Dislocated wrist, fusion surgery

[Fastlane917]

Please bear with me here, it's not the shortest post.So you can answer me properly, I feel you need to know a bit of the background.

I've had congestive heart failure over tha last 5 years, but tests in the last year are really positive about my condition being pretty much resolved and good heart function returned. Last fall/winter I fell and hurt my hands. THEN, about 6 weeks ago I fell again, landing on my right (dominant) hand. Since that time, when I use hand tools or any other "guy hobby" tools, even opening a jar of pickles, results in modest to MAJOR pain, with noticeable swelling. At times, the pain is shooting from my wrist to my middle and ring finger or up my arm to my elbow, but IT HURTS BIG TIME. Tears at times.....totally unacceptable circumstances. I can tolerate a good amount of pain here folks.

I thought I'd just sprained my wrist and kept going, just at a lighter pace. Can't hold the cordless drill, skil saw, trouble with ratchet or screwdriver, and now a larger size soda bottle or oversizerd fountain drink is a struggle. Turns out, after visiting a chiropracter and visiting my Orthopaedic Doc, I've torn ligaments and have a dislocated wrist. Saw the first surgeon and he suggested a scafoid carpectomy, removing three bones in the wrist or another procedure that I can't recall, but involved inserting pins. He wasn't very positive about the pins route and was leaning toward suggeesting the carpectomy. I can't see that's a good option since those bones keep the hand/wrist spaced out and everything moves around after surgery. Arthritis is a big complication and paid doesn't go away if you're really active. My chiropracter says there'll still be pain afterward. SO, I see a surgeon that his step-daughter went to and he said that carpectomy would be his suggestion, OR a wrist fusion. He made time for ALL my questions. The fusion puts the wrist in a fixed position, but allows me the stronger grip afterward, whereas the carpectomy causes lost hand strength. After a grip/pinch test, my injured hand is about 30% of my left's performance, and then there's the pain factor.

Anyone else been through a wrist fusion and can tell me what you experienced??? Good and bad points please. I want to be as fully informed as possible on this step.

With having home improvement and mechanical tinkering as a hobby the second surgeon said the fusion would be a better option. The first didn't even go into that part of my life and I wasn't really impressed with his "stockyard" approach to get me in and out so he could see his next income source. My opinion there, I know they're busy, but WHOSE PAYING HERE??? It's just that neither step can be reversed late, and leaving things as-is doesn't help since the pain drops me to the floor sometimes.

I TRULY appreciate any information, and somehow hope a qualified Doctor can reply. Just need reassurance I'm taking the right steps and doing it fully informed.