What you need to know
Buddy Valastro is coming off his final hand surgery after a 2020 injury.
In a video shared on his Instagram on Thursday, October 16, the 48-year-old chef revealed that he was preparing for final surgery after his right hand was impaled by a metal rod a few years ago while fixing a broken pin setter at his home bowling alley.
“Today is my last day of work before I undergo my fifth and final hand surgery,” the Cake Boss star told her followers.
“I’ve got a lot of strength back. I feel great. I can decorate, I can do everything,” Valastro continued, showing how his fingers now hang separately when he lifts them.
According to the TLC star, the tendon in his hand healed on the opposite side of the joint, causing his finger to tilt to the right.
“I look like[Spock]and I don’t want to be that way,” Valastro added, joking, “The only problem with the whole operation is that it’s hard to put the middle finger up. I’m out of luck on this side.”
In his caption, Valastro gave a “huge thank you” to the medical staff who “helped me finish strong.”
The next day, he shared an update after his surgery was completed, recording how he was already back to work in the kitchen.
The chef decorated a cake to celebrate his 24th wedding anniversary with wife Lisa Valastro and showed off his “freshly bandaged hands” while his daughter Sophia took pictures.
“I wanted my mom to know that I did something for her, even if I had hand surgery on my wedding anniversary,” he joked in the video.
“Thank you for all the kind messages and support you’ve sent me this week ❤️,” Valastro added in the caption. “Forgive me if I don’t reply, I only had one hand! I would like to thank Dr. Carlson and everyone at (Hospital for Special Surgery) again for taking such good care of me. Did the surgery slow me down?
After crushing his hand in a tragic accident at his home bowling alley, the TV star underwent five reconstructive surgeries on his hand, including one just a month before he began filming the third season of the Food Network competition series Buddy vs. Duff with Duff Goldman.
“I can’t even imagine how bad it was. I feel so lucky to be able to do what I can, especially being dominant. So knock on wood, I feel like we’re in a good place,” he said in a 2023 PEOPLE interview.
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“I really couldn’t do anything (before the surgery),” he said a year ago. “I couldn’t make a cake. I couldn’t really squeeze a bag. My fingers were so stiff I couldn’t even bend them.”
“This was one of those things that showed how important family is,” Valastro added. “We take for granted the little things, like when you open a door or do something with your hands. It makes you appreciate the little things so much.”
