I went to the orthopaedic doctor about my hand yesterday and was diagnosed with trigger finger. Seriously.
Trigger finger is an inflammation of tissue inside the finger or thumb, causing swollen tendons. When a tendon becomes inflamed, it causes the lining of the tendon sheath to swell and thicken, or the tendon itself may thicken. Then the sheath pinches the tendon, and the tendon can no longer slide easily inside the sheath. When the finger is straightened, the tendon sticks or "locks" as it tries to squeeze back through the sheath.
Mine isn't that bad yet. I haven't had it actually lock up, but if I don't do something about it, that will probably happen eventually. Since I have already tried the cortisone shot, the only option left is surgery. It's a simple, in-office procedure.
The sheath that surrounds the tendon is opened to enlarge the space and release the swollen tendon. This allows the finger to bend and straighten normally again.
My surgery is scheduled for Wednesday, March 11. I wanted to wait until after my birthday weekend, so I'm putting it off a couple of weeks. There's going to be a tennis tournament at the KSC Picnic this year and I'm playing Ladies Doubles with a friend. Though how I'm going to handle the pain that day and the practice days leading up to it, I'm not sure. But I don't want to let her down, so I'll figure something out. Ibuprofen comes to mind.
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Tom and I had better luck with air conditioning company number two yesterday. I was already predisposed to like the company, based on what I read on their website and the conversation I had with the owner's wife when I scheduled the appointment. The estimator gave us quotes on three different Trane systems. We threw out the highest one and are now hashing out the pros and cons of the lower and middle estimates.
Tom is very concerned that I should get my designed closets and is willing to do without some manly bells and whistles to that effect. I think that's very sweet. Especially as he's not convinced the closet company will do a better job than he can with his graph paper and the ClosetMaid stuff from Lowe's. (he has fallen on his head more than a few times, so I have to allow for that)
A designer from The Closet Factory is coming out today to work up a design and estimate. It will be interesting to see how it compares with the one from California Closets, both in cost and design.
So, now I know what trigger finger is, how on earth did you get it?
Posted by: Denise Baum | February 27, 2009 at 04:27 PM