So sorry I haven’t written in a while readers. My writing hand is currently in a splint because I have been diagnosed with De Quervain’s tenosynovitis which is a really large for “Owe! My hand hurts when I do things!” So typing is sort of tricky and so is other things like “ANYTHING I FUCKING DO WITH MY RIGHT HAND!!!!!” So needless to say I haven’t been able to log in to my blog and joke about how much I hate being injured.

I’m not a baby when I am hurt…..I’m quite the opposite of baby, I want to say that the opposite of baby is adult, BUT that’s not what I am. I’m more “I can do it and ignore the pain and also diagnose myself with the internet.” This, that I am describing, isn’t really an adult because an adult would say “Oh my right hand sort of hurts every time I use it” and go to the doctors. This is not what I did. What I did was “Owe, this hurts maybe I should see what WebMD says I am dying of.” I take my phone out and type in ‘Wrist and thumb pain” and see all the things that come up. The most common diagnosis was tendonitis and de Quervain’s disease and then there was the ‘It could be bone cancer?!’ and I was like nope not bone cancer because it said I would be losing weight and my extra chins disagree. De Quervain’s has a simple test you can try to do to diagnose yourself called the “Finklestein Test” in which you tuck your thumb into your fingers and try to bend your wrist down. “Mother fucker, does that hurt! Yup, this is definitely what I have.”

I then see what the treatment for my tendonitis/ de Quervain’s disease is and I do that. Here’s the thing, it got to be so unbearable that I had to go to the real doctor. The real doctor says “Oh, you have tendonitis and shows me the same fucking picture I used to diagnose myself with.” But what he does do is send me to a hand specialist that gives me an injection and a doctor approved splint, unlike the one that I bought off the internet.

“When can I take this off?”

“You have to wear it for three months and when you come back we will talk more.” doctor says

“Can I take it off to chop vegetables?”

“You can take it off to shower.”

“Can I take it off to work out?”

“No! You can ONLY take it off to shower.”

“Can I still use my elliptical machine?”

“Do you use your thumb and wrist to use your elliptical machine?”

“No!” I lie

“You don’t do this?” doctor mimics the hand motions of using an elliptical machine

“I don’t have to!” I smile

“You can work out, but only lower body and you have to wear the splint. You are going to have to buy sleeves to wear under the splint to absorb the sweat. You can get those off of the internet.”

I already know this because I have been a doctor for like four months now….I mean not a real doctor but a “WebMD doctor”.

“I can do that.” I say.

“Can you take your splint off to chop vegetables and to write and to work out?” doctor asks trying to trick me.

“No!” I answer sadly.

“The best thing for your wrist and thumb is rest.”

“Rest is my least favorite word. Physical therapy and working myself into shape is my favorite prescription.” I say smiling.

“That’s not what you are going to do though. You will rest your hand and when you come back we will see if you need surgery, which will be more resting. So when can you take your splint off?”

“For showers and in three months.”

“Now you may be in the splint closer to six months.”

“My fucking lower body is going to be jacked!” I exclaimed.

He laughs because he knows that I am not an adult…LOL! “Rest that wrist and thumb and  I will see you in six weeks.”

“Not three months?”

“I think I am going to check on you sooner.”

Well played doctor, well played! I have been resting my wrist and thumb and wearing my splint, mostly all of the time. I have been working out with my splint on. I have been washing my splint because I have been working out in it and that’s gross. I have my other splint that I bought on the internet that I wear when I am not wearing the doctor one. I have the tan lines to prove that I have been wearing it and so that’s funny.

I have school starting in August and I’m not sure what I am going to do in my art class but the professor said we could use whatever medium we want, so I may be using finger paints. Hey wait maybe I’m not the opposite of a baby after all.

Moral of my story: When you are injured, go to the doctors and stop trying to work through it. Also if you need to rest, you should probably do that. I don’t really know I’m the worst when it comes to injuries, I don’t like to rest and heal. So I guess don’t be Becki. I typed this blog with my splint on and mostly with my left hand. I may not blog every week but when I come back I hope to have more ideas to write about. Please let me know what you have all been up to in my absence. I would love to hear from you all.

Until next time. 🙂