I had come to the conclusion a couple of months ago that I was going to need surgery. The mammoth brace that I wore at night to try to calm a cranky nerve was actually now creating new pain in my elbow. And the constant nerve pain running from my elbow to my fingers was not getting any better. (You know that pain ... it’s the pain that you feel when you hit your funny bone ... except I felt like that most of the time, and no, not anything funny about it at all!) I remembered my Dr saying that we could try Cortisone shots, but that would be delaying the inevitable elbow surgery, so instead, I planned my spring and early summer, trying to get in all physical activities before going under the knife once again.
As many of you know winter took quite the toll on gardens here in the Midwest. I was determined to attack mine with wild abandon until it was whipped somewhat back in shape and felt I needed to do so while I could still somewhat use this tingly hand and arm before more downtime from another surgery. Last year’s wrist surgery had left me without much choice but to ignore my garden and now with the addition of the cold, dry winter months the need for work was obvious. I vowed pain or not I would literally dig in and get as much as I could done. With the help of friends, hostas, lilies, columbines, mums and other miscellaneous blooming whatnots were divided, replanted and shared. I would work for part of day and rest another keeping the pain to a minimum, and when on a good streak, I could push myself and could sometimes even surprisingly work for two or more days in a row without much consequence. What on earth???
It got me to thinking. You see, I've felt all along that this mess started in my neck, and when 6 hours of extremely physical activity would not affect me, but yet the next day something as simple as holding the newspaper would, I decided to try a third Dr. I’ll try anything to avoid someone wanting to now split the back of my arm at the elbow open and moving nerves around.
With the suggestion of a friend, I sought the opinion of a spine rehab therapist. In my first visit a few weeks ago, he agreed that I NEVER NEEDED SURGERY. My WRIST was NEVER the problem and that the second surgery would have made things even worse. The answers lie in my neck and he said he could get me back to doing what I love – NO SURGERY necessary. I cried happy tears on the way home.
I’m just beginning this therapy (and often times painful at that!) but I can already see improvements. I have a long way to go … but there is light at the end of this tunnel. At last!
And "shhhh!" ... don't tell anyone ... I'm in the studio giving painting a try for the first time in MONTHS! It's a happy day! :)