A Fork in the Road Finally

So today I am readying myself for "A Fork in the Road, Finally!"  Today I am expecting that my neuromuscular massage therapy session will be my last official type PT session under the PIP coverage through my automobile insurance.  I also have a final follow-up appointment with my treating physician who has told me that the insurance claims adjuster has been "hounding" her to finalize my treatment and rate me.  I fully expect to be rated this afternoon -- Oh, we are not talking about stars folks.

I've never really heard about "rating" the patient, you know, assigning some point value for my perceived injury.  Like, I don't know, less than 10 points or something?  How does a doctor or insurance company achieve an objective and fair value of a patient's pain or long-term injury?

You know, there are certain "functions" and "things" that I am NOT able to do without feeling very specific pain(s) in my hand, wrist and forearm.  I don't know if I've got THAT now for the rest of my life.  But, I guess that is OK considering I am an old-timer, you know?

FLASHBACK:
It was on December 9, 2009 that a sort of fork in the road first "presented itself." I really thought that my hobby, my passion, my livelihood would come to an end in one abrupt tremendous moment of pain when those trunk hydraulic struts in my car failed and smashed my hand and forearm.  O-M-G!  People, some moments will stick with you forever; that is the type of moment I experienced.  I really thought my writing career had come to an end.

Why doesn't the MRI show everything? Good grief, that was a mystery to me. I've had MRIs in the past you know.  And, I've written about my painful adventures, something like trying to become the Six Million Dollar Wonder Woman or something?  You see, I've been there for SLAP Tear, Meniscus Tear, Morton's Neuroma, Achilles Tendon, and Percutaneous Discectomy! Yes indeed; ALL THAT!

FAST-FORWARD:  "A Fork in the Road, Finally!"
Well, like I said, one thing is coming to the end for me and it is like a fork in the road AND a passing of the baton, so to speak!  YOU see, I was diagnosed less than two weeks ago with trochanteric bursitis. Can YOU believe that?

Remember Gilda Radner's "It's always something!"  Yes it is.  And, how about our dear Bret Michaels, "every rose has its thorn!"  Yeah, it does.

P.S. Thanks my friends, followers, and fans for being there for the journey.  You mean the world to me.  And, I thank YOU for that.

Why does my arm still hurt?

On Friday, March 26, 2010, I had a most unpleasant experience at one of the Quest Diagnostics facilities when 3 different phlebotomists took a stab at drawing one tube of my blood for the VAP test. According to Wikipedia, and others in the know, a phlebotomist "is an individual trained to draw blood."

Phlebotomists collect blood primarily by performing venipuncture ... Specially trained phlebotomists collect arterial blood samples from the radial or ulnar arteries near the wrist. --Thank you Wikipedia.

That blood-drawing experience was such a "traumatic" one for me, that I wrote about it in my blog post, When success may be doubtful.

Well, today is Friday, April 9, 2010, a full two weeks since that faithful day. I am sitting here, shaking my head, and wondering, "Why does my arm still hurt?" That's precisely what I would like to know!

And, it is no ordinary hurt either. You see that day, as the third phlebotomist took her shot at my arm, she used two tight tourniquets on my arm above the crook of the elbow.  She told me she was using two.  I would not let the phlebotomists even look at my right arm as a blood-drawing source since I am still undergoing neuro-muscular therapy for the hand injury of December 9, 2009. That's when the trunk hydraulic struts failed and the trunk slammed on my working hand and forearm.

So this third phlebotomist stuck a needle in my arm in three different and distinct locations, all for one tube of blood.  It was about 10 days earlier that I went to a different Quest Diagnostics facility to have 5 tubes of blood drawn.  This picture is from that first visit and shows two bandaged locations.  One phlebotomist tried two separate locations, getting 2 tubes from the upper part of my forearm and 3 tubes from my hand.

On this picture you will also note a red arrow ... it is roughly indicating one of the spots where I am having pain seemingly from my last visit to Quest. You see the third phlebotomist, rather than using the butterfly, "tried a real needle in my forearm. OWEEE! Boy did that hurt." They heard me let out a loud noise across the entire facility. And, I think that very needle, stuck in the wrong location, is part of the reason for why my arm is still hurting.

By the way, I am slightly pained from finding that some content scraper stole my arm photo from above to use for their own purposes. Shame on you for stealing my photo, especially when it is quite personal, you know??

In the past couple of weeks, I've spoken to my hubby, my primary care physician, my neuro-muscular therapist, my acupuncture doctor, and finally my mom to tell them something is NOT right about my forearm. I've described it as a really pronounced "pulling" or "stretching" type of feeling with a "ow factor" in that forearm location indicated by the red arrow.  I've asked if they think I might have a nerve impingement, or if something else is going on.

My therapist said it would take a little time, but he thought me and my poor arm would be feeling better soon.  When I saw my mom and her friend Maureen at Easter, Maureen said she thought the phlebotomist might have "blown a vein" in my forearm.  I've mentioned to my hubby that the sensation is very similar to the feeling I had when my Achilles tendon was torn ... like a torn tendon or a tendon stretching or pulling.

I'm pretty concerned about the fact that not only do I have that weird type of pulling/stretching sensation, but there is some pain specific to that forearm location with swelling and pain at the outer side of the elbow crook with more pain and tightness and yet more pain in my biceps. I am pretty "protective" of my left arm as it has undergone a couple of surgeries to repair and later debride a pretty serious SLAP tear. And, there are 3 titanium anchors reattaching the biceps muscle to my shoulder.

This past week, I spent much time Googling to find if anyone had experienced an injury to their forearm from a visit to their phlebotomist.   I've studied the makeup of the forearm and tried to understand why in the world a needle was stuck into that place in my forearm.  I'm thinking, "it sure is looking difficult to find any vein in that spot."

