A quick update since I have been notoriously absent

My doctor has taken me off my medications because they are interfering with my liver. I've been off the one since September and the other since November. Needless to say, the psoriasis is back with a vengeance and the arthritis has decided to settle in my hands - which is good since it isn't anywhere else in my body, but it's bad because, well, it's in my hands. I can't do much of anything with these iffy hands. Today is actually a good day. I can turn the doorknob without help and I can type - hence this post. But what I would really like to do is knit and I just don't think my hands would put up with that. Oh, well. Life goes on. I'm just trailing a little behind it right now.

Would you believe knitting content?

Yes, after all this time there really is honest to goodness knitting content on my blog. I can hardly believe it myself. This is about an hour's worth of work on the Argosy scarf from knitty.com. I started it at work on Wednesday during lunch. Let me tell you that it's really hard keeping count when you sit with a bunch of friends in the lunchroom at work and gossip. It took three tries to get it started without making a mistake. I'm not sure who I'm making this for yet.


It doesn't look like much, but it does pretty up the further along I get. I know this because I actually started the scarf last year before the finger business put a kibosh on my life and I had it about a quarter done. After the surgery and before the arthritis came along, when I thought I was fit enough to knit, I added a couple of pattern repeats only to realize I'd made a serious boo-boo. There was no way I could keep going with the pattern mistake I'd made so I finally frogged it on Tuesday and started over again. I intend for this to be my lunchtime project until I finish it.

And speaking of the finger business, here's a shot of me holding the yarn after I snapped the picture above. Doesn't really look much better, does it? I still can't straighten the finger, but I can use it for typing and knitting and holding things so that's progress at least.


And, yes, my had is a bit swollen. I'm back on blood pressure meds. The one I'm on now is a diuretic since I'm retaining over 20 pounds of water weight that I've put on in the last two months. That's apparently when the blood pressure went out of whack again. Oh, well. At least I can knit again.

I got books!

This is as close to crafting as I've gotten since the arthritis caused by the finger ailment put me on Remicade treatments in December. Did I ever mention the ordeal of the finger caused an outbreak of psoriasis which lead to an extremely debilitating case of psoriatic arthritis for which I've been undergoing treatment since December? If I didn't before, I have now. The finger still doesn't work worth a darn, but at least I can mostly use it to do mostly normal things like holding cups and cutting my own meat. Anyway, I've finally perked up enough to be interested in knitting again and I ordered two books which arrived yesterday. I really like both of them. I'm toying with the idea of scarves in people's futures.



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Now playing: Loreena McKennitt - Kecharitomene
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Knitting on hold

As if you couldn't tell since I haven't posted anything in practically forever. The finger is not improving (in my opinion) but the doctor seems pleased with the pace of the therapy. Anyway, my hands get very tired very quickly so I haven't done much of anything and the finger has taken to swelling again. I've gone to see another doctor, but I'm not prepared to say anything about that yet since I don't know anything definitive and may not even know anything after I see her again the end of next week.

Oh, well. At least I'm catching up on my reading.

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Now playing: Enya - Less Than A Pearl
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Surgery's done!

I'm home and about to take a nap. The finger hurts like the dickens and my arm is in a sling. Got stabbed three times before a vein was found for the IV.

Later...

Can you pick out the bad finger?

Slice and dice on Tuesday

I go in for surgery on my finger next Tuesday (7/31). Outpatient surgery. I had an MRI done and it showed no infection, no mass, no tendon tears, no bone lesions. It did show fluid buildup all up the finger. The doctor thinks there still might be infection since the tenosynovitis got worse instead of better and showed no response at all to any of the drugs I was on.

I have to be at the hospital at 6:00 a.m. The surgery is supposed to start at 7:30 a.m. and be done by 8:30 a.m. I get to sit around in recovery until 10:30 a.m. at which time I get to go home. The Prodigal Son gets to take me up and bring me back, and he gets to babysit me all day to make sure nothing happens.

I'm looking forward to getting some relief, but I'm not looking forward to surgery.

And your point is?

There is still no improvement on the finger front. I'm going to call the doctor next week and see what the next step is. I don't know if I want to try the steroid injections or just go straight for the surgery. I'm leaning toward surgery since I've had this problem for about three months now and I'm getting really tired of it.

Oh, well. We'll see . . .

Point

Still no significant improvement on the finger front. I'm on the fourth prescription and I'm honestly beginning to think that surgery will really be my only recourse. Either that or learning to knit left-handed.

Hmmm . . . that might actually be an interesting experiment.

Updated to add: The Celebrex I was on did zip for my finger but it did seem to clear up the problem that was developing with my knee.

Updated update: In case anyone is interested, in order, I've been on Diclofenac, Prednisone, Celebrex, and Etodolac.

I thought Trigger was a horse . . .

Well . . . (Deep subject for such a shallow mind.)

My finger ailment has a name. Actually, it has two of them. There's the sort of generic medical term - tenosynovitis - and then there's the catchy name everybody uses - trigger finger. And the lovely hand surgeon has put me on a third anti-inflammatory to see if this one will help. The catch is that I have to take it for two weeks before we'll know. And if this one doesn't work, there's a few dozen others we can try. And if none of them work, then there's a steroid injection into the tendon. And if that doesn't work, then there is a minor surgical procedure that can be done that will leave my hand unusable for at least two weeks. (The minor part is that it can be done under local anesthetic and takes about 20 minutes.)

~ sigh ~

It looks like I have to live with my finger problem for a bunch more weeks.

~ sigh ~

Bummer

I've been in the mood to knit, but the gimpy finger has prevented me from picking up needles. For my style of knitting, the left index finger is integral.

Bummer!

I broke myself

Just got home from the doctor. He thinks I have a very bad and extremely painful case of tendinitis in the index finger of my left hand. I have no idea what I did. I went to bed feeling fine and woke up unable to flex - or otherwise move - my left index finger. I have a prescription for something. I dropped it off at the pharmacy and I haven't gone back to pick it up yet. Needless to say, everything - including typing - is uncomfortable and often painful. It looks like this is my year to have things go wrong.

Oh, well.