Let's see how far we've come...

Yes, that might sound weird but I just realized today that the sensation has finally returned to the thumb on my right hand. I hadn't felt it properly (it tingled and was numb constantly) in about 5 years and it was still numb after my CTS surgery, but today I realized that sometime in the past few weeks the sensation had returned to normal.

Woo-hoo. Not.  I'll be in a cast for a week and then a brace for another week, during which I won't be able to do much of anything with my right hand.  I guess it's a small price to pay if I can finally start using my right hand normally again.

Today I had an appointment with a neurologist who did a nerve conductivity test on both wrists, along with evaluating my sensory fields in both hands. The verdict?  Textbook carpal tunnel syndrome: It's severe in the right hand, bad enough that surgery is the only option and recommended to avoid long term muscle strength. So it's off to the surgeon tomorrow.  Yuck.

My 7 weeks of luxiourious summer vacation is over... tomorrow I go back to work. I'm actually looking forward to going back to work, but I could do without the summer heat which usually makes our  departmental office an oven.

On other fronts, my carpal tunnel is still pretty bad though it's a little better: Hopefully it'll improve enough that I can dodge surgery (which I think is inevitable) until the October break.

I've had a mild case of it for years but it's gone nuts this summer, probably due to all the writing I do while grading IB Psychology exams for the IBO, followed by all the work on the basement.  While I've been putting up with tingling hands and having them fall asleep on occasion, this is something entirely different:  I wake up with my arms from my hands to my elbows on fire every night and have jolts of pain like lightning bolts shooting from the tip of my finger up through my elbow when I reach or pick up objects. I'm going to start wearing a wrist/thumb splint but probably will need to see a doctor because this is way beyond annoying.