On Sunday I had shooting pain in my right arm. It was mostly on the skin - kinda like a really bad sunburn without any sunburn... or like the flu in my skin (sounds weird - but that's how it felt). It was so uncomfortable that I had to take pain reliever to fall asleep. Monday morning it was still bothering me crazy bad. I googled all sorts of stuff trying to figure out if it was a common pregnancy symptom. All I could find was prego women getting carpal tunnel syndrome (from swollen wrists) or that it could be shingles (which I've had several times). But without a rash or swollen limbs, I was stumped. My mom convinced me to call the nurse at my OBGYN and see what she thought - she suggested I go to the doctor, cause if it is shingles they can treat it within the first 3 days.
So.... I saw the doctor this morning. I explained exactly my arm pain and how it hurt my hand too, but only around the thumb. She quickly diagnosed my symptoms as radial nerve inflammation. She said with everything shifting during pregnancy that maybe it somehow got pinched or if I had any trauma to the area it could cause this. As we were talking it dawned on me - I realized exactly what had happened. Let me take you back to Saturday night.
Jami and I decided to decorate cakes during Priesthood session. We just finished our last Wilton Cake Class at Michael's and wanted to try all our fancy techniques. In order to make roses, I had to whip up some pretty stiff frosting - great for keeping shape but a huge pain to squeeze out of the bag. After my 4th rose, I had to have my mom help me squeeze the bag to get the frosting out cause it was so much work.
After I explained this to the doctor and we realized my stiff frosting was the source of my radial nerve trauma, she wrote in my chart: "no decorating with stiff frosting, only the light and whippy kind"!!!
Now... it might seem strange that such a simple activity could cause me physical harm. But you have to understand, I have really small wrists. Baby wrists. Example: I have a baby bracelet that still fits. And I have proportionately small fingers - my wedding ring is a size 3.75. My pinkie is a size 1.5! (they sell baby rings in sizes 1 and 2!) While cheering/tumbling I had many sprained wrists. And one good game of bowling is likely to cause me grief the next day.
Luckily my doctor's appointment wasn't completely in vain - I got some RX refills and my flu shot. But you can bet I will steer clear of stiff frosting from now on!
Here are some pictures of the cakes we made during our class:
8 comments:
Oh my heck! So talented.
Ouch!
At least you had some cake available to comfort you. :-)
I just saw that class at our Michael's. I'll have to go give it a try.
Remember the chopstick incident? lol
You and those darn baby wrists!!
Your doctor sounds great! Good humor and good bedside manner make all the difference, especially in stressful situations (i.e. labor/delivery).
I, too, have tiny wrists. We'll have to compare our hands sometime. I spent my freshman year in high school wearing only long sleeves because I wanted to hide my freakishly small wrists. By senior year I had accepted them and wrote a poem about "my widow wists" and how they were a gift because I could fetch things out of "nawwow neck jahrws" that no one else could get. I figure, we just have to embrace the oddities.
I remember decorating a Big Bird cake for Mary's 3rd birthday that just about did me in. The entire cake was star points with yellow frosting. After that experience, I decided I didn't want to be a cake decorator. My hands hurt way too much. I gave up kneading bread a long time ago and do everything in the Bosch. My hands are getting arthritic and I can't handle it. Even jars and pill bottles are starting to be hard. Take care of those precious hands.
My wrists are about as small as my butt and so I can't really even relate to this story. Although I have arthritis and crocheting hurts my two thumbs and sometimes my "tiny" wrists. I agree with the comment, that at least you had cake near by. That HAD to have helped! My Jen has a very cute cupcake decorating book, I will have to drop it by your moms sometime for you two girls to take a look at. I bet you would LOVE it, Jen does. :)
Craziness! Hope you're feeling better!
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