Update:
For the last couple of
months, I’ve had a lot pain in my wrists, numbness in my hands, and a loss of
strength in the hands. I had an EMG done
last month that indicated that I have carpal tunnel syndrome in both
wrists. My right side is much worse and
more painful.
I had my appointment
with the orthopedic surgeon today. After examination (with a number of
interesting test gadgets I’ve never seen before), he confirmed that I have
carpal tunnel syndrome. He also said I have cubital tunnel syndrome
(ulnar nerve running through the elbow) and a bit of diabetic neuropathy in the
hands as well. As is my habit medically, I just don't do anything simply.
Ha! Ha!
Today he injected
lidocaine and steroids into my carpal tunnel of my right hand. That
should give us an idea of how much relief I will gain from surgery.
Steroids take 3-4 days to kick in. Right now the lidocaine is
making everything feel better. Tomorrow, the doctor said my wrist would
probably hurt after the lidocaine wears off and before the steroid kicks in.
He did say that from
my exam he fully expects that I will end up having surgery, but sometimes the
steroid injections relieve the symptoms, so it is worth a try.
I have a follow-up
appointment with him on June 1st.
So besides wearing the
wrist splints to bed every night, I now also have to wear elbow pads that don't
allow me to fully bend my arms while I sleep. That should help relieve
some of the pressure on the ulnar nerve in the elbow. I've gotten used to
sleeping with the wrist braces; but now I'm adding the elbow pads. I
don't know how that will go. I ALWAYS sleep with my arms sort of bent and
tucked up near my head. That's not happening tonight with the elbow
pads...I suppose if I get tired enough I will sleep even if it isn't in my
normal "nighty night" position. Sigh! At least I don’t
have to wear all that during the daytime.
Photo: Both arms are
like that. What a hoot! I don’t know if I’ll be able to even get a drink in the
middle of the night without stripping everything off of one arm.
My doctor said that
when we do the surgery, he'll do both the wrist and the elbow at the same time.
Sounds like a two-for-one deal! But I suppose that they'll still
charge full price for both and I won't get a BOGO deal from billing.
On the positive note,
the doctor wants me to continue doing any activity I feel comfortable doing
during the day time, so I don’t have to give anything up right now.
I
do know that I would like the pain and numbness to go away. There are a number
of things that I cannot do right now that I’d really like to do. I guess that is just a part of life isn’t
it? You cannot always do everything that
you would like. Whether it is time,
money, health, work, family obligations, etc. sometimes we are just limited. That’s probably not a bad thing and it’s something
each of us must learn to deal with.
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