030 - See a doctor about my wrist

There are times when I just have to admit that I'm stupid. I'm not talking about willful stupidity. Rather I mean true idiocy. I'm 44 years old and wisdom is still beyond my horizon.

Let's go back 12 or so years. I lived in Seattle at the time. I don't remember if Monica was born yet. Jocelyn might have been pregnant. For some forgotten reason, I was terribly frustrated, so I did what any stupid man would do in that situation. I took out my frustration on an inanimate object.

A smart person would have slugged a pillow or gone for a run. A wise person would have shrugged off the annoyance and gotten on with what is important in life. I punched a piece of furniture. The top of drawer of our chest of drawers to be exact. I hit it hard. The pain shocked some wisdom into me. (Though I have struck one more inanimate object since that time. Over the dog's behavior no less. But this post isn't about anger issues. Though that punch, about four years ago, certainly didn't help the present situation.)

After a few weeks of dull pain, I went to the doctor. From there I saw a hand specialist. By now I had a ganglion cyst on the back of my wrist. They're fairly common and mostly harmless. The hand specialist dismissed it as a simple cyst and said it would go away with time. A lot of money was spent for nothing. I had one x-ray and no MRI. To confirm my stupidity, though, I failed to mention that I punched a thick piece of wooden furniture.

Since that time, I have had a series of ganglion cysts that come and go. My wrist has been getting weaker, too. I'm right handed and I have trouble opening things with that hand. I have to open jars with the left. My wrist is losing flexibility. It cannot support my weight for push ups. I fear it will fail me when I do bench presses. I have to hold it at a certain angle to prevent sharp pain. It's also a very noisy joint (crepitation it's called when the joint pops or grinds when moved.)

So, of course, being supremely stupid, I've done what most guys do. I've lived with it.

But, as we shall see on this list of 101 things in 1,001 days, I want to return to a weightlifting routine. I'd like to do that without pain.

So, I've made an appointment in March to see my doctor, who I last saw at a checkup last year (where I stupidly failed to mention my wrist.)

Looking at the diagram, I believe that my injury is on the radioscaphoidcapitate ligament and the capitate and possibly the lunate bones are affected. The injury also causes problems (pain) all way across the wrist away from the thumb. This is why I think the lunate is involved. Things are either being pushed around by excess fluids, thus the cysts when I actively use my wrist for exercising or sports. Or things aren't in decent formation due to a weakened or injured ligament or a roughed up bone, which would explain the noise and the pain.

I'll post an update when I know. I'm just hoping that I don't have arthritis.

Anyone out there have a ganglion cyst that causing them trouble? What did you do about it?