Relative Something

It has been about two years since I first noticed a pain in my left hand that felt like I must have done something while playing floor hockey to injure it. I figured I probably landed on it, in the heat of action, and then didn’t notice the pain until I had stopped playing. Maybe a strain, or a sprain. The kind of thing a little time would heal.

Unfortunately, time never did end the pain. It was a low-level irritation, somewhere in the middle of the bones of my hand, eventually growing so familiar, that it became my new normal. Something about the pain led me to imagine it might be the beginnings of arthritis in my joints. There is family history of arthritis in hands, so I chalked it up to growing older.

Over time, the irritation did show signs of getting worse. It is hard to measure, because I think my familiarity, and tolerance, for the discomfort would keep adjusting along with the increasing increments of pain. I was becoming aware of more things that were difficult to do with my left hand, though.

A few days ago, for some unidentified reason, the pain changed dramatically, becoming highly sensitive to certain pressures or movements. Finally, after two days of increasing debilitation, I sought professional diagnosis. I am hardly able to do anything with that hand without excruciating discomfort.

With no open appointments at my regular clinic, I headed to an urgent care location in hopes they could recognize a problem and refer me to a specialist for care. Nothing was identified in the initial examination, so I was sent for an x-ray.

I must admit, even though I was looking for a reason that I am experiencing chronic discomfort, I was extremely happy to hear that the x-ray did not show any indications of arthritis. However, that left me wanting some other explanation.

There are no broken bones, and no dislocations. The doctor said she didn’t have any x-rays of a healthy hand with which to compare, but something looked wrong to her. I was pleased, because the area she took notice of, aligned exactly with the spot where my pain seems to have localized: the base of my thumb, where the metacarpal meets the trapezium. (Whut? Okay, I looked it up.)

She said it didn’t look like it was seated quite right. She wondered if it might be a joint subluxation. Regardless, there was nothing she could do except provide a referral to an orthopedic hand specialist. It just so happens, my sister knows one that she highly recommends. I have an appointment to see him at his very next opening, …two weeks from now.

The Urgent Care doctor said the radiologist had not reviewed the x-rays yet, and she would call to let me know if he had anything more to offer. Before the end of the day, I received a message that the radiologist “read the x-ray as normal.”

Humph. What does that mean? We’ll see what the orthopedic specialist says. I know that something is wrong.