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!