all is well

the sugery went fine.
mom's visit was fine.
the baby's ultrasound was fine.
my first day back at work is fine.
the dog is fine.
Jacob's b-day plans are fine.

typing is slow.... more later.

oh....crap

I saw the doctor Wednesday. He very quietly told me that I needed surgery and I needed it soon to avoid any permanent nerve damage. My finger tips are already persistently numb... so he's afraid that it will only progress, especially since I have been ignoring the warning signs for so long. The surgery takes about 10 minutes. They will use a local block - no anesthesia. They will bandage me up and send me home. He said it is a very simple procedure. He's had it done and showed me the scar - less than two inches at the base of his palm. I won't be able to use the hand for a few days, I'll have stitches for two weeks, a splint etc. Then he'll do the other hand. I need to have one hand to give myself the insulin shots (4) and take my blood sugars (6). That is 10 needle pricks a day. 10 more than Michael wants to do. On April 19th at 6 am he will do the right hand. On May 10th at 6 am he will do the left hand. Both on a Thursday morning with my expected return to the office on the following Monday. I don't know what kind of pain medicine they can give me while I'm pregnant, so that should be interesting. I really don't think it will be a big deal. The two bigger deals are being recovered enough to hold the new baby and not losing feeling in my hands permanently.

Gizmo is fine... but what a morning.

I was barely awake… stumbling to the bathroom when I heard Michael and Jacob shouting Gizmo had been hit by a car (he’s fine… I won’t keep you in suspense).
Michael ran inside, got his keys and had me look up in the yellow pages the emergency vet. He had scooped up the dog and put him in his car. Michael was covered in blood. Jacob was crying. Michael was wigging out and my eyes could barley focus on the little print in the yellow pages. Michael grabbed his phone, couldn’t find his wallet and left. I had my wallet, I told him I’d be right behind him. I got dressed, got my keys and Jacob grabbed Bearda (the trusty stuffed animal who sees him through any crisis). We both jumped in my car and raced after Michael. The emergency vet is open from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. It was now 7:20 a.m. and we were half-way across town. We were close to our old vet’s office, I got Michael on the phone and he headed that way. I knew they opened at 7 to take surgery patients. I got 411 and called in advance. The office is open, but they don’t take phone calls directly until 8:00 – so I had the answering service. They also don’t have a vet until 8:00 they only have technicians. Michael arrived and rushed Gizmo inside. They took him in and got an IV started, washed him and were able to keep him comfortable until the vet got there. Since I had paged via the answering service the doctor got there about 7:45.

Jacob and I saw Michael just in front of us, take the dog inside, leave him with the technician and go to the bathroom and clean up. I parked my car and then moved Michael’s still running, doors open, car into a spot. The passenger seat was pretty bad. I’m glad Jacob didn’t see it. It scared me. We went inside. Michael came out of the bathroom. He was still in shock. Jacob and I were scared, but it was good that we all hadn’t seen the dog. It was hard enough to see Michael’s clothes and car seat soaked in blood. I called the office and school. Michael called his carpooling friend. We waited.

The doctor got there and came to tell us that Gizmo would make it. Until she had a chance to sedate him and look closer she couldn’t tell us everything, but it looked like his eye and jaw were the problem. The brunt of the impact was only on his left cheek. He may lose an eye, but that she would know more this morning and would call us.

We got home and got back on track. The other dog, Beam, is freaking out. These two have been together since they were puppies. They’ve never been separated. Beam has serious separation anxiety. Since we adopted them, he’s not been able to comfortably be alone. The next 3 days will be hard on him. I made it to work, Jacob made it to school and Michael has the day off – Tech is closed. He’s cleaning out his car – and having the seats shampooed.

The vet called. Gizmo is doing fine. He's stable and resting. They were able to sedate him and check him out a little more in depth. Dr. Clark thinks they might be able to save the eye. It probably would not be functional but it would remain intact. They are going to sew it shut and let the lids serve as a protective bandage, leave it for 2-3 weeks and then check on it. They try to leave as much intact as possible if they can. The jaw is a clean break about Mid-Jaw line. She said those are the easiest to heal. If it is in the back of the jaw with the joint, it is hard.

They will do surgery on Tuesday - they want to keep him for 24 hours first, to make sure he's not got anything else brewing or injured. They will keep him until Wednesday or Thursday for recovery.

Carpal Tunnel

I got in trouble from my OB Thursday. I have Carpal Tunnel and I didn’t tell him. I went to a doctor (neurology) and had it looked into. I’ve had it a long time according to her. My OB said it isn’t a neurology problem. It is an orthopedic problem. You need an appointment now. Women generally don’t develop this problem until they are in the 8th or 9th month, not the 6th month. If it is that bad now, I might have to have surgery before the baby is born - lovely.

In hindsight I can think of symptoms 7 years ago when Jacob was born. I had a hard time holding him when he pushed against me with his legs. I chalked it up to his strength. Have you seen his thighs??? he’s got amazing quad muscles… twice the size of any kid his age, which explains his great soccer kick. Then of course the next rationalization was that we had a hard mattress and my hands would fall asleep at night. And that was for the past 5 years. Thinking to myself, man I wish we had gotten a pillow top to that mattress. Now I’m pregnant again and wow… my hands are falling asleep consistently at night. Not just occasionally and more than one time a night. It must be that I’m sleeping on my side. See how the rationalization keeps kicking in. Wake up and shake your hands, turn over and go back to sleep. Hmm….now my hands are falling asleep at my desk. That can’t be good. I’d shake them out, and keep working. Now the problem is daily at my desk, and multiple times a day… time to do a little checking on the internet. Mayo Clinic, Pregnancy Today, About.com, etc…. all say it is Carpal Tunnel. They all say it is the median nerve that is being pinched, or constricted by the tendon that crosses the inside of the wrist. Swelling in the arms, wrists, hands – plus simply bending your wrist can cause the nerve to have this problem. The treatment is to take anti-inflammatory drugs (not an option while I’m pregnant) – braces to hold the wrist in a neutral position and keeping gravity on my side by not dangling my hands to my side, but to keep them above my heart. And the last option – is surgery. There are nerve studies they can do to see how much impairment is going on and how much damage may already be done.

I have an appointment with the orthopedic doctor recommended by my OB, on Wednesday April 11, 2007. I think he’ll send me for a nerve study and then determine what to do.