Day -1

    No predniSONE this morning...life goes on and so does the pain!  Woke up just before 6:30am as the pain started rolling around my thumb. Tried to ignore it but finally gave up, got up and put on a pot of coffee.  Just holding the hot mug left so good! I took a single extra-strength Tylenol around 8am and was surprized because between it and the heating pad I was able to sleep in my chair...dose actually because I had to turn off the heat after 10-15 mins and wait until things cooled down before turning it back on.  Actually did that routine 2 or 3 times and pain faded...not entirely but enough where I just got up and refilled my coffee cup!   If the single tab works during the day I just take 2 at night...so I'll be getting more sleep than 'naps'!!

Last Day #8

   Today is the last day on predniSONE.  It doesn't feel like it has done much good, either.  My nurse said it was a 'very bad' drug and to stay away from it if I could. Since it doesn't seem to have helped me, I think I can do that.  I got email last evening from my 'attending' asking if I wanted to try an orthopedic referal.  Of course, I said yes and this morning I got an email from his nurse asking questions about 'the injury'.  Don't know how long it will take to get in to see an orthopedist but I'm willing to try.  That means, of course, cortosone shots but they've got to be better than living wirh this pain.  I have a PT evaluation at Valley Health on Tuesday.  I hope the orthoprdic referal is set up by then.  I think PT should be the "Last Resort".

   Today was the first time I drove  in 2 weeks as I took myself to the Health Center to have another INR done.  Thankfully I scored in range (3.0) but my arm and hand ached by the time I got back home.  I took 2 extra-strength Tylenol before Jeff took me to the library in Ilion (I was down to half a book...no way would that last the weekend!)  We stopped at Burger King on the way  and brought lunch home.

Day 7

   Another interesting day of arm pain.  With the rain we got this afternoon my wrist and hand really ached and Tylenol and Voltaren weren't doing much to control it so I just wrapped up in an afghan with the heating pad and tried not to move around too much. I heard from my 'attending' this afternoon.  He suggested seeing an orthopeditis and getting a shot...cortozone?  Hey---if it cuts the pain I'm for it! Probably will take a week or 10 days at least to get a referral and then who knows when I'd be seen.  Maybe he'd even have to order another course of predniSONE if it takes longer tnan that. Just have to wait and see,

  I did these 3  Christmas sweaters last year.  They have been selling 1 at a time with the SnoLady selling this past weekend. I'm glad they've  found homes and I'd like to do some more...before this season is over but it doesn't look like that will be possible.  I never thought I'd be so happy to be able to knit again.

Day 6

   This morning I woke a little before 6am with the usual terrific pain forming in the knuckles of the first 2 fingers of my left hand. (The Tylenol and Voltaren I used before going to bed had started to wear off by then.)  After several minutes the pain rolled down into my hand and  made my thumb curl up.  Then it rolled down into my wrist and went on it's way thru my forearm, elbow and up into my shoulder...where it turned around and rolled back to my knuckes.   A couple of repeats up and down and then it faded away and I was able to fall back to sleep for a little while.  I woke up about 9:15 and took my predniSONE dosage for today (2-10mg tabs) and had some Cherrios and a cup of coffee for breakfast.  I waited until almost 10am before taking the arthritis-strength Tylenol and the pain faded away to almost nothing.  I spent most of the morning in my chair with my library book...there was a nice breeze and lots of birds were singing.  My thumb kept curling up all morning so after I got dressed I rubbed in more Voltaren but it didn't help much (it doesn't always).  

   We went grocery shopping...and to the library again...this afternoon so by the time we got home my arm was really aching.  Vibrations from riding in the car and pushing a grocery cart around cause a lot of pain so when we got back home I rubbed in more Voltaren around my thumb and wrist, got comfortable in my chair by the open window and took a little nap.  I spent a quiet evening there after supper reading with the dogs stretched out on the bed!.  I just sent my 'attending' an email letting him know there hasn't beeen much improvement and since I have enough prediSONE for only 2 more days if he's going to order another course to do it now so there will be enough time to fill the Rx (my insurance prefers CVS in Little Falls) without me missing a day (per his instructions).

