I’m sitting here, pondering my career as an author, and I must say, I adore it.  Most people don’t get to say that.  Most people have jobs that they don’t absolutely love.  Most people consider their job a “grind”.  Those few people who do find jobs that they’re good at, that they love, are blessed indeed.

And sure, being an author isn’t even my #1 job.  I’m a wife and mommy first, a homemaker, who takes care of my family.  In my house, I wear many hats.  Errand runner, bill payer, maid, cook, teacher.  True, I enjoy some of those jobs better than others, but my writing I absolutely adore.  I don’t adore scooping the cat litter.  I don’t adore going to the grocery store.  But I adore getting on my computer and writing stories of love and triumph.

Perhaps it’s *because* I’m a housewife that I write.  I’ve heard a lot of people mention that lonely housewives write romance novels.  Well, I’m not lonely.  I’m a housewife, true, but I’ve always wanted to do something in this world.  I’ve always wanted to be “somebody.”  Sure, I’m the most influential person in my children’s lives.  I feed them, clothe them, teach them.  Through them, I can indirectly touch the world.

However, I want to touch it myself. (Hehe, that’s what she said…)  Ahem.  lol

There are times when I get stir crazy staying in the house all day long.  But “going out” involves packing up 5 kids – and then supervising those 5 kids wherever we go.  It’s not an easy feat.  I suppose after my other hats are worn, the author hat allows me to whisk away to another world for awhile.  It allows me to give people the happy ending we sometimes know doesn’t happen in real life.

It allows me to build a world my readers can picture.  It takes my readers into MY imagination for a time.  And that’s a powerful thing.

But it also gives me my ME time.  The time I need to recharge to be a better wife and mommy, so I’m not always so stressed out about everything.  It allows me to have control over something, when sometimes I don’t have control over other things.  It’s an outlet of hope, too, in a way, because I control the lives of my characters, and I know that no matter what I throw at them, they’ll always have each other.  And that reinforces my relationship with my hubby.

There are many reasons why I write.   And I love them all.  Without my writing, I’d be staring at these walls, probably feeling a bit trapped in the life I lead.  But I have an outlet that allows me to be creative and share with others.  An outlet that gives me the opportunity to make something of myself and also allows me to keep my sanity.

And a job that can do that is a job you should never take for granted.

~~Becka

Well, folks, my wrist is doing MUCH better.  Got my stitches out today.  My scars are still kinda scabby, but here’s a looksee.

Looks like I’ve been impaled by a roasting fork.  Or maybe bitten by a vamp.  Heh, I like that one better.

Overall, my wrist is doing great, about 90% better than before.  It’s still not up to snuff, due to tenderness and some bruising still, but that’s all after effects from the surgery itself.  My range of motion isn’t as good as my right wrist, and it gets very tired and achy if I do too much, like run a bunch of errands, do lots of loads of laundry in a day, that kind of thing.  Thankfully, typing doesn’t tire it out.  Thank the Lord for small favors, eh? 

Doc told me something interesting, though.  He went in there and found my TFCC was frayed from degenerative wear.  Usually, the ligament is smooth, but mine looked like it had tufts coming off of it.  He cleaned it up with his little debridement thingy (I think it’s called an arthroscope), but found no significant tears.  He said he spent a little time looking all around, because my MRI showed the dye clearly leaking in my DRUJ joint.  He didn’t find it.

He did say that puzzled him, but he wouldn’t have sutured a small tear anyhow.  There is no blood flow to the center of the disc, as they only debride central tears, they don’t suture them.

I thought it was odd, too, that he didn’t find an actual, obvious tear, however, he did say he didn’t want to continue poking around with the arthroscope.  Sure, it’s only 2.5 mm wide, but since the bones in the wrist are so compact and it’s such a small space, poking that camera around in there can sometimes do more harm than good to the ligaments.

But the wisps on the TFCC were indeed degenerative, and they were long and obvious, he said, so the surgery was a good move.

I’ve been out of my brace since I took off the splint from my surgery.  The doc said if I do get ouchy a bit, I can wear the brace again for a little while.  I told him my hand was still weak and got very tired after doing some things and he said that’s to be expected from a wrist that’s been in a brace since December of ‘09.  The muscles and ligaments can get deconditioned if they’re not used regularly.

