2/22/24

 Thursday, February 22, 2024

In bed at 9, awake with pain at 2:45, up at 2:55.  37°, high of 49°. wind N at 5 mph, 2-13/24.  Sunrise at 6:39, sunset at 5:31, 10:51.  

Treadmill; pain.   Serious, mostly dull pain in right hand and wrist, even slight pain in my right elbow, dull pain extends up my forearm.  Painful to lift the laptop and to use the keyboard..  Pain in my left shoulder.  I applied diclofenac to my hand but couldn't apply to my shoulder.  I expect the pain in my wrist/hand/thumb/forearm to dissipate with use & stretching.  Late this afternoon, I sent  this 'secure message to Dr. Cheng:

Dear Dr. Cheng:

Thank you for the help you have provided to me so far with my back, shoulder, and wrist pain conditions and I hope you might provide some additional help.  Bottom line: I’m wondering whether I would benefit from steroid injection(s) or some treatment other than or in addition to physical therapy.

I keep a daily journal on a blog site and try to include health information in it.  The earliest entry re: the pain in my left shoulder was on December 25, 2023 (“Woke up with left shoulder and midback pain, tightness in lower back & pelvic floor.).  The earliest reference to the pain in my right wrist/thumb/hand was on January 13, 2024 (“Woke up with a very sore left shoulder and even more painful right wrist and to a lesser extent, right hand.)  Those pains have grown worse/more disabling since their onset.  When I visited you in the PM&R Clinic on January 31, for some reason both my shoulder and my wrist were relatively pain-free, but that was not the case either before or after that visit.

The wrist pain is worse when I am sleeping and when I get up each morning.  It gets considerably better with movement each morning.

The left shoulder is painful almost all the time.

I am not sure whether or to what extent the diclofenac cream is much help, especially concerning the shoulder pain.  Ditto the physical therapy stretches, which are a challenge precisely because of the pain, though I’ve only been doing them for less than a week.

In any event, life is challenging with the shoulder pain (getting out of bed each morning and for multiple ‘pit stops’ during each night, getting dressed, personal hygiene, etc.)  

What I am wondering is:

(1) Might I benefit from wearing a hand and wrist brace during the night?

(2) On  my myhealthevet.gov record there is a reference to “Prior trapeziectomy with severe degenerative changes at base of thumb.”  Do the x-rays of my right wrist reveal a missing trapezium bone?  I have not had surgery on my wrist so this reference is confusing to me.  Does the presence or absence of the trapezium affect the diagnosis of the painful condition?

(3) Should I expect this wrist pain to be a persistent problem, i.e., for the rest of my life?

(4) If my left shoulder pain continues despite the PT stretches, are there any other treatments that might alleviate the pain and let me live a more normal life?  If so, what are the ‘downsides’ of such treatments?  Should I expect the shoulder pain to be a persistent problem?

Again, thank you for all the help you have provided and for attending to these questions.

I'm grateful that I am personally familiar with the characteristics of Peter the Pity Partyer, which is who I am thinking of this morning.  I had a friend some years back who was a Grand Master Pity Partyer, always finding something to complain about, to fret about, to feel disappointed about, to feel wronged about.  In fact, he was richly blessed with a terrific wife (whom he predictably drove away), a talented and healthy son, a dream home. even a great job with guaranteed employment and income.  Nonetheless, he was chronically unhappy, Mickey the Mope.  He felt that the World or Life owed him more than it was providing, so he felt wrongfully deprived, persistently cheated out of his due.  A male Debbie Downer.  There are too many days when I emulate Peter the Pity Partyer but thankfully I am usually (I hope) or at least often able to recognize when I am feeling sorry for myself so I can SNAP OUT OF IT and for this I am most grateful.  Q: Why me, Lord?  A: Why not you?