Category: life
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one year of arm stuff – part 12 –ambidexterity – writing
For six months I had no nerve connection whatsoever to my lower right radial nerve. This meant that all of the muscles it powered were completely switched off, paralyzed, leaving me unable to uncurl my fingers, lift my wrist, tilt my wrist, or open my thumb, and leaving me much weaker at gripping, rotating my…
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one year of arm stuff – part 11 –left hand life
When all this was ramping up, I tried to do a lot of research into what tools I would need to navigate the world with my left hand, and there were two things flooding my search results: things for parents to buy for their left-handed kindergarteners, and mensa nerds looking to minmax their IQ by…
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one year of arm stuff – part 10 – frustration
After surgery, I had planned to take two weeks off of work. The actual surgery itself didn’t sound as intense as some prior ones I’ve had, but I had at least some sense that it would take some time to readjust. In the end I took four weeks off, and I’m hugely grateful to my…
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one year of arm stuff – part 9 – accessibility is a thing though! what about adaptive devices?
Okay so this is as good a place as any for this disclaimer: I am sharing my specific personal experience with disability, not speaking to the experience of everyone with any related or similar-sounding disabillities. I have lived with this particular disability for one year; i do not have a lifetime of experience, and additionally,…
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one year of arm stuff – part 8 – okay but ARM recovery—
yes, yes, I’m getting to it. Fact is, there are no promises here. My right, dominant hand will never be the same. We triaged a degenerative condition, we aren’t healing an acute injury. This is so, so much harder on my brain, just as a framework for recovery at all. Right after surgery, I spent…
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one year of arm stuff – part 7 – no, really, what has recovery been like?
God, I am actually having trouble staring this in the face. Recovery has been so fucking weird, guys. And I thought I knew about recovery! If you did the math, that was three years of wrestling through ankle recovery – two surgeries, 14+ pins went in and then came out again, I developed bizarre neuralgia…
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one year of arm stuff – part 6 – recovery
So, first, a review of the facts so far: as of October 2023 they had cut out a piece of my radial nerve and sewn in a piece of my sural nerve, and I had begun the 2-3 year recovery process. The surgeon had informed me that first the nerve needed to grow over the…
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one year of arm stuff – part 5 – wait, I have wrist pain/finger weakness/tingling in my hands too! what if…?
Two facts for you: I let this fucker grow in my arm for six years before I had the space in my head and my life (and the insurance coverage for the physio) to really chase it down. I don’t know how finding it sooner would have changed anything; I don’t know if we COULD…
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one year of arm stuff – part 4 – peripheral nerves?
So neurology covers the brain and nervous system, right? And the brain and spine are the central nervous system, so the limbs etc are the peripheral nervous system. A peripheral nerve surgeon is not a brain surgeon – in my experience they are more likely to be a plastic surgeon, a term that encompasses an…
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one year of arm stuff – part 3 – what the heck is a radial nerve?
The radial nerve runs from your shoulder down to your fingers along the outside of your upper arm and the top of your lower arm, about where you might get a sunburn or where you would draw body hair on a cartoon character. It powers a lot of muscles related to extension – straightining (and…