So good news is, I suppose I’m not as bad off as I thought I was.  My hand feels so much better, and you cannot believe how weird it is to be able to do something without my brace that I could barely do before my surgery.  It’s still hard to hold a book or heavy things.  I’m not sure even when the pain of the surgery goes away if I’ll be back to where I was before.  Even though the doc didn’t find any tears, he did cut away pieces of my TFCC, so probably not.  But as long as I’m pain free, I don’t mind not winning any bowling tournaments!  LOL

I’m not left-handed anyway, so that’s a bonus. 

So I’ve still got some owwy bruising, my scars are still tender and scabby, but all in all, I would do it again.  Just gotta work some strength back into my wrist.  But thankfully, doc didn’t think I needed any physical therapy.  YAY!

Made an appointment in 6 weeks to see him one more time.  He said if I’m 100% pain free by then, I can just go ahead and cancel it.  So we’ll see how it goes from here on out.

~~Becka

It’s been a few days since my surgery on July 16th.  I’m still pretty tender.  I can’t quite bend my wrist all the way forward and back, but I can pronate and supinate it (flip my hand palm up and palm down).  Although that’s ouchie as well.  My stitches look pretty gnarly.  Have a gander:

I get them out next week.  Right now, my entire hand has a big ol’ bruise on the back of it that extends down my fingers.  It’s still swollen, but it’s getting better.

So here’s what happened.  The first two days post-op were the worst pain I’ve ever had in my wrist.  Maybe I don’t remember the pain from my childhood, but it seemed like it hurt worse than when I’d broken my wrist as a kid.  I couldn’t go four hours without my trusty Vicodin, and even got high a few times (because I’d needed to take two pills).  I did NOT like how the Vicodin made me feel, so I tried to go as long as I could without taking them.

After the second day, I could wean myself off them.  It hurt, but by the third day, I could take off my post-op bandages.  I think this helped things, because moving my wrist around helped with the pain of stiffness.  Yes, it hurt, but it actually hurt a bit more to have it immobile, I believe.

Right now, I’m on my fifth day post-op, and my surgery site is tender.  Bending my wrist is tender.  BUT, I’m able to type, which is a bonus.  It’s tight inside there, probably due to swelling and the procedure itself.  I’m pretty sure it’s not going to feel like it used to before.  Getting things cleaned out in there is bound to make things feel tighter in there.

The good news?  All the ouchies I’m feeling right now seem to be from the surgery itself.  I’m not feeling the original ouchies I had before my surgery.  I can move my wrist, type, open my hand wide… nothing makes the original pain.  As the days wear on and after I get my stitches out, I believe I’m going to be as good as new, aside from a few cool new scars.

Of course I won’t *know* until the surgery pain completely goes away, but as far as I can tell, my previous pain is no longer there.  This is the longest I’ve been out of my brace since December of ‘09.

So far, I would recommend debridement surgery for anyone who has a TFCC tear.  Know the first few days will be hella pain.  Pain like chop-my-hand-off-that-would-feel-better kind of pain.  BUT, within two – three days, the pain should slack off.  And now, it still hurts, but I’m at that point where some of the pain is actually good stretching pain instead of ouchie pain.

I’ll probably give you another update after my stitches come out to really give this fix a good test drive.  But so far, so good!

~~Becka

Well, I finally had my surgery yesterday.  Here I am, typing one-handed.  It seemed to go just fine, other than starting late.  I was scheduled for 3pm, but I didn’t go into the OR until 5:30pm.  Surgery was two hours long, because when I was wheeled to recovery, the clock said 7:30pm.  Then I needed to sit in a hospital room for another three hours to get over the effects of anesthesia.  UGH

Didn’t get home until 11:30pm.  Not the best day ever.

Today, I’m pretty much in Deep Hurting.  The day started with no pain, but I’d taken a pain med before bed and I’d slept with it elevated.  But throughout the day, it steadily got worse over the course of the day.  Now I’m anxiously awaiting dinner so I can eat to take more Vicodin.

So I have a huge splint and bandages I need to wear for three days.  When I take them off, I can use my hand “as tolerated”, meaning nothing too much too soon.  I see the doc again in ten days for a follow-up.  I’m not in a cast, and I don’t think I will be.  I don’t know how extensive the damage was in there, as my doc peaced out before I had the faculties to put two thoughts together.  I’ll let you know more as I know more.

As for right now, it’s ouchy.  Very ouchy.  I’m thankful I bought my sling when I had my cast a few months ago because even the weight of my own arm hurts.  But I’m so hoping that after the ouchies of the surgery pass, everything will be feeling better.

