Back in the high life again ... maybe

And that's the high life as in writing with both hands, not drinking and dancing "with one hand free." :-) (Thanks, Steve Winwood.) Because for me, the high life is writing! And I seem to need both hands to do it, especially my dominant hand, for some silly reason.

After a frustrating two-week break from hands-on work on my WIP, I got back to it last night and made a small dent. It felt good, and I hope I can keep it up. I've been doing some stretching exercises and self-massage on my offending hand for the last several days and it seems to have helped a lot. Also have been taking some vitamin B supplements that could be helping. It's not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, and I'm still going to the appointment with the specialist for sure, but I was at least able to type at the computer for several hours (with lots of stretch breaks) and still got up with a hand that felt relatively normal today.

It's hard to get back into the writing when the flow has been interrupted. I could probably have written a day or two earlier, but it took some talking to my brain and heart to get back into it last night. Once I got started, I was off and running. Just goes to show how much "showing up at the page" is such an important part of the whole process. Often, if you'll just do it, you'll be surprised at what pours out on the page.

If you're wondering at the fact that I've blogged some and obviously surfed, I've mainly worried that a long stretch of typing would make my hand feel worse or injure it more. I can type a little and take a break when blogging or surfing without losing my train of thought, but when I sit down to write, I feel like I need an uninterrupted session of a couple of hours. I may have to adjust that thought pattern if my hand doesn't ever completely heal.

It will be interesting to see what the orthopedic guy has to say (when I finally see him in another week and a half!!!). I've done lots of hunting around on the Internet, studying various thumb ailments that show up. I'm going to be one of those patients doctors hate these days--the ones who self-diagnose using the Internet. :-) I can't stand idly waiting for an appointment while my body hurts and I get nothing done, so I start looking for things I can do in the interim.

My self-diagnosis? I thought for a while it probably was the standard Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and who knows, it still could be (or that could be a compounding problem), but all drawings and photos of the hand pointing to tender spots and descriptions of problems point more to Basal Joint Arthritis or Arthritis of the thumb. I know, I know, I'm MUCH too young to have arthritis. :-D Well, actually, I guess I'm not. Apparently, I'm the typical age this lovely ailment makes itself known.

I also found this great article written for massage therapists about preventative and restorative self-care for their hands, because hands are so critical to their occupation. I think writers fall into that category as well, so I started doing the things the article suggests several days ago and it has helped. I also found range of motion exercises for the thumb here and carpal tunnel stretches here.

So, for now, I'm back on the wagon, and hope to see my WIP start growing regularly again.