Way Too Long

So I guess I should have taken up blogging for Lent, since the Advent blogging went so well, and the time between the two hasn't.

There are a lot of things to talk about--two big snow days, the saga of Sarah's Pinky dog, bunk beds and the freedom of them, softball starting up--and I'll probably get to those in some separate posts soon. I don't want to try to cram two months of stuff into one entry. Heck, I still have Christmas pictures to put up!

However, before I get into all those things (and since I'm not where I can get to the pictures anyway), let me talk about something that is coming up.

Back in December, I noticed that my right arm and hand would fall asleep more often than I thought they should. It didn't surprise me that they were doing it at night, but they still took longer to "wake up" than I expected. Then I noticed the arm would fall asleep while I was working on the computer, using the mouse, etc. To go along with that, the outside of my first finger and thumb would seem to be "dead" to the touch.

After a couple of weeks of that, I went into the doctor to have it checked out. He prescribed a splint and some anti-inflammatories and to come back in a couple of weeks. I did that for a week or so, but didn't seem to have much success having it improve.

In my return trip, he indicated it was likely carpal tunnel. I know, shocking, right? I mean, whenever would I get that between my day job on the computer and the evenings I spend on it? What's up with that?

This led to a whole lot of GBS flashbacks. For one thing, carpal tunnel was one of the early diagonsis back then. Secondly, there was talk about a nerve conduction study, something I went through back then as well.

My doctor then referred me over to a specialist, who took a general look and set up the nerve conduction study in Conway. I went down there the next day. The process wasn't quite as bad as I remembered it, though the worst part of the one four years ago was when they did the legs, something they didn't have to do this time.

In the interview before the NCS, the doctor asked some questions, then said, "Well, it doesn't really sound like carpal tunnel, but we better check." Now, at that point, I got a little worried. I mean, I knew it wasn't anything major--it'd had lasted too long and not spread or caused other problems for that--but it still was a little disconcerting.

He did one test, then said, "Yep, that's it. I've got to do more to be sure, but that's what it is." Apparently the reaction time is supposed to be around 4 seconds. A good reaction time would have been 3.5. Mine was around 5.6, placing me well into the "moderate" range of carpal tunnel.

So that meant back to the specialist. We chatted a bit and, even though it was possible to do the splint/anti-inflammatory route again, he indicated that 2/3rds of people in my situation don't get any better with that. I figured that I didn't want to risk any permanent nerve damage--I've seen what nerve damage can be like!--so I went ahead and scheduled the surgery.

March 26th I get cut on. I don't know all the details yet, but it should be a fairly short procedure and I know it's outpatient. I should be back at work by the Monday, though I can't lift anything heavy for three weeks. (Hey, I can't lift anything heavy now!) May have to be careful around the kids and might have to start church softball season on the DL, but it shouldn't be anything lasting.

So there you have it. I promise the next entry will be much better and likely illustrated!