OUCH IT HURTS!!

Another whinge from yours truly.....not my back this time but......

Ganglion....Pathol. a cyst or enlargement in connection with the sheath of a tendon, usually at the wrist.

Yes I have such an enlargement but not right on my wrist but rather to the right side of my right arm at the end of the ulnar.  I first noticed it before Christmas and wondered if I had strained a tendon or something although I couldn't remember having done so.  I do use my computer quite a lot and during my working life I had been a typist.  I am right-handed so this poor old wrist has had lots of wear.

I recently found that when I used my keyboard this 'lump' was painful and it ached when I was motiionless so mentioned it to my GP when I saw him last week.  He sent me for an x-ray and ultrasound "just to be sure it's nothing sinister".

Result:  "The patient's palpable lump is a fluid filled ganglion measuring 13 x 24mm arising from the ulnar aspect of the wrist joint.  No solid component is seen".

At least it is only a ganglion but one finding did surprise me "there is an old ununited ulnar styloid fragment".  I have extremely solid bones so to have chipped a bit off my ulnar surely meant I had given my wrist a solid bang but I have no memory of doing anything like that so when and how?  Not that it has ever been painful but you do wonder at times don't you?

I also discovered that my right hand is in a very bad way with "advanced degenerative change involving the thumb carpometarcarpal joint and all the remaining finger and thumb metacarpopohalangeal joints."

I know I can no longer knit, crochet or sew by hand (can't even use scissors now) and it is frustrating not to be able to do these things.  One thing I am so pleased about though is I can still use my sewing machine and I can still use this keyboard......thank goodness for the latter in particular.  Otherwise I'd not be able to get on here and whinge about the weather etc., and tell weird stories about my youth and family and bore the pants off anyone who ventures to read my blog!!!

On Thursday I go to the radiologist and the doctor will aspirate this lump and then inject it with cortisone and all should be well.   Hopefully I won't be told to rest the arm for any length of time or what would I do.   I am sure that won't be the case and you're not going to be rid of me that easily.  You can take that as a promise....or a threat!!  : )