WOW, it's been a few years since I've updated. Forgot this was here, actually. Now that we are all home-bound for a while it might be a good time to update.
Sooooo, finally decided to have my hands checked for something other than arthritis and, yep, Corona19 made me postpone the nerve studies. Still, decided to practice a little on the harmonium and yeah, the hands hurt after about 10 minutes. Put a wrist brace on the right hand, the one that is more painful, and that helped during the next practice session. Ordered a brace for the left hand. With both hands braced that should help some. Next is to work on the height of the keyboard as the elbows start to ache and then the digits want to sleep.
I was curious as to why, maybe, it's taken this long for a doctor to say Hmmm, you may have carpal tunnel. Started to think about what I've done with my hands.
Started playing keyboards 63 years ago when I was 7. Never learned piano. Dad disliked piano so he bought a Baldwin Spinet. Baldwin to Conn, Lowery, Hammond C3, CV, A100, B3. Throw in a couple of guitars, Sony & Martin for my folk singing days. Oh yeah, the CapriTaurus Dulcimer from Boulder Creek, too. Sailed for 6 years; hoisting anchors, sails, steering with tiller.
Ah, typewriters; Remington manual, small green, portable manual to take on bus to school. IBM Selectric. One of my jobs was as a teletype operator; slow normal teletype and the speedy, at the time, TWX.
Came back from some offshore and coastal adventures to fall into the world of PCs with 8 inch diskettes, dedicated word processors and freaking heavy Winchester drives. Wang dedicated accounting systems. Oh, those early days. Never got into the Apple world. MS-DOS, DR-DOS for me. Had a Commodore 64. Then worked with PCs, servers, UNIX, PCs, servers, LINUX, oooooo, web sites totally in text!
Took up Celtic Harp for a few years. Nylon string.
Introduced to online gaming in Germany. WOW a whole new world. All day testing programs and all night gaming. Hands, what hands? Ice packs work lol
So 38 years on computer keyboards later, 4 surgeries for trigger finger, 2 each hand and, oh, a few steroid shots for trigger fingers the old hands stopped twitching and started screaming. Did I listen? Heck no. Took up weaving and needle felting. Tried knitting. Can only attempt some interesting looking knitting while wearing crafting gloves.
Crafting gloves! The compression gifts for hands! Yes, I can do almost anything wearing crafting gloves. Have 4 pairs.
Then the hands started to go numb. Shake it out, baby only works so often. Worked with Chiropractor and Acupuncture for a few years. Yes, they work and work well. After a few years, however the stoppage of pain went from weeks, to days to, finally, hours. I still remained stubborn, Arthritis, I told myself. Normal aging process.
Then the pain would just start stabbing my right hand for no reason. Couldn't hold my hand at an angle without it going to sleep. Started dropping things randomly. Have a variety of manual can openers I trade off depending on ability to use. Opening jars can be interesting and I often simply hand the jar off to my husband.
When the left hand started the random stabbing pains and numbness I finally threw in the towel and went to the doctor. Cut down the gaming, off and on line, hehehe. Don't write so much. Still want to play the harmonium. Get back to basic keyboard. Miss my music.
Will be nice to get the nerves tested. Hopefully some physical therapy will be the solution. HOWEVER, after typing this little narration I realize I've really battered the heck out of my hands! I've not included the normal, everyday hand use like cooking, gardening, anything really.
Have an appointment next month for nerve tests. Hopefully we will be out of home isolation by that time.
Weaving and needle felting are still doable. YAY!!!
Sooooo, finally decided to have my hands checked for something other than arthritis and, yep, Corona19 made me postpone the nerve studies. Still, decided to practice a little on the harmonium and yeah, the hands hurt after about 10 minutes. Put a wrist brace on the right hand, the one that is more painful, and that helped during the next practice session. Ordered a brace for the left hand. With both hands braced that should help some. Next is to work on the height of the keyboard as the elbows start to ache and then the digits want to sleep.
I was curious as to why, maybe, it's taken this long for a doctor to say Hmmm, you may have carpal tunnel. Started to think about what I've done with my hands.
Started playing keyboards 63 years ago when I was 7. Never learned piano. Dad disliked piano so he bought a Baldwin Spinet. Baldwin to Conn, Lowery, Hammond C3, CV, A100, B3. Throw in a couple of guitars, Sony & Martin for my folk singing days. Oh yeah, the CapriTaurus Dulcimer from Boulder Creek, too. Sailed for 6 years; hoisting anchors, sails, steering with tiller.
Ah, typewriters; Remington manual, small green, portable manual to take on bus to school. IBM Selectric. One of my jobs was as a teletype operator; slow normal teletype and the speedy, at the time, TWX.
Came back from some offshore and coastal adventures to fall into the world of PCs with 8 inch diskettes, dedicated word processors and freaking heavy Winchester drives. Wang dedicated accounting systems. Oh, those early days. Never got into the Apple world. MS-DOS, DR-DOS for me. Had a Commodore 64. Then worked with PCs, servers, UNIX, PCs, servers, LINUX, oooooo, web sites totally in text!
Took up Celtic Harp for a few years. Nylon string.
Introduced to online gaming in Germany. WOW a whole new world. All day testing programs and all night gaming. Hands, what hands? Ice packs work lol
So 38 years on computer keyboards later, 4 surgeries for trigger finger, 2 each hand and, oh, a few steroid shots for trigger fingers the old hands stopped twitching and started screaming. Did I listen? Heck no. Took up weaving and needle felting. Tried knitting. Can only attempt some interesting looking knitting while wearing crafting gloves.
Crafting gloves! The compression gifts for hands! Yes, I can do almost anything wearing crafting gloves. Have 4 pairs.
Then the hands started to go numb. Shake it out, baby only works so often. Worked with Chiropractor and Acupuncture for a few years. Yes, they work and work well. After a few years, however the stoppage of pain went from weeks, to days to, finally, hours. I still remained stubborn, Arthritis, I told myself. Normal aging process.
Then the pain would just start stabbing my right hand for no reason. Couldn't hold my hand at an angle without it going to sleep. Started dropping things randomly. Have a variety of manual can openers I trade off depending on ability to use. Opening jars can be interesting and I often simply hand the jar off to my husband.
When the left hand started the random stabbing pains and numbness I finally threw in the towel and went to the doctor. Cut down the gaming, off and on line, hehehe. Don't write so much. Still want to play the harmonium. Get back to basic keyboard. Miss my music.
Will be nice to get the nerves tested. Hopefully some physical therapy will be the solution. HOWEVER, after typing this little narration I realize I've really battered the heck out of my hands! I've not included the normal, everyday hand use like cooking, gardening, anything really.
Have an appointment next month for nerve tests. Hopefully we will be out of home isolation by that time.
Weaving and needle felting are still doable. YAY!!!
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