Is this NOT crazy, I ask? I'm feeling a bit frustrated at the moment. I've tried to find definitive answers on the internet, but seem to be finding circular medical references. It makes me think I should be writing a very focused Squidoo lens, but now both my hands and/or arms have been impacted. I have a headache about the whole thing. This past week I stopped my therapy for my right hand injury as I need to put a lid on dealing with any more STUFF, you know!

"OMG, what am I going to do about my arm?" I asked my hubby at dinner last night. Geez was he ever frustrated with me! "You probably need to see an orthopedic doctor," he said.

"For heaven's sake!" I am saying! Oh, and UNCLE already.

P.S. It is almost June 2019 and I have been dealing with so many content scrapers on the internet who literally stole my copyrighted images and written content to promote themselves with the content. I really wished Google would do something about NOT indexing stolen content, but looking for the original and authentic content to index. Now, MY HEAD IS HURTING!!!

Why doesn't the MRI show everything?

I just had a telephone conversation with my doctor to get the results from last week's MRI of my wrist, hand, and forearm. It seems the "only" unusual thing noted in that MRI was "ulna minus variance." I Googled that, as you knew I would! I found references to "ulnar minus variance" and "ulna minor variance" and even took a look at some of the Google images in that search.

I really love Google for information! You know I've talked about Google LOTS and how much I love that search engine; which is my favorite you know. Well, even my doctor confessed that she too Googled "ulna minus variance."

One thing leads to another in that searching for a little understanding about my "ulna minus variance," I happened upon a discussion at Medscape about right wrist pain. OK, I am impressionable, so my eyes popped when I read this there:

Kienböck disease is the eponym for avascular necrosis of the lunate ... Most patients are in their third to fourth decades and present with dorsal wrist pain with use. The association of Kienböck disease with ulnar minus variance is well documented, estimated to occur in up to 74% of patients with ulnar minus variance. It is thought that these patients are predisposed to abnormally increased stresses across the lunate resulting in microtrauma leading to necrosis.

OK, now I have a bit of a headache too! In addition to hand and wrist pain.

I've been undergoing massage therapy for the past couple of weeks, but we've stayed clear of my writing hand! What I did share with my doctor today is the fact that my MRIs have never truly indicated the scope or severity of the injury. I've had MRIs of my shoulder, knee, and foot. It was probably only my torn meniscus that appeared accurately in that MRI. The MRI of my left shoulder did not fully show the detached bicep nor the torn labrum -- which resulted in repair surgery lasting over 3.5 hours.

So, the next step is a consultation with a hand orthopedic specialist and possibly a neurologist to assess the pain. You see, the too much information that I could share with my readers has to do with my previous pain management for RSD -- reflex sympathetic disorder connected with my shoulder surgery. Let me tell you THAT was a bit of a nightmare. I've not talked about this online, but probably should have as going through RSD, pain sufferers really do need support groups ... support groups of their peers. It helps to talk with others who can fully understand the depth of the pain. If I have to have the RSD journey again, I will be reaching out to connect with others out there who UNDERSTAND.

It pains me to tell you this!

If you've ever experienced an injury to your writing hand, you might know how it feels to do the simplest things in the course of a day's work. For me, my normal job involves working on the computer and having the dexterity to do design too in addition to writing.

Do you know how painful it is to type after having a car trunk slam on your hand? The day it happened, I couldn't look at my hand and wrist because the overwhelming feeling of sickness was, well OVERWHELMING. That moment of impact and pain will stay with me I fear a very long time. After all, this is my livelihood! I am a writer, a designer, a photographer and everything else that I can think of that requires me to be able to use my hands.

The "accident" occurred on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at about 3pm in the afternoon in the parking lot of our local Publix grocery store. I sought urgent care treatment that same day. I waited 5 weeks to seek further medical evaluation and treatment. That's me! In the past, when I've had "injuries" -- a SLAP tear, meniscus tear, ruptured disc, achilles tendon tear, and morton's neuroma -- I have never gone directly to a doctor. I do the "wait and see" approach.

This past Wednesday I was talking to my dentist as he numbed up my mouth to remove the large broken crown. He is into "neuromuscular aesthetic dentistry," so I asked him for his medical opinion. He told me he had a similar issue with his forearm and recommended someone to see in "neuromuscular and myofascial therapy." So, that's where I went when I left the dentist. Luckily, I was scheduled for an evaluation with a doctor who previously worked with pain management. Pain management for me is a LONG story for another time ... "been there and definitely done that" ... like square one!

It's two days later and the pain from the massage therapy is pretty intense. Yesterday I had to cut my work day short and lie down. Today I suspect it will not be another full day for me either. Sorry guys! At the moment I'm thinking that maybe I should have had a MRI before launching into that massage the other day. I'm going to be making a couple of phone calls to offer up that thought.

Bottomline? My health insurance has about a $1,500 deductible and I've not met it. Oh, and the dentist bill will exceed that amount, however I don't have dental coverage. Darn it. I think it was my mom who suggested calling my car insurance company, first of all, to ask them about problems with car trunk hydraulic struts ... you know, any recalls? I am considering myself very lucky right about now that my PIP coverage will cover my medical bills 80/20 up to $10,000. Thanks for small favors I say!

So ... it has pained me to tell you all this today ... but it was important for posterity should anyone else be in my shoes! Oh, size 9M. ;)


See that hand and wrist? Hubby took that picture not quite 5 days after the trunk slammed on my hand.

It gives you an idea, if you use your imagination, of how hard it might be to work on the computer and rest your hand on that mouse.

Along the outside of the wrist is where the latch unit of the trunk made contact!