Give a girl a hand

So, just a little recap of the past week:

Friday, I finally admitted that I have a problem and I decided to see the doctor. Here is what finally prompted my change of heart:

1. The Spud loves to hold my hands/wrists and LOVES to pat them. It nearly reduced me to tears last week.
2. I found a very strange, very hard painful pass on the radial part of my wrist. It hurts like mad.
3. It hurts to put my seat belt on and I have really started wondering if I can set up one of those water-pic bidet units for my toilet like I saw all over Vietnam. I’ll let you figure out on your own why.

The short story is that I will be in bilateral wrist splints for the next 6-8 weeks. I am on OTC anti-inflammatories and when possible, I ice. Do you know how hard it is try and ice down both your wrists with a child running around? Because I let it go to far I developed a very calcified feeling cyst on one tendon. It is extremely painful and it hurts to even have the splint pressing against it. I will probably be seeing a hand specialist soon for injections and hopefully the cyst will resolve on it’s own I’m also getting an MRI on a knee injury I sustained in VN. Or, as my dad and co-workers like to say “you got a knee injury in ‘Nam, dude”. Whatever. Evidently I am falling apart, but I hate to even complain about it because to complain about it feels like I am complaining about Spud and I just can’t do that. He is without a doubt the best thing that as ever happened to me.

Here is a little bit of info about the condition:

What is de Quervain's tendonitis?

First dorsal compartment tendonitis, more commonly known as de Quervain’s tendonitis or tenosynovitis after the Swiss surgeon Fritz de Quervain, is a condition brought on by irritation or inflammation of the wrist tendons at the base of the thumb. The inflammation causes the compartment (a tunnel or a sheath) around the tendon to swell and enlarge, making thumb and wrist movement painful. Making a fist, grasping or holding objects—often infants—are common painful movements with de Quervain’s tendonitis.

What Causes de Quervain's Tendonitis?

The cause of de Quervain’s tendonitis is an irritation of the tendons at the base of the thumb, usually caused by taking up a new, repetitive activity. New mothers are especially prone to this type of tendonitis: caring for an infant often creates awkward hand positioning, and hormonal fluctuations associated with pregnancy and nursing further contribute to its occurrence.

~ http://nemsi.uchc.edu/clinical_services/orthopaedic/handwrist/dequervains_thumb.html

Friday night we went to the Chris Tomlin concert with Beena and Jai. Spud was a trooper! He LOVED the drum solo during the first set with Israel Houghton (I hope I spelled that correctly) and he totally crapped out during the second song of Tomlin’s set. I don’t understand how the boy can wake up when he hears a squeaky floorboard, but can sleep through a concert? He is so working me.

On Saturday we spent the day with my sister and I did her pregnancy photo shoot. I won't post photos of the belly without her permission, but I just have to show off her beautiful face.

I've been too tired to do any editing yet so these will change, but I love the way her face just fills the frame. Unfortunately my LiveWriter is a bit fritzy these evening so my photos aren't watermarked. Woops.