Sunday, January 3, 2010

and still with the thumb!

Well, school starts on tuesday and i was sure hoping my thumb wouldda calmed down by now. I've spent basically the last month with it ace wrapped and half the time in moms wrist-somewhat-thumb support dealy.. it'll feel better after awhile of it being wrapped up, but soon as i wake up in the morning or take off the support, its useless all over again!
I did my sleep study for Narcolepsy this last week (wont know the results for another few days) and my thumb was killin me the whole time.. just ached and hurt and the cmc joint was just, pissed off at me. lol so i finally decided enough was enough and i bought a lil $14 immobilizing support brace thingy. Which helps, cept as soon as i take it off it hurts within 5min. just doesn't hurt all the time now.. i shouldda gotten this in the begining i think, maybe itd be better by now? =( it doesnt immobilize it quite as well as id like but its pretty good a lot better thna the ace wrap was.

Once again i'm worried about school... this quarter is pretty much non-stop and we start off with 4 days of all day SIMS lab, then lecture for 3 days and then 2 days of computer training..and then lots of clinicals.. i'm worried about wearing it in class, just like i was last yr and the left wrist brace.. this is a bit more obnoxious though and since a lot of our lil skills require ya know...thumbs, i'm a lil nervous. and i have no answer for "what'd you do?" cuz.. i pretty much just woke up Lol. and it has to be my right thumb?! grr.. but if i dont wear the brace, i know from experience of the last month and 1/2... that it wont get better without it..
I already took 5 days worth of prednisone from mom and dad, 20-mg a day..to see if itd help the inflammation in the joint. which was nice, while i took it. unfortunately as soon as the days were up, it hurt as much as ever =(

On the plus side, I had a pretty awesome christmas and new years. my boyfriend met my family (and likes them!) and is now the proud owner of my sisters 2 cats she has been tryin to give away hah.

I'm also nervous about the future potiental problems of this joint.. because i use my thumb! i cant have this brace in clinicals... and i dont know the instructors either and i dont want to tell t hem about the EDS for all the reasons i mentioned before.. do i just say "it hurts but it'll get better" and then just pray it fixes itself in the next 2 wks? and wear my brace anyway in class..? then come clinical time, maybe it'll be better... and if its not, i'll just deal with it anyway...? minus the brace..

note taking wont be very fun.. my hand writing a lil goofy. maybe i could take notes on my laptop.. for the 6 hr lectures we have next week.

I havnt gone to a doc about it but im pretty sure theres nothing theyd do. cept maybe give me a better more immobilizing brace. i've only had this thumb brace for 4 or so days... so theres hope that it'll really help.. i am gettin better at using my other fingers for stuff.

is this the start of forever arthritis in that joint? and/or is the pain a subluxation? is it a tendonitis sorta deal? i dont know... maybe i will try a doc if it doesnt get better..? maybe there is a less bulky brace or something i could use...

I just wanna get through these next 6 months so i can be DONE with nursing school and get a job and move back to my home town.. then at least i'll have income and sick days and everything.

3 comments:

BubbleGirl said...

If the prednisone helped, maybe you could ask a doctor to prescribe it to you? You don't need to tell your instructors/professors about the EDS. You can tell them it's a sprain, or stretched tendon, or that it feels better immobilized.

I'm lucky-ish that I work for family. Everyone there knows about the EDS, so I don't have to hide anything, and I can ask for help without getting weird looks. It's also great because I couldn't handle any more school after high school, so I'm not techically qualified for a desk job, and I'm unable to do a non-desk job.

I hope your thumb gets better soon!

BubbleGirl said...

P.S. I don't know from personal experience, but I've heard that silver ring splints can be VERY helpful. They do make some for thumbs... Might be worth it to check them out.

Bendy_Clutz said...

I'm a bit curious about the silver ring splints.. ive started to do a bit more research online but i wish i had someone to talk to about em.. hmm.. yea, ur right, might be worth checkin out=)

thats good that you have that work-around =) yay for working with family!