Sometimes The Cure Is Worse

Along with all of the other stuff I have had going on lately, including all the emotional stuff that made me quit blogging and facebook and very nearly drove me to drinking again and made me a raving maniac, I have been suffering with a severe case of tennis elbow.

It was one of the (many) reasons why I bid out of the Hive to be among the more relaxed denizens of Raccoon City. Turning all of those keys and using all of those handcuffs over and over again was killing me.

I took to wearing a brace on my arm and spent a month in physical therapy. The therapy helped but didn't cure it. My arm hurt about 40-50% less, but it still hurt.

So last week I went back to the doctor and asked what the next step was. He was going to suggest an orthopedic surgeon. But after a moments thought he decided we could try a shot of hydrocortisone and see if that helped any.

I have had a few of those, if you recall. He gave me four of them in my back a few months ago. That was an adventure I don't hope to repeat any time soon.

So he mixed a little xylocaine in with it to numb it up and gives me the shot. Yeah, it hurt a bit, but you gotta expect that. He sent me home and told me good luck.

By 12:30 or so the xylocaine started wearing off and my arm started to ache.

By the time I got to work it felt like I had a bee sting on my arm bone. Not on my arm. On the bone.

By the time I hit the yard it felt exactly like my arm was broken. All I could do was drive around in the cart with my arm in my lap and try to keep from whimpering every time I hit a bump.

I managed to make it through the night by biting my lip whenever I had to use my right hand for anything.

And of course, sleep that night was impossible. I was a wreck the next day from lack of sleep.

But hey! My arm quit hurting! Huzzah!

I just passed day three without the brace. I'm still being careful with it but I think most of that is just from remembering the last three months of discomfort. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

If I would have known ahead of time how much that shot was going to hurt me, would I still have done it? I dunno. But I sure would have taken the day off and gotten some demerol or something first.

Hopefully next time I'll know better.

Hopefully there won't be a next time.