sergebroom | yes, THAT finger

I had been planning to write a verbose entry in my blog today, but too many interesting things have been going on at the office for me to waste the time. I will have to get to the point. (Do I hear someone say "Huzzah!"?) Specifically, to the very point of my right hand's middle finger. Yes, that finger.

Last Wednesday, its joint that's closest to the nail became incapable to clench fully. It clenches almost as much as it normally would, but it doesn't do it fully. The joint won't even bend back. It's no more and no less sensitive than my other joints if I pinch it. If I bend it though, it definitely protests. It hasn't gotten worse or better since last week, and the rest of the finger is fine except for a very slight swelling. I didn't drop a brick on that finger. It just started happening suddenly. I have an appointment with my doctor on August 30, but I may decide to just go spend a whole day at the clinic this week. I pretty much am resigned to their telling me it's arthritis.

Drat.

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Ouch. That's rotten! Just FYI, I've been taking glucosamine/chondroitin for a touch of the arthritis in my hip, and it really does help a lot.

M

Thanks. If the doc does say it's arthritis,I'll ask him about glucosamine/chondroitin. Until then, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

Careful ... you may not be able to uncross them again. ;-)

Heheheh... I actually tried that before I wrote that post and I can actually cross them. It's weird how it went from nothing to this, but then again I've been very healthy for most of my nearly 52 years and I know very little about such ailments. This may actually be quite normal. Hopefully it won't get much more severe otherwise I'll have problems popping my adamantium claws out.

That, unfortunately, is a part of life. I hope it isn't arthritis.

Me too. I'm don't know where that'd be coming from because I don't think my side of the family has a history of getting arthritis. I guess I could ask my mom, who's 2000 miles away. Hopefully she won't worry too much about it.

I'd say you should just go have it checked out. That's all you can do.

Thanks.

I hope I didn't seem rude, I didn't intend to be. I'm not at my best before I've had coffee or tea.

Rude? Why would one think that? As for caffeinated substances, the first thing I'll do when I get to the office is stop by Starbuck's (the coffee place, not Katie Sackoff's) for a venti, with a double shot of espresso, no cream, no sugar. I need it.

I take coffee from home. I've now drunk about half the thermos and am waking up. Tomorrow is the first day of classes. Ugh.

So that's what unbridled enthusiasm sounds like...

Exactly! But I've been attending meetings for the whole of the past week. That tends to dampen enthusiasm.

Weather change there?

and have you ever really hurt that finger before? "Arther" will take up in injured joints faster, otherwise it pretty much affects more than one finger. It may be a tendonitis for whatever reason affecting that finger.

My original osteoarthritis diagnosis was in my early 30s, but then again I spent my life from 7-about 26s riding horses over fences, until I became allergic to horses (swell-up and turn red allergic, Benedryl put a dent in it but not much). And because of the high-torque, high-speed riding, I'm in the class of "if I had a quarter for every time I've hit the deck off a horse, I'd have a bunch o'dough."

I have arthritis in my hands to a certain extent but it just makes the joints sore and sometimes stiff. I'm hurting in several spots (hands, shoulders, knees) because our weather is in flux right now. And my shoulders are f!scked from a fall (right) and catching a cat in a falling carrier (left, much worse, I think I have an injured rotator cuff, but it is getting better).

Best wishes.

I'm sorry to hear about your arhtritis. Weather's never had any effect on me, but there's got to be a first time. On the other (ahem) hand, the weather hasn't been unusual. As for injuries... None, not to that finger anyway. Five years ago, I accidentally slammed a car door on the tip of my other hand's pinky. No break or fracture, but my nail fell off then grew back. A couple of months ago, I pinched my other middle finger's tip between bricks and again my nail fell off, and it's almost done growing back. As for the possibility of tendonitis... Well, it does flare up a bit when I clench things for too long and too hard(which makes it tough being a penny-pincher), but it usually makes my whole right hand tingly. This affects only the very tip of one of its fingers. Still, I don't know much about bodily problems and that may be it. Hopefully the doc will figure it out.

"Serge, I'm afraid the whole finger has got to go."
"Just what I've always wantred... A Mickey Mouse hand."

So, you have to wait 10 days for an appt to have your finger examined? Imagine how long you'd have to wait for a knuckle replacement!

Health care in America sucks.

--KathyF, who doesn't have a LiveJournal acct and has no idea how to post any other way

You followed the proper procedure, KathyF. Non-LJ posts have to go thru this step as a way to prevent jerks and spammers thru.

Anyway... My doctor is actually quite good and quite diligent, but he is the victim of his quality. In other words, he's swamped. As for my current situation, had it gotten worse, I'd have just gone to the urgent-care clinic. As it turns out, my finger's problem seems to be going away, but I'm NOT cancelling my appointment because I want to know what caused this.

Does American health care suck? My own experience would force me to answer in the negative, but that's just mine. Yes, the system could be better. On the other hand, I remember when we were still living in Canada and Sue had a mole that she thought might be cancerous. She had to go thru at least three specialists before they took it off. When I had a suspicious mole, I just went to see my doctor, who removed it then and there. In other words, neither system is perfect.

What is it like in England?

I wrote about it here:
http://whatdoiknow.typepad.com/what_do_i_know/2007/07/the-nhs-sign-me.html

Glad your finger's better. Hard to type without them!

I came over here to find out what the Emergency Pun is, btw.

--KathyF

Actually, I have a whole gallery of those. In a few days, should your mood not improve, I will have to see which pun would be most suitable. That should be incentive enough to cheer up.

yes, THAT finger

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Yanno

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I thought you left Canada

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