For those who have asked, I have finally received the answer to the numbness in my hands. The results of the EMG showed that I have mild/moderate carpal tunnel syndrome. It is worse on the left side.
I suppose it is nice to have an answer, but at the same time I am still left with questions. What about the swelling I had in not only my hands, but my feet? What about the pain in all my joints that day? Carpal Tunnel explains part of the stuff, but not all of it.
So now I am wearing braces on my wrist/ hands at night. I am wearing one now because the numbness on my left hand is really bad today. Hopefully, this isn’t a permanent thing. It’s kind of hindering.
Just after Christmas, I began to get numbness in my hands. After taking steroids and muscle relaxers, I was back at the primary doc because they were still numb. I saw a pain and muscle specialist after that who sent me to get an EMG to see if they could figure out what was going on.
I had my EMG done yesterday. I had it on my calendar and in my phone as 11:15am. When I got the the address, the building was empty. I was only like 15 minutes early, so I figured I had better call. There had been plenty of snow, so maybe they closed for the day?
(ring – click) Dr. So and So’s office
Yeah, I’m Keith and I have an appointment today …
(Interrupting) Yes, at the Waterford office
Right. I’m here now and the building is clocked up.
You’re appointment is at 1:15pm, correct?
(Feeling stupid as I look at the order where I scribbled the information – and “1:15pm”) Uh, yeah, I see that I must have written the wrong time down.
We don’t get to that office on Thursdays until 12:45.
Well, I guess I will go grab lunch then…
See you at 1:15! (Click)
On the bright side, it was one of the quickest tests I’ve ever had done. It was also one of the weirdest.
They put these electrodes on your hand, measure some spots, and then start shooting things to make your fingers move. It was bizarre. He didn’t say much about the results or what he was seeing, but asked if anyone ever told me to wear braces. I told him know, and asked if I needed to. He said, “We’ll know after the test is read”
At one point he simply said, “Hmmmm.” I was like, “Is that a good ‘Hmmmm” or a bad ‘Hmmmm?” He said, again, we’d find out when the results were in.
When he pulled off all the wires and such, he said the doc would have the results in the next couple days. So hopefully, I will know what the heck is going on soon.
I took advantage of the warm weather on Saturday. It was windy, but it was perfect to get the outdoor decorations down. This is the first year that I didn’t have to wait until spring to do it.
Our outdoor stuff isn’t too complicated. The most difficult thing is the archway we put up. For the most part, it is unwinding the strands of lights that were wrapped around the porch posts and railings. I had a couple inflatables to take down – no problems there. I also had some staked in lights that I had to get up. For the most part, it was a lot of bending over and boxing up to put back in the garage.
All in all, I think it took me 2 to 2 and a half hours to get it all down and put away. During that time, I never felt any pain in my back, neck or anywhere else. On Sunday, it became obvious that something happened. I just don’t know what.
Sunday afternoon, I got up from the couch and felt a little pain in my lower back. As the day progressed, I started to feel numbness in my hands. It was very strange. It was numbness in every finger except the pinkies. I took some ibuprofen and went to bed without giving it a second thought.
On Sunday night, I woke up with pain in my hands and swelling in both of them. It was awful. Once I got up to get a drink and walked for a bit, the pain started to fade a little. I went back to sleep only to wake up again with more pain, a bit more intense, in my hands. This time when I got up, I was feeling pain in my shoulders and elbows, too.
I went out to the living room and just sat. The pain began to ease in my hands. The numbness remained. I thought about trying to go back to bed, but wasn’t even sure that I could. I grabbed a blanket and tried to sleep on the couch sitting up with my feet on the footstool. I was uncomfortable and wound up waking up again.
This time when I got up from the couch, I felt pain at the top of my knees. I was literally shuffling to the kitchen. With weight on my feet, I could tell the swelling had made its way down to them. It hurt to stand on them. I was starting to get a bit concerned.
Monday morning, my wife had to take the kids to an appointment. We had pulled the car seat because Andrew had an accident in it and it needed to be washed. Before she could leave, I had to put the cover back on it and get the straps right. This was utter torture!
I’m not sure if you’ve ever had to put one of those things back together, but it is a pain. Factor in extremely swollen fingers and pain in every joint of your hand and wrist and the pain was just terrible. As I tried to get straps through slots, rubber rings around a hook that is 1/8 of an inch long, and such, I cried.
The kids were still asleep, but my yelping in pain and crying was enough to wake Ella. She came out and was scared. She didn’t know what was wrong. I told her I was okay, but my hands were hurting very bad. She asked if she could help being the sweetheart that she is.
Once I finally got the seat put back together, I worked on getting the kids breakfast and ready for the appointment. When every one left, I called my doctor and did a video visit. It’s never a good thing when the doc says, “It sounds like you pinched a nerve, but I really am not 100% sure. So we’ll treat it like it is and see what happens.”
She gave me some steroids and a muscle relaxer. I was told if I start to feel numbness in my legs with pain to go to the ER. If the numbness hasn’t gone away in seven days, I need to come into the office.
Three days later now and I can sleep. The pain in the joints has pretty much subsided, but the numbness in my hands and fingers is still there. A friend of mine said that it could be carpal tunnel, but that wouldn’t explain the rest of the pain in other places.
It is making it difficult to write, type, and basically do my job. I worked on Tuesday, and as I was scoring sleep studies I had to take many breaks. I felt like the more I clicked the mouse, the more numb my hands got.
I am hoping that the medication helps! I do too many things with my hands.
I tell you all of this to say that if I miss a featured post, or post later than normal, it may just be the after effects of all of this. I appreciate your understanding.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 