane said. “When he got to me it was well over a year since the accident, and then the workers’ compensation carrier denied my request for surgery.”
Kaeter fought the denial, and Dr. Drinane wrote a letter on his behalf, stating that he believed Kaeter would benefit from more surgery. Dr. Drinane also cited more current treatment recommendations that fell within his specialty. By the time it was approved, Dr. Drinane had moved to Fargo to work for Sanford Health. Kaeter was determined to have the procedure done by the doctor he trusted most, even if he was now about a two-and-a-half-hour drive away.
“Just being around him, it kinda lifts your spirits the way he talks about his passion for doing his job,” Kaeter said.
Painstaking work for less-painful recovery
The surgery itself was painstaking.
“If you imagine a coaxial cable, you can split it apart and have separate wires within the wire. That’s basically what I had to do,” Dr. Drinane said. “I had to separate out the bundles of the nerve using an operating microscope and then cable in. It’s a fairly extensive operation.”
For Kaeter, the relief was instantaneous.
“Just having these two neuromas gone has been such a game changer,” Kaeter said.
Those words are music to Dr. Drinane’s ears.
“It’s actually enjoyable to take care of patients with those problems because they may have been accused of malingering, or being pain medication-seeking, or told that it’s all in their head when there’s a very treatable problem that they have,” Dr. Drinane said. “Once you are able to address that, you can counsel the patient on what to expect, what the next steps are, and that can be very rewarding. I think he’s doing very well.”
Hand works better every day
Kaeter is still recovering the feeling in his hand. Dr. Drinane says that nerves regenerate about a millimeter per day, or approximately one inch per month. That means if all goes well, it should take around nine months for the feeling to come all the way back to Kaeter’s fingertips.
Photo courtesy of Tim Kaeter
“That’s the reason I became a hand surgeon was to help people get back something, to improve their quality of life, to restore function,” said Dr. Drinane. “I really enjoy doing those cases and doing those types of procedures because of patients like Tim.”
Dr. Drinane isn’t the only one who is happy about the procedure either.
“He really cleaned up a real bad spot,” Kaeter said. “The neuromas feel great. They’re no longer there. It’s much nicer to work without the pain.”
He even says his experience at Sanford made him rethink his future care.
“Talking to the staff up there, I mean it’s like I’m willing to make the drive up there for my yearly physical,” Kaeter said. “The staff around there, everyone I have dealt with has been just amazing.”
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Posted In Fargo, Orthopedics
