How it works

Went to a hand specialist on Thursday. Well actually I went Wednesday too but I had the days wrong. At least I was early and not late!

I guess he must be more than a hand specialist as I went for my wrist. Going to a hand specialist for a wrist injury would just be silly.

So any break has healed, there is no necrosis! Yipee! So the injury is De Jose Quervo's -- or something like that. The tendon from your wrist wrapping up your thumb is covered by a sheath, a glorified flap of skin. Mine is all squished together, preventing the tendon from moving cleanly.

The Doc asked if my wrist was inflammed -- I've never thought it looked swollen -- he took one look and decided it was quite swollen -- go figure. He checked out my MRI and stated that there was significant swelling -- guess that is why it has hurt so bad for 3.5 months.

So my choices were:
1. Wear a brace and see if it quiets down. Been there, done that -- although I wasn't great at wearing the brace because it got in the way, hurt a bit, and made it feel awful when I took it off
2. Get a shot of Cortisone.

Being tired of waiting I went with the cortisone. Comes back with a needle of some cc's of the viscous fluid. For some reason I can't watch him poke it in, after that I'm fine. The first part of the shot contains a bit of a local -- so that it doesn't hurt. He warns of some pressure -- takes a sec but wow -- that feels really weird. Kind of like someone is shooting fluid up into my thumb. Huh.

Then, suddenly, the weirdest crack/snap -- kind of scary when a guy has a needle up your wrist. He was quite pleased though -- apparently that meant he was beneath the sheath which must have been a good thing.

He warns of some discoloration, some fat dissipation (tried to see if that would work for my whole body -- guess not), and that the local would wear off in about 2 hours. The shot may not make a difference for a few days. He was quite confident one shot would do, but on occasion you need to come back for another shot (I think that means the shot really won't help they just don't know what else to do).

So here's how cortisone works. They shoot you up and everything feels weird and different. The local wears out in 10 minutes not 2 hours. Your wrist, hand, arm hurt so bad after the shot, you can't move the thumb, you hold the arm so nothing moves, that -- well after that -- it has to feel better so you think you're cured. It may not feel better than before the shot but at this point you can't remember what that felt like -- only that it feels better than how miserable it felt after that shot.

And they really think you'll voluntarily come in for ANOTHER shot?

Nah -- I think one shot will do fine!