Monday 12 October 2009

hand problems

They say that it only takes 21 days to develop a habit.

I don't know what 'they' have to say about dropping a habit, especially the habit of regular blogging, you just find that life keeps getting in the way, you have nothing creative happening and you have nothing for the "show 'n tell" aspect of blogging.



One of the main reasons for the lack of creativity has been problems with my hands, both thumbs have been giving me increasing pain which I originally put down to some sort of RSI injury after a very intense crochet session at the end of last year.
I eased off, gave it rest, hot and cold treatments, various rubs and lotions.
I am having pain when I try to hold a pencil or a needle so anything requiring fine handwork has just been too hard.

Then we started helping daughter with some house renovations which involved lots of rubbing back woodwork and walls and painting, this seemed to freshen up the pain, I finally went to the doctor, had x rays done which shows I have degeneration and cysts in the base of both thumbs.

I was not happy with my doc who didn't even bother to look at the x rays and just said "oh that's part of the aging process" When I said "but it happened so quickly" the smart B... laughed and said "what?? 60 years??"

I asked if cortisone injections would help, non committal from him, but he did give me a referral, so now I have to decide for myself whether to go ahead and have the injections. I've also discovered via google that there are 'hand' doctors who specialise so I think I'll also pester doc for a referral to one of them.

Meantime, daughter (who was staying with us during the house renovations, with boxes and belongings ad infinitum in my living room) has bought the house and moved back and taken all her boxes with her....phew....
...and her house looks amazing... I never believed a brown wall would look so good

2 comments:

Christine said...

Glad to see you back Erica! That's typical of doctor's reactions I must say, I left my previous doctor because I had a painful neck and he said "Oh that's just arthritis, learn to live with it !" He didn't offer any advice or referrals, so I left him in a huff and never went back!! Still have the bad neck, but at least I now have some strategies to deal with it. My hands bother me too, so I try to rest them when they're really sore, apply cold at first then heat and Voltaren cream is a great help applied to certain parts. You need to keep using them though, even if slowly or you'll loose the mobility. Perhaps some physio as well? Good luck,
Hooroo, Christine.

Erica said...

thanks Christine, I'm determined to not give up on it

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