This Is Halloween, This Is Halloween...

Everyone hail to the pumpkin song!

The Saga of My Poor Left Hand

I'm typing this entry primarily with one hand. I saw the specialist on October 4th, and he said that he would submit a pre-authorization for surgery to my claims adjuster (through Workers' Comp). Three weeks later, I'd heard nothing. After several phone calls, I received a voicemail from the specialist's assistant. Apparently, three weeks later, the claims adjuster decided to let them know that they never received the pre-authorization.

Three. Weeks. Later.

Are you kidding me?

So, the specialist's office faxed the pre-authorization again; this time, the claims adjuster acknowledged receipt. Alas, my proverbial princess is in another castle: my claim now has to be transferred to another department, where another claims adjuster will probably want to speak with me over the phone. As much as I wish that I'd get a phone call tomorrow, I have high doubts that this will happen. In fact, I'm starting to get depressed over how much my hand is hurting. I have sympathy now for those with carpal tunnel; it's amazing that something so small can cause so much discomfort. I've had trouble sleeping, my hand gets swollen, I've lost my grip (and dropped quite a few things as a result), and it's harder for me to accomplish as much at work. I feel like I'm moving through molasses, moving in slow-motion... just plodding along, doing my best, despite the burning/throbbing sensations in my hand.

It's borderline ridiculous that we have to jump through so many hoops and relentlessly pester so many people just to get anything done. I'm in pain. Typing for eight hours a day led to this pain. The solution to the pain (surgery) is quick and simple. Fix the pain quickly, solve the problem, before it gets worse. I guess my impatience may stem from the herniated disc that I suffered a few years ago. It took forever for the doctors to figure out what was wrong with me. It was actually a physical therapist who first suspected the herniated disc. In the meantime, the bulging disc was crushing a nerve root, which caused shooting pains and numbness along my left arm. Even after that surgery, I've had lasting back pain and dulled sensations on my left arm. Case in point: treating things before they have time to cause other problems is the best solution.

Let's just cross our fingers and hope that this particular issue can be resolved soon. I had forgotten how depressing it feels to be in pain.

Suzanne Westenhoefer 05/15/2011

My girlfriend introduced me to a lesbian comedian by the name of Suzanne Westenhoefer. Once I heard some of her routines, I was hooked; she's funny as hell, and her sketches about her mom remind me a little of my girlfriend's mom. We were fortunate enough to see her perform live at The Paper Moon on 05/15/2011. I trolled YouTube for a minute and found this clip from one of her performances; check it out!

Surgery

Assuming that the pre-authorization request is approved by Worker's Comp, I'll be having surgery to fix my tenosynovitis. This has been going on for awhile now, and nothing else we've tried has worked, so frankly I'm ready for surgery. It sounds like the surgery will be minimal, quick, and have a fast recovery time. I found a video of the surgery on YouTube, which you can see above. It's definitely not for the squeamish, but it's a really informative video. It's strange that something so small can cause such a great amount of pain. At least the solution is relatively simple: "release" the sheath around the tendon, thus giving the tendon more room to move around.

I really hope that Worker's Comp will approve the request. I've worked my ass off for the company, which has brought me to this point; the least they can do is fix the problem for me so that it doesn't inconvenience other areas of my life.

And now... we wait...

RIP Steve Jobs

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

How true...

Schfifty-Five

Another trip down Memory Lane! Anyone else remember this one?