I have three posts moshing around in my brain right now but I’ll try to keep them separate, since the topics are only remotely related and that’s one of the key blogging errors people make: they jump around too much.

To answer my title’s question: more than words can say. I definitely think I have the syndrome… the carpal tunnel. I am actually amazed I’ve managed to ward it off all this time; I sit at a computer all damn day long and I have been known to play certain computer games for 4-6 hours straight. Maybe all that rock climbing kept the pain at bay, kept my hands and forearms in shape. And the forearms are still in shape. I can actually see vein in there! I remember when I was 40 pounds heavier and I couldn’t get my fingers around my wrists. My god, that was surely a sign to lay off the box of Goldfish and Totino’s pizzas at 3 AM.

I went in search of a wrist brace last night; one that would immobilize the thumb but leave the fingers free, still stabilizing the wrist. Alas, Walgreens was completely sold out. What, is there a run on arm braces all of a sudden? I hit up the CVS after yoga and they didn’t have any with the thumb brace. Luckily – or unluckily for her – my mother had carpal tunnel in both hands and is mailing her brace to me, probably, as we speak. Meanwhile, I tried what my yoga instructor suggested: immersing said painful arm in ice cold (see: frigid, arctic) water for as long as you can stand, then into hot water. This will help with blood vessel constriction. And yes, it did work… for about two hours. Those two hours were sheer bliss, however. I sat comfortably on the couch and watched the preseason Chicago game with nary a twinge of right wrist pain. But it’s back this morning, my old friend the dull ache radiating along the left side of my right arm and nearly crippling my thumb. The mouse and my left are getting very acquainted today. It was an awkward meeting at first, like a 14 year old’s first date, but now, we’re getting the hang of each other.

What amuses me about the crude technique mentioned above is that if you do the same thing with boiled eggs, they’ll peel better.

So, anyone have some bright ideas as to carpal tunnel relief while I await the arrival of my brace (along with a few other packages on their way to my house like new cabinet knobs for the nursery nightstand)?

Oh and Happy Thursday!