   Judy let me know today that I sold a couple of things over Induction Weekend.  My display must be so empty!  

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Day 5

  Day 5 with Tendonitis started like Days 1-4 with hard pain (when the Tylenol wore off) around 5:30am...today in my shoulder...and begans to roll up and down my arm into my wrist/thumb when I started to move around.  If I could settle into a position the pain faded...until I moved again.  Took the 2 predniSONE for today around 9:15am and will take the 8-hr Tylenol soon.  That helps me make it thru the day.  I don't plan on doing much more than sitting by the open window, reading my library books and taking it easy.  

   Yesterday was a bit too much!  I had an unscheduled INR done because Sharon, my nurse, thought with my history I'd probable have fallen out of range. (Besides starting the predniSONE, I ran out of 6mg tabs of Warfarin and had had trouble getting the Rx refilled.)  She was right!  I scored  4.5 which is 'critical'!  Got my dosage for the week adjusted and told to come back on Friday for another test.  Then I had an 1:30 appointment with an eye surgeon (in Herkimer) because my optical len implants have clouded over developing secondary cataracts.  That exam...with the eyedrops, etc...took almost 1 1/2 hr.  My arm ached from trying to hold it in place!  I hadn't taken any Tylenol yesterday before going out so when I got home around 3:30pm, I took the last extra-strength one in the bottle and got a nap with the dogs sleeping with me.  When I woke up around 7pm Jeff cooked supper (huge hamburgs with green beans...yum!) Mine was so big I shared with my 'nurses'!  I spent the rest of the evening reading and on my PC (typing 1-handed!) finally falling asleep around 2am.  (The arthritis strength tylenol might say '8 hr' but they don't start to work for a couple of hours after I take them.) I started out laying in bed, propped up on pillows but ended up in my wingback chair when I couldn't find a position my arm/hand liked. 

  I hope tonight is better...only 3 more dosages of predniSONE left and there hasn't been any real improvement yet.

And The Trip Goes On....

   Today is Day 4 on predinSone for the tendonitis in my left hand and arm.  (The actual diagnosis is left median nerve neuropathy with localized swelling of fingers of left hand and Tendonitis.) The pain has been reduced somewhat but still flares whenever I use my left arm or hand for much of anything like picking up a napkin or stirring my coffee!!  It still wakes me when I move my hand by flaring in my knuckles and rolling thru my thumb and wrist towards my elbow and shoulder, where it hesitates before rolling back down the arm to the base of the thumb. The pain starts to fade after a  couple of circuts but the circuits are repeated radonmly.  I'm finally getting some sleep because I got some arthritis-strength Tylenol which is great on pain.  Yesterday I took 2 around 10am (an hour after my daily prednoSONE) and the next thing I knew it was 2:30!  I kept dosing off the rest of the afternoon, too!  I took 2 extra-strength Tylenol when I went to bed at 10:30 and managed to sleep until 6am when the pain woke me up.  But there won't be any Tylenol for me today until sometime this afternoon...I have to have an INR done and I have an eye appointment. Four more days on predniSONE and then it will be decided if I need another course of it or if it has done it's thing...since there hasn't been much improvement....???

Nurses Aide Zoey & RN Fanny

   I think I'm going to need a shower with flea soap soon eventho I've been spraying the furniture since the girls both managed to take off their flea collars. I'm being watched over by my 2 dog guardians, RN Fanny and Nurses Aide Zoey, and they have been sharing 

