Myke's 'blob.

So the doctor shows me into the exam room, before I've even turned to sit down in the chair she announces, "Well I've got your MRI results... it's nothing surgical."

...

"What?"

Radiologist's Report

"You have tendinitis."

That's it?

So welcome to my hypermobile life: My ligaments stretch, never contract, and heal on a scale that's 10X longer than the average human. (And in an average person it's very slow going anyway.) It's the same root-cause to the problem I have with my knees and ankles. And hip. And shoulder. And TMJ. And now my wrist. And bad enough that life sucks, but not bad enough that they'll (be able to) do anything. Surgeons won't operate a) because nothing's actually "wrong" and b) my ligaments are so loose that anything they do would be rendered moot after a semi-negligible amount of time anyway.

What's got me angry/frustrated/annoyed/sad is that when I finally thought real progress was about to happen, my doctor takes the position that there's some tendinitis and with some PT/OT, everything will be fine.

Except I disagree.

Remember this?

X-Rays showing scapholunate-ligament dysfunction

Yeah - that shows the scapholunate ligament ain't doin' it's job. The ECU tendinitis that the MRI shows has nothing to do with that. (ECU runs from the base of your pinky almost up to your armpit.) While it partially explains the constant pain, the apparent TFCC pain, and some of the gripping problems and flexion/dorsiflexion (scooping motion), it doesn't come close to being the reason for the clunking, the hypermobile lunate, the wicked spasms that inhibited my PT from doing anything. It also means that if I start working my wrist, there's a really good risk of developing some awesome arthritis due to the very poor structure within. I think my doctor completely missed this. Or forgot that the X-Rays show this.

Admittedly it took me a few hours afterwards to realize there's a logic problem here too, but I think this is a very big issue that is unaddressed. Her advice was to taper using the splint/cast-thing "since we're not protecting anything anymore, you might as well get things moving." I think this would be premature, since my wrist still feels extremely unstable. She agreed and said that we should defer to the hand-OT to start that progression.

Oh - And from a casual Googling - sometimes a cyst in the scaphoid is an indicator of a latent fracture, or cartilage damage. She didn't mention this at all. Maybe it's moot, maybe it's relevant. Maybe it's the elephant in the room.

... I'm going to get a second opinion.

Tomorrow I call my other sports-doc, (the one that's been seeing me since I was 9, who's looking at my knees again) to look at this, she's the one that I'd been referred to originally. (Reason it took so long to get an appointment? The referring physician never indicated any priority on the referral, so I was at the very bottom of the pile.)

I'll also order a copy of my MRI films.

I'd really like to talk to an orthopedic surgeon too... see what other options there are. (Pin the ligaments?) (Prolotherapy?) (Temporary/External Fusion?) (Rubber bands?)

This isn't the end of this story. Not a chance.

Write a comment...

I was the official photographer of TEDxOttawa this past weekend, TED Talks are a pretty amazing conference/notion, and to have a 'baby' TED here in Ottawa was definitely something I needed to be a part of.

Here's how the event looked from my perspective, from the final planning 'party', to the setup and the main event.


_{Please ask for my permission before you take/use any of these photos. I'm very reasonable about it. Just ask.}

MRI Tech: Can you put your arm over your head?
Myke: Uh, yes...?
MRI Tech: Can you lay on your stomach?
Myke: err... Yes?
MRI Tech: Put your hand in here.
Myke: ∗puts∗
MRI Tech: ∗clamps the damn vice down on it∗
MRI Tech: How's that?
Myke: ∗Wince∗ It's... sucky, but I'll live
MRI Tech: Okay - try not to move.
MRI: ∗bwong bwong bwong∗
Myke: ∗trying to not move while breathing on stomach in a Village People dance pose∗
(Towards the end, I could feel twitches and spasms in my arm & fingers, I was quite concerned that might screw things up.)
MRI: ∗stops∗
MRI Tech: All done! ∗unclamps my hand∗
Myke: That is one angry wrist.
MRI Tech: Oh yeah... err... probably eh? But that coil really helps the imaging.
Myke: So it was good?
MRI Tech: Yes, great images.
Myke: Good, I was worried, I felt my arm & hand move during the scan, I was worried that it screwed things up. (This is likely a 3.0 Telsa machine)
MRI Tech: Oh no no, we actually stimulate the nerves, very strong signals. But very good images. Don't worry.
Myke: Cool - Can I see them?
MRI Tech: Sure!
(I had no idea what I was seeing, nothing really obvious, sorry) (tho they did look damn cool)

2-3 Weeks for Radiologist's report. I'll be requesting the 'films' from that too. Stay tuned.

Almost 100 days of suck completed!

Just as I started planning a post-Christmas trip to Amsterdam to see Alia & Martin & Samara, and celebrate the new year, my knee MRI gets booked too closely to make going worth it (in terms of affordability and time-spent.)
I guess I need plan for the unexpected, what with more tests, doctor's & surgeon's appointments - and likely surgery itself, I'm not really sure that I can plan any real trips/vacation at all in the next year... And we were talking about a family trip in the winter too. And K and I wanted escape somewhere too.

This 'blog is approaching LiveJournal levels of emo

Wrist MRI is confirmed for this weekend though!

"It's like twitter. Except we charge people to use it."

I'm sure it happens to graphic designers more than it does to me, but every so often, an existing client will come up with a brilliant idea that we'll make millions on, "we just have to bite the bullet for now." so-please-do-all-this-work-for-free. kthxbai.

Read This
This kind of person is why I've stopped doing things "for potential profit", because the amount of actual lost revenue has so far greatly outweighed all of the non-existent "profit" I've (never) seen. Ask me why my rates are "high".
_(via)

Champs-de-Mars

Had to go to Montréal for some datacenter stuff, so I took K along with me and we just had a nice weekend. Pretty decent view from the hotel eh?

Time Lapse Video

I also shot a lot of film
_{What's on Myke's arm??}

Again, another minor publication, but I'm not going to complain. This shot I took for Ian Capstick's 'blog post, but I'd also posted to Flickr and Schmap noticed.

I did get new arm candy:

"VACOhand"

_{(... I have two arms K, you're still my other candy}

So I've lost the use of my thumb, and all but my finger-tips, which pretty much renders my hand entirely useless, but the upside is that the pain & edema is significantly reduced. I feel (emotionally) human again. The past couple weeks were really rough, mostly because of the near-constant agony... but if near-complete immobility makes everything else better - I'll take it. Curiously, when I take it off my hand is almost normal, but within 30 minutes it's puffy, after an hour it's pretty huge; my inference is that using my thumb was a big irritant.

Apparently I can get this thing wet too, like swimming... but I think I'm going to hold off on that.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of wearing a pound of plastic, foam & velcro, and it still hurts, it's just that things aren't that bad this week. And that's a huge improvement over the past 3 months.

I swear I'm going to need an oven-mitt for wearing outside during the winter... And sadly there's nowhere for blue LEDs!

10 Days till the MRI.

(Probably 6mo+ for the MRI on my knees, but that's a chronic problem, not acute, so I can wait.) (What? You didn't know my knees suck too?)

Can't believe it's been more than two and a half months.

There's been no improvement; and other than a possible upgrade to my arm-candy, it's just a waiting game. Sigh.
The TENS helps, but the effects don't last more than an hour or two after.