Again with the "huh. never seen that before"....

[jennlk]

It will be "interesting" to see where this one goes. Went to see the doc for pain in/on my right thumb. Doc (orthopod) pokes at it, ponders a bit, does a few "does it hurt when I do this? that? other thing?", compares against the other hand, ponders a bit more. "Not arthritis, not either of these two tendons, not a sprain. Probably a partially torn muscle, possibly a hematoma. Won't know until the results of the ultrasound come in. Meanwhile, ice once a day and try to limit usage. A splint would probably be a good idea, because if it *is* a torn muscle you don't want to tear it further. If it's a hematoma, the splint won't hurt. Tylenol for pain, no aspirin, limit NSAIDs."

Both Trinity and UMHS are scheduling 3 weeks out for ultrasounds. sigh.

So I dug out the ambidextrous brace that I have, and have started wearing it. gahh. It's not as bad as the full wrist splint I wore for a while when they were trying to figure out what was going on with my left thumb, but it's still annoying. Although, if I'm honest, it's much better than the pain. I can play saxophone with it on, and it does hurt less that way. (Monday night was very painful, but the brace wasn't in the music bag. I did have it on Tuesday night, and it was better.)

Comments

[mrs_sweetpeach]

Oh cripes, that doesn't sound good. Glad you can play with the brace and that you had one at home.

[minnehaha]

For no good reason, I simply expect my medical people to be of prodigious intellect, and I hate it when they are not. Feel better!

K.

[jennlk]

As the doc says: Yes, there's a hematoma (a nice buildup of fluid over the base of the thumb), but *why*? It may be "just" a hematoma (probably caused by a tendon snapping over a blood vessel and making it leak), or it may be one caused by a muscle tear.

And there's no way to know from outside. :) So we wait. She's leaning toward the torn muscle because of some of the other symptoms, but....