The Pains of Motherhood

Around January of this year, I started to notice that my right hand/wrist began to hurt and ache.  At first, I thought I had just slept on it the wrong way, and now it was out of joint or simply sore from being in an awkward position.

As time went on the aching/soreness turned into pain and it began to flare up in my left hand.  When I could barely pick up Master K during his night feeding I knew it was time for a visit to the Dr.

It's now February and I'm sitting in my Dr.'s office and she is telling me to make a fist with my hand (thumb tucked in) and asks me to point my hand/thumb towards the ground - OUCH!!!  Well that was more pain than I wanted to experience.  It turns out that I have tendonitis of the thumb, also know as De Quervain Syndrome, a common condition among new mothers. And I've got it in both hands. Wahoo! So, the Dr. prescribes a thumb splica splint (looks similar to this), and also writes me a prescription for cortisone shots, in case the splints don't remedy the issue. I leave, enduring the pain until I have my appointment for splint.

One week later: I'm at the hospital in the Occupational Therapy unit being assessed by an OT who is constructing a splint for my right thumb/hand/wrist. I am to wear it 24/7 for 6 weeks. My entire hand is pretty much immobilized, making it difficult to do much of anything, but I manage. It also helps that Mr. J is at home and helping out a lot more, especially with any heavy lifting.

Although the splint seems to be working a bit, I find myself compensating and using my left a lot more, especially when carrying Master K. Long story short, my left hand has become a lot more aggravated and I'm back at the hospital to get another splint made.

It's been 6 weeks now and I've weaned myself of my right splint, but I'm now wearing the left 24/7 and wearing both at night. The idea behind the splints is to immobilize the tendons allowing them a chance to heal and reduce the inflammation.

The splints do allow me to rest my hands/wrists, however once I take them off to do anything (shower, wash dishes, bathe Master K), they are extremely weak, ache and sometimes temporary seize up when bumped ever so slightly.

I'm resilient in hoping they will heal, and I want to use the cortisone shots as a last resort, so I return to the hospital to receive physiotherapy.

My therapy last for about 5 weeks. I go in once or twice a week and the PT massages my muscles and tendons, stretching them as best she can in hopes of improving my condition. Alas, no real improvement is made, and I've confused them in the process by describing where the pain resides and how it feels when certain stretches are performed.

Although they have slightly improved since January (I can safely pick up Master K without a whole lot of pain), they ache most of the time and are quite sensitive to any movement or the slightness bump.

I return to my Dr. today to receive my 1st cortisone shot. Because my left is most aggravated, she only injected it into the left tendon right above the wrist bone. I'm hoping it helps, as I'm not looking forward to having chronic tendonitis.