~~Becka

There is so much I want to blog about, but I thought I should start with this.  I’ve been MIA recently because my father had a stroke.  He had an inoperable intracerebral hemorrhage deep in his basal ganglia. It was touch and go there for a while, and scared the bejesus out of my sister and myself.  However, he is doing much better now.  He is actually moving from the hospital to a rehab center possibly today or tomorrow.

He’s got a long road to recovery, but he’s in good spirits.  This type of stroke doesn’t kill brain cells, it merely suppresses them from the pressure of the bleed.  But once the blood in his brain is reabsorbed by his body, those cells can regain their function.  He currently has a very weak right arm and the right side of his face doesn’t work very well.  It’s hard for him to talk, so not only does he have physical therapists, he has a speech therapist and occupational therapist as well.  Whew!

I just visited him yesterday, and he was doing much better from when I saw him last on the 1st.  It will take time and he’ll never be back to 100%, but he’ll get some range of motion back.

As you can imagine, I’ve been frantically dealing with everything, from taking care of my dad to juggling the kids and my own family life with DH.  I came home early last week thinking he was on the mend only to turn around two hours later on the same day and race back down to Salem (an hour drive) because he’d taken a turn for the worse.  But thankfully, they were able to stabilize him and he’s much better now.  They are still very aggressive about keeping his blood pressure down as well as his blood sugar.  It’s been quite the roller-coaster.

But I’m very hopeful now, as he’s going into rehab.  He’s no longer at risk for a second stroke, he just needs some therapy to bounce back.

Aside from all that hoopla, I got my second edits for THE FALL OF JERICHO and it’s release date: July 23rd.  Woohoo!  Only thing I don’t have yet is the cover.

However, I DO have the cover for BLACK ANGEL, but I’ll post that in a new post.  It’s glorious!

I’m also about 80 pages away from finishing THE FALCON PRINCE!  I’m so excited.  The Falcon was the one prince I didn’t have a solid plot for, but he’s given me a great story to work with and a way to set up the Spider Prince’s book, which I’m also very anxious to write.  But I was the same way with the Scarab Prince.  Speaking of, I haven’t heard word about my submission on TSP, but my publisher is very busy herself with Canada Day and Independence Day and new releases and just one thing after another.  Patience is a virtue!  But it’s sure not fun!! 

Anyway, that’s my latest.  I’ll post my new cover.  But I wanted to keep everyone up to speed.  I’m back home now, finally, and through the craziness surrounding my dad, DH and I are in the middle of a remodel of our home theater, not to mention DH’s best friend and his son are coming to stay with us tomorrow to attend the wedding of another friend this Saturday.

GACK!  It’s batshit insane these days!  LOL

~~Becka

I know, I know, boo-the-frick-hoo, Becka.  Most folk don’t even have ONE of those much less BOTH.  Well, in my own defense, both of my gadgets were gifts. I probably would never have shelled out THAT much money for either device for myself.  However, since there are some articles out there and questions swirling about the Kindle vs. the iPad as an eReader, I thought I would throw my thoughts into the ring.

Plain and simple, the iPad can do more.  And with the ability to do more, it is therefore more convenient.

Being the online eBook author that I am, I am married to my email/twitter/facebook/blog.  I’m on umpteen lists and groups, I scour events for promo ops, I send my thoughts out in 140 characters.  I’m an Internet addict, I freely admit.  When the Internet goes down, I feel like Helen Keller.  I begin to devolve.

Now that you understand I’m always “in the know” as much as I can be, then you can understand why I’ve forsaken my Kindle.  I do most of my reading in bed.  And just before I open that eBook, I’m doing my final email checks, Twitter checks, maybe posting an update on Facebook, perhaps surfing the web.  Once I’m done, I open my Kindle App and away I go.  Who wants to put down the iPad, fumble for the Kindle, and try to find your Mighty Bright (or just turn on your light)?  It’s just more…convenient.  I’ve already got it on my lap.

Is Kindle’s eInk more readable?  Yes.  Is Kindle more comfortable to hold?  Yes.  Is Kindle lighter?  Yes.  Is Kindle less expensive?  Yes.  If all you want to do is read eBooks, Kindle is for you.  Or the Nook.  Or the Sony eReader.  Whatever.  But the iPad is for Internet junkies like me.  Those of us who must have their brain jacked into the Matrix 24/7.  It’s too…inconvenient to reach for another device to read an eBook when the iPad can do it too.

