Wednesday 11 December 2013

Posts might slow for a while...

So having been so good and actually managing to get a reasonable schedual of posts out, I won't be doing any crafting for the next wee while, so posts will be few and far between. 
(Also, I am so proud of myself using the schedual feature for all those posts! They were all written the Sunday before they went up, and I had intended to keep that going!)

So on Friday I was cleaning my mum's house and whacked the tip of my middle finger on a door frame as I was vacuuming. It hurt, but wasn't anything major. When I got home, I noticed the tip of my finger was a little numb; this wasn't surprising at all, considering it's happened before. 
By lunchtime Saturday my finger was still numb, and it had extended from the tip of my finger down to the first knuckle from the end. "Okay," I said, "This isn't exactly normal, we'll make a doctors appointment if it isn't better by Monday"
Monday rolls around, and nope, finger is still very numb, and now it's the whole thing that's numb, not just the tip. There's also a lump on my knuckle at the base of my finger, right by the bulk of my hand, it's about the size of a pea. I call the doctor's office I use, and was told they didn't have any appointments til next week. So I made a nurses appointment for today. 

The nurse took a quick look at it, and then asked me to come back in an hour because the doctor would be doing clinic hours then, but she was going to book me in regardless so we could get it sorted. In the hour gap my partner and I went to check out a local vintage/retro store we'd never been to, despite living a block away from it, and also got some fancy amaretto biscuits from a gourmet food store. At this point the very tip of my ring finger is kinda starting to go numb.

The doc took one look at the lump and decided it's a ganglion cyst and had my fingers strapped together. They aren't exactly major problems if they're in less complex places (the nurse who strapped my fingers had one on the back of her wrist) but because of where it is it's pushing on the nerves in my finger - hence the strapping, as my doc didn't want me using the fingers cause it could get worse/bigger. If it gets any bigger, it could completely cut off the nerve function, which would be really bad. So my ring and middle fingers are strapped together on my right hand (I'm right handed), and I'm under orders to use them as little as possible. 

This means no sewing, no knitting, nothing. 

I am not at all happy with this, but there's not a lot I can do for the moment. The doc said to try gently massaging it over the next few days and seeing if that loosens up the cyst or drains the fluid naturally, otherwise it'll need an operation to remove it, because I can't live with numb fingers forever. However an operation can be tricky, not only because of waiting lists, but also because it is on a finger tendon , which means there is a very small working area for the surgeon, and if they are off by even a tiny amount they could cause nerve or tendon damage. So that isn't the best news, but at least we know what it is (my partner wins, he was betting cyst or blocked blood vessel. I was personally hoping for alien implant so I could shoot lasers out my fingers. Imagine how much faster pattern cutting would be with laser fingers!)

So for the next wee while there may not be a lot of posts as I won't have completed any projects to show off. I may do some neck-down outfit shots, considering I can't do my makeup with my left hand...kidding, I'm not that vain, just a warning that makeup will be sparse til my hand is better! (That makes me sad too, it's like a hobby in itself!)

Have you ever had an injury that stopped you crafting? I'd love to hear your stories, and what you did to pass the time while you were injured - I'm thinking I may need to find a new tv series to watch, considering I'm not meant to use my hand at all!

1 comment:

  1. Sweet dear, I am so very sorry to hear about your injury. I had a broken left foot during the holidays a couple of winters ago (while I was also in the midst of packing and everything else involved with a fairly sudden cross country move) and know what an absolute killjoy and impracticability an injury affecting one of your limbs can be during Christmas time.

    I'll be keeping you in my thoughts and sending tons upon tons of healing wishes your way!

    ♥ Jessica

    *PS*

    If you haven't seen them already, I can't recommend Boardwalk Empire, Masters of Sex, Bomb Girls, Copper, White Collar, and (though, I will forewarn you, it can be uber graphic) Hannibal highly enough.

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