Category: Abducted by Aliens

Today my Mom is having Dr. Hand do the carpal tunnel surgery on her right hand, and I realized I haven’t posted an update about my hand in awhile. I’m breaking it down by surgery, because the results are definitely different.

– Carpal Tunnel Surgery: This has been *fabulous* so far. I highly recommend it if you have any carpal tunnel issues. Seriously, the recovery for this wasn’t bad, and now I have no numbness, tingling, pain – nothing. No more splint. I wonder why I waited so long to do this surgery, because it has brought me so much relief. I’m considering doing the left hand during the summer since it has mild to moderate carpal tunnel too.

– DeQuervain’s Syndrome Surgery – This one has not been as fabulous. Basically, they cut the area causing the pain for the tendons leading to the thumb, along the outside of the right wrist. From time to time, I feel like there is a “pulling” feeling of tightness over my wrist. It is getting better, but in hindsight I wish I had just done the carpal tunnel surgery first and then addressed this if it was still a problem afterwards. This part of the surgery was the reason for my giant club cast that I got to wear for two weeks, and it was a month after my surgery before I learned that while the initial recovery is 6 weeks (vs. 2 weeks for carpal tunnel), the full recovery time is 6 months. Ugh.

As for all the other medical issues, we still have no clue. No idea what causes the pain in my right side, which has been better for the past week, so we won’t talk about it and maybe it will stay away. The blood pressure battle is still a matter of finding the right combo of medicine, but at least I’m no longer taking ones that make me swell up like a sausage or give me hives. I’ve actually gone entire weeks lately without seeing any doctors!

I still think my Mom should get a discount on her hand surgery. First the doctor worked on my Dad’s shoulder, then my hand, and now hers – we should get a family rate!

If you ever have a 3-hour fasting glucose tolerance test and you feel all “woo woo” as you’re driving home because your blood sugar is crashing, do NOT be an idiot and run around the house doing other stuff for at least 30 minutes before you bother to eat. When you suddenly realize you’re on the verge of falling over, you will regret it.

Walk in the door. Put down your keys. Eat. Immediately. Protein would be a good choice.

My kitchen now looks like a war zone as I dug through the pantry and fridge pulling out anything that I thought might bring me back up. I knew there was some leftover, unopened Halloween candy in there somewhere. Thanks to a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup or two and a ham and turkey sandwich, I feel so much better now. Now I’m going to have a bowl of soup and all should be right again. I hope.

I still have the woo woo feeling though. Man, I hate that.

For what seemed like forever, I felt like a walking medical book. One issue after another, and several of them were were clueless about the cause. One by one, thanks to doctors that I’m very happy with, we have knocked them out. The hand is doing better, and I made it through my “Aran Sweater from the top-down” class with Beth Brown-Reinsel on Tuesday without a hitch. Yeah! (I did ice my thumb down that night, just to be safe.)

The one issue we haven’t resolved though is what was causing the ongoing pain on my right side, just below my ribs. We ruled out gallbladder issues in December, which was the initial suspect. So today was my EGD (Esophagogastroduodenoscopy) and my Colonoscopy. The prep for those two tests is just tons of fun, let me tell you. Whew! Yesterday was fabulous between the liquid diet and the test prep. Ugh. But it went well, and I now know that I have a hiatal hernia and diverticulosis.

It is nice to finally know something.

I was just thinking yesterday that I felt almost silly going in for this test – ever since my hand surgery, my abdominal pains have been better. Of course, as soon as you think something like that, it starts hurting again. So now we know. My follow-up appointment is at the end of the month, so I’ll know more then. For now, thanks to the side-effects of the anesthesia, I’m going to go and take a nap.

I have photos from the scope, so maybe I’ll scan them later and post them. Of course, I don’t know what anything is yet – but it is still amusing to see what the inside of the stomach looks like. Yum…