Is it a Kindle killer?  For me… yes.  But only because I appreciate all the other things I can do on it.  And I LUVED my Kindle before I had my iPad.  So there are some of you out there who will LUV your Kindle as well.  And maybe there are some hardcore readers out there, who, like me, have both, but still prefer to read eBooks on their Kindle.  I can respect that.  Backlit books can be an eyestrain.

However, I rarely go read on the deck during the day or on the couch (unless I’m sick and forsaking the housework).  Most of my reading is in bed.  And I like to read with the light off.  Which means, I either need the eBook to be backlit, or I’ve got to whip out the Mighty Bright that clips onto my Kindle.  And let me tell you – the name of that thing ain’t lyin’.  It has two lightbulbs.  Even on the lower setting of one bulb, it’s mighty bright, and it might just disturb your bedmate (if you’ve got one).

IPad’s backlit screen, however, isn’t that bright.  You can set the brightness, actually.  It’s not like you’re reading a book in bed with a Maglite.  LOL

I’m not sure what to do with my Kindle at this point.  Thinking of giving it to my daughter, since she loves to read.  It makes me sad, that I have forsaken it.  While it lasted, we had a short, passionate love affair.  But now that I’m in bed with my iPad, I’m in it for the long haul.

~~Becka

I love my DH.  Why?  Because he’s got contacts.  His people know people.  And those people know people.  Long story short, he said the other day (after buying himself an iPad) – you should get an iPad.  I scoffed.  Do you know how expensive those things are?  I’ll just wait for you to buy the second gen and take the one you have now.

“ORLY?” he said.

Next thing I know, BAM, like magic, there’s an iPad in my hands.  And it’s for me.  And it’s a gift.  And it’s the best gift EVAR.

Check it:

There are many reasons why one would want an iPad.  For starters, it’s an eBook reader.  AWSUM!!  I can download a Kindle app and I’m already ready already.  Not to mention iBooks, if I’m so inclined.  The color option is pretty sweet, as Kindle’s eInk hasn’t yet reached the color incarnation.  I’m not a fan of the backlight, however, in the Kindle app, you can set the book to be black text on white paper, white text on black paper, or brown text on sepia paper.  The brightness can also be adjusted, which is great for tired eyes.

Another bonus about this thing:  Streaming NetFlix.  I don’t know what genius said, “Hey, let’s stream our S%#@!”  That guy deserves a raise.  Let’s watch MythBusters!  It is glorious.  Also, ABC has an app.  Missed a LOST episode?  No prob.  Oh, what about the BBC?  FABULOUS!

Way way WAAAAYY better than the teeny tiny iPod touch screen.

Does it bring anything new to the table?  Nah, nothing really, other than to say look what our iPod Touches can do with an EPIC-SIZED SCREEN!

Seriously, it’s all about the display, folks.  Websites are beautiful.  And comics.  WOW.  I don’t read comics much, but I just might with how they look on the iPad!  You can have a full page screen, OR you can have individual panels shown. A swipe of the fingers changes the panels.

In summation, this device is a great “all purpose” media bonanza.  It’s only limited to it’s apps.  Okay, THAT’S not true.  There’s no camera OR USB port.  No camera is lame.  Not because I want to take pics of things with the bulky iPad, but because it would be nice to be able to see people’s faces via Skype.  And what if I want to put some files on the thing?  Nope, only through syncing!

So yeah, there are some drawbacks.  **cough**like price!**cough**  But in my book, the it’s awesome.  Great for people who don’t want their bulky laptop in bed, great for those who love to just sit on the couch and read.  Great for (let’s face it folks) bathroom reading.  Or gaming, as the case may be.

The longer I have it, I’m sure the more uses I’ll have for it.  I love the fact I can watch movies, or play a game, or read a book or go shopping or check email or tweet or listen to music or have my events calendar all in one device.

THE FUTURE IS HERE!

And I predict future incarnations of the iPad and other competitors will pave the way to a whole new line of gadgets that MY kids can’t live without.  Got all your text books?  Yeah, Mom, I downloaded them last night!

SWEET.

As an aside, I’d just like to mention the desert wallpaper you see on both my lock screen and my home page are completely intentional.  While writing my Desert Princes of Jikkar series, it’s always nice for some visual inspiration!

As another aside, the iPad makes me proud to be an eBook author.  Well, so does the Kindle, in all honesty.  The Nook too, but I dont’ have one of those!  ….yet! 

~~Becka

I saw the hand surgeon today.  He spent a good, long time with me, answering questions and manipulating my wrists in different ways.  He did say my left wrist felt different than my right, and noted my puffiness in the joint.  However, he’s not convinced I have a TFCC tear.

