Category: My Life

My first day of physical therapy on my  hand went well. It was a bit painful then, and now several hours after, it hurts like heck, but I am determined to do the treatments and get better!

I have had to ask Hubby for help with thing like chopping onions, and he has been great! I guess I must make him something like a vegetable omelet.

I’ve gotten to the point where I can use the mouse with my left hand pretty well, but cooking, cleaning, and dressing are still tricky.

I have big news coming later in the week. I love surprises!

Today I start OT on my hand. I sure hope this works. I’m a little nervous because I think it may really hurt. Still, I know I must do it so I can get the use of my hand back.

I managed to change the sheets on the bed, do laundry and make dinner with one hand. I did have to get Hubby to slice the onions, but aside from that, I did it myself.

One thing that was tough today was turning the key in the car’s ignition. Also lifting the tea kettle in my left hand.

I do seem to be getting the mouse down in the left hand. It’s tricky, but it can be done.

We did not get any of the snow that fell on Wednesday. It stayed south of us. However we did get some strong wind. Forty miles an hour!

Well, here is the diagnosis. I have De Quervain’s tenosynovitis (dih-kwer-VAINS ten-oh-sine-oh-VIE-tis) it is a painful condition affecting the tendons on the thumb side of your wrist. If you have de Quervain’s tenosynovitis, it will probably hurt every time you turn your wrist, grasp anything or make a fist.

Although the exact cause of de Quervain’s tenosynovitis isn’t known, any activity that relies on repetitive hand or wrist movement — such as working in the garden, playing golf or racket sports or lifting your baby — can make it worse.

I also have In trigger finger, also known as stenosing tenosynovitis (stuh-NO-sing ten-o-sin-o-VIE-tis), one of your fingers or your thumb gets stuck in a bent position and then straightens with a snap — like a trigger being pulled and released. Often painful, trigger finger is caused by a narrowing of the sheath that surrounds the tendon in the affected finger. In my case all four fingers are affected.

So I am in a half hard and half soft cast. And of course while I am going through therapy, I cannot use my right hand, and yes, I am right handed!

So I am typing with one hand and not getting too far too fast. I start therapy on Thursday.

A few weeks back my hand, fingers and wrist started to bother me at night. I tried just immobilizing it, but gosh darn it, that did not work!

Luckily, I have a hand surgeon who did my carpal tunnel surgery a few years back, and I called her office. Today is finally the day I will see her and hopefully she can help me out.

The thumb, middle  finger, ring finger, and baby finger on my right hand are not only painful, but seem to get caught in the bent position.

I simply cannot imagine what it is. Dr. Google says it could be “Trigger Fingers”. We shall just have to wait and see what she says.

Sunday was a wonderful day. A new friend of mine, Diane, came by with my s=cousin, Janet, and we talked about Lyme Disease. Diane has it and she told me all she has learnt over the years. She had prepared a notebook for me, with all the information about Lyme Disease, treatments available, and doctors in the area that treat the disease.

I’ve been rather depressed about having been so sick for so long, but today I felt hope for the first time. Now I know treatment is still a a ways down the road, but I will be patient and eventually I will get the treatment I need.

Then in the late afternoon I hopped over to another friend’s home. She was having  a small gathering for a man who is running for Congress. I liked him very much, and with him good luck.

However, the best part of the evening was seeing friends from the town I live in. No one has really seen me since I had all the plastic surgery. Everyone was kind. They told me how well I’d healed.

It felt great to be out again.

Saturday was the first time I have been out and about since last August. Pretty much all Autumn and Winter I have not been able to do anything alone. Poor Hubby has driven me most places, except a few times I was feeling I could make a trek.

Today I literally did a big trip. I gassed up the station wagon, and picked up a few things at the Warehouse Club we belong to, I went to Walmart to get a few things, and then did a full grocery shopping at Market Basket in the crazy, madness of Saturday afternoon.

There were screaming babies, harried parents, the elderly in their electronic carts, and people restocking shelves as quickly as they are emptied.

About three o’clock I realized I had missed lunch and my blood sugar was low, so I grabbed a quick hamburger and diet root beer. That kept me going until dinner tonight.

Hubby worked really hard while I was gone. Our driveway was all snow and ice, and pretty bad. Hubby chopped up the ice, and pushed it all off the tarred driveway. It’s a tad tricky at the very top, but really, he did a great job on the 500 feet of our drive downhill to the house.

Arnie has been such a comfort to Jack. They pal around together, and Arnie is so loving. You know, Arnie wasn’t supposed to be ours. I had sold him to someone else and because of life changes, this person changed her mind. Well, after 12 weeks of Arnie being with us, we were sunk. Arnie was ours!

This morning at breakfast an economist was talking about buying meats, chicken, fish, etc. when they are on sale and freezing things. Today it was corned beef brisket. I had already gotten one for Monday, but since they are only $1.99 a pound I grabbed two more and tossed them in the freezer.

So the day is done, and I am really tired. I think I will go to bed and read and then go to sleep. Night everyone!

Those of you who have been with me for a while will recall that I do not have the Midas touch with thinks like, computers, coffee makers, watches, TV’s or printers. In fact my theory is, that I have some sort of electrical disturbance within me which causes things to just blow up, malfunction or quit.

Tonight Hubby was trying to print some documents and suddenly we noted that all the laptops on the network had their print drivers changed.So none of our computers were speaking to our old Hewlett Packard PS1000 printer.

After about a half an hour of trouble shooting I decided to remove the installed printers (there were like four PS1000 printers installed on each machine, so throwing caution to the wind, I did the remove and then a fresh install.

I then held my breath and printed a test page from each computer. One, two, three, and it printed off of one machine, and then the other.

Now this made me feel pretty good. However, both Hubby and I are operating on Windows XP, which of course will not be supported very soon. Call me disappointed! This Toshiba Laptop is the first laptop I have had that did not die on me.

I have had a rotten day. Well, actually not fully rotten, but since I had hoped to see Mandy and Savannah today and didn’t, well call me disappointed.

I haven’t been feeling well for a while. In fact it’s been a long while. I didn’t know why I was, but I just thought that I kept getting the flu. Over and over I was getting sick with severe flu-like symptoms and terrible high fevers (103.6). Most of all, joint arthralgias that have left me nearly unable to move.

I finally have reached the point where I knew if I was going to get better I needed to be assertive and fight for answers.

I’ve done research, read books and gone over my records with a fine tooth comb. Finally it all fell together and I realized what was wrong with me. I armed myself with pictures, records, and such and went in to see my regular doctor last week.

After going through everything, including a bulls-eye rash on my leg 2 years ago, my doctor and I are more than convinced that it is Lyme Disease. Since it was left untreated at the start it has become severe.

I have almost no immune system left, and I get sick almost as soon as I am off antibiotics. So when I heard that both Mandy and Savannah were ill, we postponed the visit.

Truthfully, today was a bad day health-wise. I ached and felt weak, had a fever and had to force myself to get things done.

So, Gentle Readers, I will be sent to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, for evaluations and treatment options.

I’ve been reluctant to write about this, but at this point, I needed to get it out. Perhaps so when I don’t write as I normally do, you will understand and forgive me. Writing Dackel Princess has been a true joy for me since I began in May of 2005. I fear it will be a long road to recovery, but I am willing to fight back.