De Quervain's Tenosynovitis

After several days of pain/numbness/tingling/burning sensations in my left wrist, I reported the injury to my supervisor at work. I'm a stubborn person when it comes to pain; living with chronic back/neck pain has made me a pretty tolerant person when it comes to dealing with pain. This wrist pain, however, was no fun at all. Mostly, it was the burning sensations and the numbness that concerned me; these symptoms flared up at work and carried over to my home and social life. I mean, I couldn't even twist the cap off of a milk jug- how sad is that?

So my supervisor, who was just recently promoted to said position, got to share in a fabulous Work Care adventure with me. I had been to Work Care once before, so I knew what to expect. I saw an extremely butch woman there, and we exchanged the universal gay nod before we proceeded to ignore each other. My supervisor fidgeted and looked through a parenting magazine with me, where we mocked unusual toys such as the "placenta teddy bear" (I'm not even making that up). When I was called back to see a doctor, I just answered a bunch of questions and succumbed to the usual exam. When the doctor informed me that I had "de quervain's tenosynovitis", my first reaction was to say "gesundheit." Then, when I realized that she had actually stated the medical name of some condition, I wondered if she had just made it up. She explained everything to me, and I was given a brace to wear for the time being. The brace is incredibly annoying, as it prevents me from moving/utilizing my thumb. Since what I have means that the tendons attached to my thumb are horribly inflamed and not functioning properly, the brace is doing the right thing; still, it's frustrating because I'm so used to being able to use my thumbs for everyday tasks. It's also bulky and likes to get in the way of everyday activities.

So, the doctor at Work Care also said that I shouldn't be using my left hand at all. It's been a whole day and work still hasn't decided what to do with me. I hate the way that people make you feel at work when you've been injured. They look at you like you're trying to scam them, or like the injury is your fault. It's not my fault that I'm injured- I do everything that I'm supposed to: stretches, ergonomics, etc. It doesn't help that the new head of HR doesn't like me very much, so that's just been adding to my stress.

Needless to say, it's been a crazy week. I'm ready for my long weekend. I can't believe that I'll be turning 28 soon. Time has been flying by... Where will my next adventures take me?