I was right when I said I think I have a negative ulnar variance, however, he says he believes it happened when I broke my wrist as a child and the bone didn’t grow correctly.  Because the ulna is shorter, it’s less likely the TFCC will tear, as a positive variance, when the ulna is longer than the radius, can poke through the thin membrane of the ligament.  However, he didn’t rule it out completely, because it’s altogether possible I tore my TFCC YEARS ago, and it has since degenerated, or has torn again due to my mysterious trauma in December of pushing myself up off the couch.

He wasn’t convinced any of my other ligaments holding the wrist bones together were torn either, as I didn’t yell and scream in pain while he was manipulating the joint.  It was uncomfortable, and I told him there was a dull ache, but nothing sharp and breath-taking.

He still wants the MRI, though, as that will definitively prove or rule out any ligament tears.  They will shoot my wrist up with contrast dye in a few key compartments and if the dye leaks out of these compartments, then a tear is present.  Of course, as with all health care red tape, I need to have the MRI approved by my insurance before I can get it done.

In the meantime, because my mother has Rheumatoid Arthritis, he ordered a blood test to rule that out as well.  Normally, RA manifests over time, but there are cases where a sudden onset of symptoms can flare up with no warning.  And due to the fact my wrist is a bit swollen with fluid, he wants to rule that out as well.  I was able to get my blood drawn before I left the hospital, so that was good.  Still won’t have the results for that for a few days.

Hopefully my insurance won’t deny my MRI.  How much would that suck?!

But even the ladies in the lab drawing my blood were singing my doctor’s praises, along with my physical therapist.  The guy was very nice, he listened to my questions and wasn’t in a rush.  I really like him.  And he’s moving his office closer to Hillsboro; bonus! 

At this point, though, I’m rooting for a ligament tear over the arthritis.  If it’s something that can be fixed with a suture as opposed to, “Sorry lady, you’re f**ked.”, then I’m all for it!

In the meantime, I’ve gotta hurry up and wait.  Again.

Wrist Saga, Chapter Eleventy.

~~Becka

After weeks of pain, my Doc is confident my pain is due to a tear in my TFCC, better known as the Triangular Fibrocartilage Complex.  It’s a collection of ligaments and cartilage on the outside of your wrist that allows for mobility of the joint and helps hold everything together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM_O2cnlgh8

I had a bit of swelling along with bouts of going numb in my pinkie and ring finger that would sometimes go up my arm like someone smacked my funny bone.  So just to be safe, the Doc sent my to a neurologist to see if I had Ulnar nerve entrapment.  But my test was normal.

So my ortho did one more test with me after I told him exactly where the pain was.  He grabbed my ulna and radius and moved them back and forth, opposite of each other.  OMG what a weird combination of strange, creepy and tickly.  I could feel the weakness in there.  He did it to my right wrist and everything felt fine.  That cinched the diagnosis for him.

He told me I had two options.  One is to get a full arm cast for four weeks followed by physical therapy afterward.  The other was to go to the hand surgeon, get a painful dye injected into my wrist to see where the tear was on an MRI–then get casted for four weeks followed by physical therapy.  LOL  Well, since I didn’t want to go any longer without what seemed to be the only form of treatment, I decided to get a cast.  Talk about a shock!  I totally wasn’t expecting that.

So as you can see, I decided to have fun with it.  I got the pink, and the lady was nice enough to give me spray-on glitter!  Figured the only way to stay positive with a full arm cast where my arm is bent for 4 weeks on top of a small baby, 4 other kids and a house to take care of (not to mention my writing) was to have a little levity with the situation.

Now we’ve got to get used to the adjustment.  When I broke my wrist as a kid, I had a full cast for 4 weeks then too.  I remember getting it off and not being able to fully extend my arm for maybe a week after that.  It was painful.  I also remember the pain of bending my wrist for the first time.  Doc said, “Yeah, you’re not 13 any more.”  Hence the PT I’ll need.  **shudder**  But it’s not just because of the cast, the PT is also to help the TFCC strengthen and regain mobility.  Not looking forward to that.

I’m hoping this mode of treatment works.  The only other treatment is surgery to suture the tear.  Now, it’s an out patient procedure, but it still hurts like hell and can take weeks/months to recover from.  DO NOT WANT!

So, that’s the news from this end.  No writing for me for awhile.

