Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Tuesday update

I've promised to post updates here about this medical situation , so here goes.

My hand/wrist hurt lots yesterday starting late afternoon. Since it had been fairly numb 'til then, I surmised maybe this was A Good Thing [TM] – that this might mean the nerve was mending. So I went to bed expecting to awake this morning with significant improvement – but no. I woke to no real pain and no improvement. Maybe the radial nerve is like the groundhog: saw its shadow and went into retreat.

Incidentally, this has been odd: When I'm sick, I feel rotten. When I'm hurt/injured, I feel pain. But this is wholly different, and bizarre to me. This (please God) temporary "disability" significantly affects every waking moment and every activity. I'm constantly having to find work-arounds. [It took almost 10 minutes to open the cat food yesterday. The cats were not pleased!] But I don't hurt; in fact, I feel hunky-dory. Significant cognitive dissonance there.

Incidentally, this certainly has begun to open my eyes to some disability issues. What I've experienced here for a mere four days is – of course – nothing. But this tiny taste may be very important for me.

I promised a report after seeing my regular doctor today. So here it is, though I don't know much more than I did when I left the ER Saturday. She did some of the evaluative analysis like checking reflexes, strength, resistance movement, etc. She wants to give it another week before doing any kind of "advanced" testing. As she put it: if it's indeed palsy, it will be gone in a week. If it's some other neurological thing, it'll hang around for the test. But she said the EMG [which is the next logical test] is sufficiently uncomfortable that she'd like to avoid it until necessary.

There's one more thing I do now know: I've mentioned that – besides my right pretty much hanging useless at the end of my forearm – my left hand and leg also "felt funny/shaky/something." Her analysis confirmed that. Left hand doesn't move well when I try to lift it in a palm-down position. Likewise for my left foot. There's a measurable level of impairment.

I am not amused. But I do feel enveloped in prayers and affection. Thanks – great, many and true thanks – to all of you!

1 Comments:

Blogger Lisa Fox said...

Thx very much, Grace! Yes, I do know that. Grateful!!

9/27/2006 8:33 PM  

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