Thumbs up!

It’s been one week since I went back to the doctor about my wrist /thumb problem.

He took one x-ray, saw something weird, and then took two more x-rays. And, I failed the Finkelstein test. Apparently my scaphoid is about twice the length of a normal one. Since I have no recollection of any trauma that might have caused it to heal abnormally, the doctor said he would classify it as a congenital deformity. That oversized scaphoid is most likely thrusting my other wrist bones into abnormal positions, which might be why my left pisiform visibly protrudes significantly more than my right one. And all of that may or may not be contributing to my DeQuervain’s disease, which is where the pain is coming from and the main reason I haven’t been able to use my thumb like I should.

Allrightythen. Are you impressed with my medical terminology?

I got my medical degree online. Thank you very much.

Anyway, at least I know what my problem is now.

The treatment? Well, the nice doctor prescribed a Cortisone shot. In my wrist.

The last time I got an injection to aid in the mobility of a small body part, that body part overreacted big time. Granted, it wasn’t Cortisone last time and I was trying to get something to stop moving so much instead of trying to make it easier to move. Still, I was a little leery.

I was, however, tired of dealing with a bum thumb, so I opted for the shot.

I’m not usually too much of a pain wimp, but OUCH, that thing hurt. He put some kind of analgesic on my wrist first, so the initial stick wasn’t bad. It’s all that moving around the doctor did with the needle once he got it in there that made me moan. Afterwards, I asked Scott, who had been sitting out in the waiting room, if he heard me scream.

As I started out saying, it’s been a week since then. Yes, I do believe that the injection helped. There is less pain and swelling and more mobility. How about that?! I do have a bruise on my wrist that looks a little bit like I have been abusing myself, but it is already in the fading phase.

It really was only just a few seconds of pain from a needle, and it’s made a world of difference for the better.

Sometimes it takes that, you know. Pain and suffering. To get to the other side where things are better.

My friend Ginger put it in perspective for me yesterday. She looked at my bruised wrist and winced at the thought of a needle in it. Then she commented about how much more it must have hurt to have a stake driven through your wrist and pinned to the wooden beam of a cross.

All for the glory of what’s on the other side.

Hallelujah.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18