How did I injure myself, you ask?  Well, I don’t really know.  It’s been hurting since early December.  The only thing I can think of is when I pushed myself off my couch three or four different times and felt something in my wrist like someone plucking on a guitar string.  It didn’t hurt at the time, just felt odd.  Shortly thereafter my pain began.  That may or may not be how it happened, but it probably was.

However, good news!  Champagne Books just bought BLACK ANGEL!  That’s my fantasy novella about the hero with obsidian black skin and wings!  I love that story and will be proud to see it with Champagne!  Woohoo! 

~~Becka

When I was 13 years old, I was riding home from school on my bike.  I had a book in my right hand because I didn’t have a backpack.  Then I hit a patch of gravel.  Couldn’t stop the front wheel of the bike from jack-knifing and down I went, breaking my fall with my left hand.

Of course, that fall resulted in a multiple fracture.  I’d broken three bones in my wrist and hand.  The bone in your hand that goes to your thumb, one of the larger bones in your arm (not sure if it was the ulna or the radius) and one of the many little bones in the wrist itself.  Doc said I must have hyper-extended it.

All these years later, I’ve had problems with it.  My thumb especially.  I can’t straighten it fully like I can with my other thumb.  And it aches so much during cold weather.

Last month, my wrist really started hurting.  I thought huh, weird.  Maybe I’d strained it somehow, but it wouldn’t go away.  When I was wrapping Christmas gifts, it really started to hurt, and one day when I was mopping with my twist-head mop, I thought I was going to die.  That’s when I knew I should get a wrist brace.  So my hubby got me one and it felt wonderful, but the pain wasn’t going away.

To make a long story short (too late) I made an appt. with an orthopedic surgeon.  Saw him today and got some x-rays done.  Good news is, there is nothing wrong with my bones.  Bad news is, thus begins the hypothesizing on what it could be.

I’d done some research online and latched onto something called TFCC, where the “triangle” of ligaments in your wrist gets a tear, making for pain along the outside of your wrist, the ulnar side, the side with your little fingers.  It hurts when you rotate your wrist, even for mundane things like turning a doorknob or starting a car.  And forget about holding that gallon of milk.  Well, my pain wasn’t exactly like that.  The sharp pains came every now and then, but mostly, it just ached, up the ulnar side of my arm and along my little and ring finger of my left hand.

Doctor spent about 20 minutes with me doing different wrist tests, and he asked if it was tender to the touch.  I told him yeah, but deep down, like it was underneath something.  So he dug on down in there, and yup, he found it!  He asked if my hand/arm had ever gotten numb.  I told him not all the time, but it sometimes has that weird, dull sensation after you hit your funny bone when it aches.

Then, he bent my arm and did a few more tests, then informed me he thinks it might be my ulnar nerve.  You see, when he bent my wrist, he hit my ulnar nerve at my elbow (where you hit your funny bone) and I didn’t have a reaction.  No reflex.  Well, hardly one.  I barely felt pins and needles in my pinky.  So, he thinks I have a pinched or compressed nerve in there.  Which makes sense, since it’s not sharp pain, but more like a dull ache that buzzes.

So, next Monday, I’m going to a nerve specialist to see where the problem with this nerve is.  If it’s in the elbow itself, my ortho. surgeon can take care of it.  If it’s compressed in the wrist, I’ll have to see a hand surgeon.  Seems to me it would be weird to be in the elbow if my wrist is what’s hurting, but I’m not a doctor, and I have no idea how nerves work.

Anyway, they’re going to stick electrodes in me and send pulses into my nerves to see if the problem is elbow or wrist.  He said it’s not pleasant.  But I have every confidence I’ll live through it.  It cannot possibly be as bad as the time I had to rotate my broken wrist on the x-ray table to be perpendicular to the table.  Despite having 5 children and enduring labor pains and a broken ankle, tailbone, and big toe, I still believe that one wrist x-ray with that radiologist torturer was the most painful event in my life.  I was screaming in there, I remember that much.

However I do believe it’s in my wrist.  Things just don’t feel “right” in there to me, and even the doc was feeling my tendons and such for a few minutes with his furrowed brow.

So for now, I’ve got to wait another week and keep wearing my brace when it gets to be too much to bear.  Like right now, for instance, writing on my laptop with my arm resting on the table, further compressing that nerve.  UGH.

Well, that’s the saga.  No writing this week at all.  Might not be for a while to come.  We shall see…  I just hope it’s not really messed up in there.  Don’t want any surgery.  Especially with a nerve.  Scary stuff!  I’ll keep y’all updated.  In the meantime, I’ve got another week to get through.  Joy of joys.  :-/

~~Becka