Love, empathy, tolerance--also puppies, flowers, and laundry

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Pins and Needles

It's the main reason that there have been no recent posts--it's hard to type when I can't feel my fingers. I have carpal tunnel in both wrists (note to self: next time you want to start distance training runs, make sure your bike is perfectly fitted to you). The doctors and therapists call it "tingling", but the truth is that my fingers have felt as though they've been asleep for close to two months now.

They are gradually feeling better, sort of half asleep. That's from a combination of therapy, wrist braces and letting the nerves rest.

Resting is pure torture when you are as active as I (usually) am. I can live with not using the shovel and pick as I re-landscape my front yard. I found that I can get Erkie to come over and he's great about taking directions from me and I'm happy with any sort of progress on the landscaping that got derailed by carpal tunnel.

Unfortunately, resting also includes a ban on fine motor activities. Just try and find something that doesn't use your hands. Can't use scissors. Can't hold a pen or pencil for any time at all. Even reading is frustrating. Paperbacks are bad enough; trying to find a comfy way to hold the last Harry Potter (all 759 pages of it) was nearly impossible. The solution turned out to recline the sofa, hold the book open on my lap and only use my hands to turn the pages.

Oddly, using the keyboard is one of the easier things for me. I can't do it for very long, but at least it doesn't make my fingers swell or my hands hurt. So...short posts. Like this one.

Over and out.

No comments:

Post a Comment