I continue to have bad doctors...
Well, I went to the doctor about my wrist/hand yesterday. I made the appointment in April. Back in April, I only had pain in my right wrist. Now, having been trying not to use my right hand for more than a month because I have no idea what's wrong with it, I've developed a problem in my left hand.
So, my appointment time was 4:00. The nurse called me back at 4:55 and my doctor came in at 5:10.
He took a look and a feel. Sounds like there's a very real possibility I have carpal tunnel in my left hand. Sounds like I do not at all have carpal tunnel in my right. Possibilities for my right wrist: Broken bone that wasn't treated and healed wrong, severe tendinitis that will require physical therapy, bursitis, or some kind of arthritis.
I'm betting there's virtually no chance that I wont need physical therapy, given that it's really most likely bursitis or tendinitis (or some other kind of repetitive motion injury) that has not gotten better with rest and anti-inflammatory drugs. I guess there's the small chance it was a poorly healed break, in which case they'll want to break my wrist and re-set it... and I guess there's the chance it's arthritis - my uncle got it young (he's had it for years and he's 32 right now). But... if it's arthritis, then I've had arthritis for about a year and I would have thought I would be having the pain other joints by now.
A small bump has appeared on the joint of my middle finger closest to my palm. It hurts when anything presses on it... Probably unrelated.
Anyway, so I got x-rays taken of my right wrist and fingers and then I'm getting the EMG (a test for carpal tunnel) on both arms on my birthday. Yay. Apparently it takes a week before the test results are given to the doctor, but I still don't get to see him again until the 30th. The fucking 30th.
So, basically, I waited a month and a half to go to the doctor where I sat in the waiting room for an hour after my appointment time just to be told that I need a test, that he can't do anything for me and I need to come back in another month. Which means I'm kinda screwed because my painkillers are not doing enough for the pain and I have four costumes to make. Andrew is being very helpful with them, but he needs to do the dishes, make food, and generally take care of the house while I'm like this. I help, but he has to do the majority of it. It feels really unfair to him and I hate making him do most of the costumes too.
I also hate that I can't do whatever I want. I want to play video games. I want to be able to type this much without a lot of pain. I want to cut and pin my costume myself. I want to keep the house looking nice. It's just impossible and I wont even know when or how to get better for another month. I'm going crazy. I've been having a really hard time handling everything for the past month, I can't imagine another month of this, especially when there's so much to do. I think it would be a lot easier if I at least actually knew what the problem was. Then I would know /something/ and I would feel like progress has been made.
It's testing my patience which is effecting all aspects of my life. I think I need to cancel my D&D game, actually. I can't handle 7 players right now. I mean, normally, no problem. With all this stress... It's just too much. I don't have the mental fortitude to handle it right now. I should probably think about that another day or two before I call everyone to tell them it's off... but I've been thinking about it for a day or two already and I'm pretty sure it's the route I'm going to have to take. Maybe I can run a small game with three or four players that's mostly roleplaying and little dice rolling because handling books also hurts my wrist.
Okay, it's like... screaming at me now. I've been trying to ignore it and just let myself do what I want to do for one but I really can't keep it up at this point.
Ugh.
So, my appointment time was 4:00. The nurse called me back at 4:55 and my doctor came in at 5:10.
He took a look and a feel. Sounds like there's a very real possibility I have carpal tunnel in my left hand. Sounds like I do not at all have carpal tunnel in my right. Possibilities for my right wrist: Broken bone that wasn't treated and healed wrong, severe tendinitis that will require physical therapy, bursitis, or some kind of arthritis.
I'm betting there's virtually no chance that I wont need physical therapy, given that it's really most likely bursitis or tendinitis (or some other kind of repetitive motion injury) that has not gotten better with rest and anti-inflammatory drugs. I guess there's the small chance it was a poorly healed break, in which case they'll want to break my wrist and re-set it... and I guess there's the chance it's arthritis - my uncle got it young (he's had it for years and he's 32 right now). But... if it's arthritis, then I've had arthritis for about a year and I would have thought I would be having the pain other joints by now.
A small bump has appeared on the joint of my middle finger closest to my palm. It hurts when anything presses on it... Probably unrelated.
Anyway, so I got x-rays taken of my right wrist and fingers and then I'm getting the EMG (a test for carpal tunnel) on both arms on my birthday. Yay. Apparently it takes a week before the test results are given to the doctor, but I still don't get to see him again until the 30th. The fucking 30th.
So, basically, I waited a month and a half to go to the doctor where I sat in the waiting room for an hour after my appointment time just to be told that I need a test, that he can't do anything for me and I need to come back in another month. Which means I'm kinda screwed because my painkillers are not doing enough for the pain and I have four costumes to make. Andrew is being very helpful with them, but he needs to do the dishes, make food, and generally take care of the house while I'm like this. I help, but he has to do the majority of it. It feels really unfair to him and I hate making him do most of the costumes too.
I also hate that I can't do whatever I want. I want to play video games. I want to be able to type this much without a lot of pain. I want to cut and pin my costume myself. I want to keep the house looking nice. It's just impossible and I wont even know when or how to get better for another month. I'm going crazy. I've been having a really hard time handling everything for the past month, I can't imagine another month of this, especially when there's so much to do. I think it would be a lot easier if I at least actually knew what the problem was. Then I would know /something/ and I would feel like progress has been made.
It's testing my patience which is effecting all aspects of my life. I think I need to cancel my D&D game, actually. I can't handle 7 players right now. I mean, normally, no problem. With all this stress... It's just too much. I don't have the mental fortitude to handle it right now. I should probably think about that another day or two before I call everyone to tell them it's off... but I've been thinking about it for a day or two already and I'm pretty sure it's the route I'm going to have to take. Maybe I can run a small game with three or four players that's mostly roleplaying and little dice rolling because handling books also hurts my wrist.
Okay, it's like... screaming at me now. I've been trying to ignore it and just let myself do what I want to do for one but I really can't keep it up at this point.
Ugh.