This time last year I was recovering from foot surgery. The doctor’s bandaging was bothering me something fierce, so I had my mom, a nurse, re-wrap it. She infused the fresh wrapping with extra mommy goodness and it felt great. Well, better.
In the year since this photo was taken, my mom’s hands have grown increasingly useless to her. She’s got carpal tunnel syndrome, and has had bouts with its symptoms that were so bad she had to call into work because she couldn’t drive (her commute is an hour each way).
She’s a phlebotomist, which means she works with needles all day and has to make repetitive pinching and squeezing motions. She lives with constant pain and there are days she can’t take it, and the numbness takes over and she can’t do her job.
This bothers her a lot.
So she decided to get surgery on both her hands today (Friday) to correct the problem. My dad had carpal tunnel surgery several years ago and experienced initial relief and then some recurring pain and numbness down the road. His hands never became 100 percent again. There’s really no way to know if the surgery will fix the problem or not. Usually it helps. She’s hoping it helps.
They advise you to do one hand at a time. You know, so no one gets stuck wiping your ass for a few weeks. So in a few hours, she’ll be going under the knife to have her right hand fixed.
I’m hoping it all goes well and she’s got full functionality as soon as possible.
It’s killing her that she can’t dig around in her flowerbeds right now.
My mom’s also a phlebotomist. Also has a long commute to work. She’d go nuts if this happened to her. So I’m sending good thoughts down I-40 for your mom.
My sister’s also a phlebotomist. She’s already overcome so much to become one that I think if she got carpal tunnel that prevented her from working she might bomb something.
I’m so sorry about your mom’s prollems and surgery. I hope both of them are a success and she can get back to her favorite flowerbeds soon.
I’m not related to any phlebotomists and I didn’t know what one was until today…so…yeah. Either way…though I don’t know her…I’ll be thinking about her and I’ll send positive vibes her way.
Is that a freckle on the end of your big toe? That’s pretty cool.
Would you mind telling me how to put a site meter on my blog…also…how in the world does one link one blog to another? I have very interesting story that pertains to these very pertinent questions…lol
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Ooo, you know what would be great? If your mom started giving pointers to the nurse who inserts her IV about how to painlessly get that humongous tube in there.
I hope everything goes well and she feels lots of relief from the pain.