NA Zoey and RN Fanny

my bed day and night since this latest medical incident started with tendenitis in my hand/arm.  Zoey still spends most of the night in Jeff's room but when he finally stretches out in bed she joins Fanny and me.  During the day they have control of the bed...eventho it is a queen there really isn't enough room for the 3 of us!  Zoey likes to curl up in the pillows and Fanny prefers to stretch out in front of the open windows.  During the day I like sitting in a wingback chair( at the foot of the bed in front of a window) so I can read or nap, talk on the phone or enjoy a cup of coffee or a glass of cold soda...much easier/neater to do sitting up than laying down! It's also easier to elivate, ice, use the electric pad and generally keep my arm/hand still sitting in a chair.  We share our lunch here, too.  Today it was a slice of beef balonga with a squirt of mustard rolled in a slice of cheddar and horseradish cheese.  One roll-up doesn't go far when it's shared 3 ways but luckily we got to the packages of cold cuts before Jeff so we each got a couople of bites!  Dessert was a couple of Old-fashion donut holes each. I haven't the faintwst idea what's for supper.  Last night I did frozen General Tso's chicken with fried rice in the micro... relatively easy to do 1-handed but Jeff didn't care for it and cooked something for himself.  It will be a real surprize tonight

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Here we Go Again

   I've had a lousy 2 weeks. While I was knitting (on 7/9) I got a really hard trigger cramp in the middle finger of my left hand.  It was so bad I had to stop knitting and soak my hand in hot water!  The next morning my hand still ached and the pain increaswd all weekend until finally on Monday I called Bassett and asked to be seen.  My 'regular attending' was away for the month so I agreed to be sceen by whoever was availabe and got an appointment for Tuesday afternoon.  That physcian decided I probably had carpal tunnel syndrom, gave me 2 wrist braces (eventho there was nothing wrong with my right wrist) and said she'd refer me to Cooperstown for an EMG and to be seen by a surgeon. On Thursday her nurse called me and said she finally had filled the referial and I could either be seen the next morning at 8am or 2 weeks later. We took the next day.

   Jeff woke up the next morning with low blood sugar and was in no condition to drive to Cooperstown so I drove while he ate a PBJ to try to raise his blood sugar.  By the time we got there he was a lot better but I wasn't.  For once we had our choice of parking spaces!!

  I've been operated on for CTS 3 times but never had an EMG before.  The physcian put a series of small needles in my left hand, wrist and arm and sent electric impulses thru them.  At first I barely felt the shocks, but as the test went on the lenght of the shocks increased (I was actually jumping off the table!) while  he plotted the strength of each impusle on a graph.  When it was over he said I had minor blockage and my pain was probably from tendon overuse.  He recommended I stopped knitting for a few days but continue to wear the wrist brace.  He also said any discomfort from the test would fade in a day or two.

   I didn't bother to put on the brace before leaving the room...I just wanted to get out!  All the way home I kept feeling the electrical umpulses shooting yp my arm!  By the time we were back home my arm really hurt and the pain didn't completely fade like predicted.  It would fade away and then come back strong as ever!  By Monday morning I couln't take it any longer and called Herkimer for another appointment.  And, wonders of wonders, my attending was scheduled to see patients today so I'm seeing him this afternoon. The base of my left thumb is swollen and my thumb and the 1st 2 fingers on my hand are tender.  I'm still having a moving pain that runs up my fingers/thumb to my elbow. I know that's a form of tendon sheaf pain, I'm just hoping somebody can do something for me.

    And then yesterday morning Jeff announced that the refrigerator was dead.   The freezer hasn't been working right for a couple of weeks but he felt it was because it was overstuffed. With the entire unit dead we had no choice but to go shopping...he has 3 different injectable insulants stored in it!  Our first stop on a short list was Robinson's in Mohawk.  My mom swore by them and bought many appliances there.  Well, we bought another one yesterday. Photo and details to follow but I've had enough one-hand typing for now.

7/22/2021/UPDATE:   

Our new refrigerator from Robinson Bros in Mohawk just fits!!  That corner of the kitchen hasn't been that clean in ages!!  And the inside of the unit shines!  We had to go shopping for food to put in it!!

The dogs were excited about how it
smelled on the outside, too!  It's going to take days to get the kitchen back in order.  I can't do a lot one-handed but I did scrub the counter and wall around the unit!  (I'll get to the stove when I have 2 hands again.)  Jeff says the inside will never be that clean again...if only I can keep his fishing bait out of it!