I'm Back (Update) (OT)

Just a brief health update: I appear to be better. I still have some tenderness in my wrist but my arm has recovered.

I have a large "port wine stain" vascular birthmark on my right hand, arm, and shoulder—very difficult to grow up with, but merely a cosmetic disfigurement as an adult. It's an odd thing, though...medicine doesn't really know a lot about these kinds of birthmarks. Only about one in 10,000 people has one (only lottery I've ever won), and they're not fatal. So they just don't get studied.

Actually they are fatal in one way—there is a higher than average suicide rate among us in adolescence.

But I've noticed various oddities in my body over the years, even away from the site of the birthmark. For example, my right leg is stiffer and cramps more easily than my left. And it seems like it must be having some sorts of effects that aren't immediately obvious. My supposition is that the irregularity in my vascular system in my right arm had something to do with the atypical pain I experienced in the weeks following the angiogram procedure.

Looking back on it, I wonder if my cardiologist might have thought I was fishing for narcotics when I complained about the pain. I meant to tell him that as a recovering alcoholic I'm exactly the opposite—I wouldn't accept much in the way of painkillers even if they were offered. Hospital painkillers trigger a lot of relapses among addicts. That's what happened to me the last time I relapsed—came home from an operation with a bottle of Percocet, and when that was gone I craved alcohol. That's the relapse that eventually led me to rehab, and lasting sobriety, in 1990. It's another reason you want to avoid addiction.

Oddly enough, my primary physician seemed to have the best handle on it—he diagnosed carpal tunnel syndrome as a result of swelling and internal bruising and clotting. He gave me some simple exercises and treatments to try, and the first exercise I did caused extraordinary discomfort followed by immediate relief. So I think he was probably right.

As you know I get interested in everything, but this is not a big deal. My problems don't amount to a hill of beans in this world. (Casablanca reference.) Lots of people go through much worse things than this all the time. My issue was a minor thing; it just happened to impact the way I make a living—and my ability to post here! Thanks very much for your patience while I recovered.

I'm still a little reluctant to type a lot—I can definitely feel tingling and discomfort in my right hand when I do—but the worst seems to be over and things are definitely improving.

More TOP coming up soon. Geoff has written a nice review of William Neill's important new retrospective book that I'll post tonight or tomorrow. And I think we'll do the "It Must Be Color" by ones or twos...I need some kind of help, some kind of mechanism for getting over my blockage with that. I don't know why I can't get it done.

Mike

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Comments

[Peter Wright]

Welcome back! But don't overdo it whatever you do! I (and I think all of us) would much rather you post less often, if that means you don't risk your health. I look forward to reading more.

[Ben]

Glad you're on the mend, but yes, please don't overdo it.

About "It Must Be Color", why not post more than just your 13? Perhaps in 2 groups of 13. If you've had more great submissions than you can whittle down, then please share the bounty with us :)

[Bryan Willman]

I think *MOST* of us (all? of us) have quirks and assymetries in our bodies, they're generally just not all that visible to others.

[Michael Perini]

Well welcome back, glad your prognosis is good.
From what you describe I wouldn’t be surprised if typing still aggregates things for a while.
Why not use this time to train yourself to dictate?
I know , it’s not the way I work either and your writing habits are far more ingrained than mine.
But even if it was 50% successful that would be cutting your load in half.
Easier said than done I am sure. But if it mitigates a more serious or more persistent injury it is probably worth trading learning pains for real pains.
.... You might even grow to like it.....
Just Sayin’
A sincere welcome Back
M

[Mitch]

It's good to see you back and on the mend. I've missed having your daily smiling face!

When you posted the "It Must Be Color" invitation I wondered how in the hell you would ever be able to choose. I thought it might make it easier if you divided the submissions into a half a dozen or so categories and then pick a bunch from each category. You would have more to post in the end but at least you would have a humanly achievable task ahead of you. Just a thought.

Mitch

[Joe]

Mike -- Welcome back!

And thank you for scheduling your recovery and blog silence during my week-long trip out of the country!

(Also thanks to Keith Jarrett for canceling this year's Carnegie Hall solo piano performance which had been scheduled during my trip!)

It all worked out.

[Peter Komar]

Good news that you are getting and feeling better, perhaps to finish "It must be color" you need some spring colors in nature to get things moving. I hope that is not too far off in your part of the world!, it has been delayed in southern NC as well.

[Chuck Albertson]

When I had minor eye surgery a couple of years ago, the hospital sent me home with a bottle of about 30 opioid painkillers, "in case there's any discomfort." There was, but it was resolved with a couple of aspirin and a short nap. The painkillers scared the hell out of me, so I dodn't touch them and got rid of them when my pharmacy has one of those DEA-sponsored"dump your nasty meds" return events - dumping them down the toiler is a bad idea here.

When I had carpal tunnel problems about 20 years ago, I switched to one of those ergonomic keyboards (at work and home) and haven't experienced a recurrence since.

[Shadzee]

Overthinking it much? :-)
Just get back on the horse and enjoy the ride.

[Duncan]

So glad you're back and feeling better. Don't overdo!

[Richard Parkin]

Welcome back Mike. I still think you should try dictation as a backup plan ;-) for the next time you have problems typing.

[Clay Olmstead]

I've dealt with carpal tunnel syndrome by switching mouse hands from time to time. I'm left-handed but currently mousing with my right, until it's time to switch again. That doesn't work for everybody, but it may be worth a try.

[Dan Gorman]

Welcome back, Mike. Glad to hear you're mending.
Take it at your own pace.

Cheers!
Dan

[Yvonne]

Have you tried voice-activated writing? Dragon Naturally Speaking was my savior after a crippling bout of repetitive strain injury about 12 years ago.

It takes time to get used to, but even though I thought I could never write by dictating, I got used to it. Now that I'm cured, I don't use it as much, but it's still there whenever I need to write anything longish.

I always dictate into my phone because thumbing is awkward for me.

[-et-]

And I think we'll do the "It Must Be Color" by ones or twos...I need some kind of help, some kind of mechanism for getting over my blockage with that. I don't know why I can't get it done.

You mentioned that you had several hundred people send in excellent photos. Your difficulty in getting this done may arise from a reluctance to cut one image in favor of another just to get down to your self-imposed limit of 13 images.

Perhaps it would be less difficult if you just make an internal list of all of the images that you feel do a good job of meeting your "Must Be Color" criteria. Then select 2-3 arbitrary images a day from that list and comment on the aspects of each image that you feel illustrate your point.

Do that until you feel there is nothing new for you to add to illustrate why some images belong in color. That may take 5 images or it may take 50 images, but it removes the "better image" judgement factor and replaces it with your words on WHY the randomly-chosen image is an example of the need for color in some images. It also removes your arbitrary limit, which may be an additional part of your difficulty.

- Tom -

[Joseph Iannazzone]

Welcome back. I'm glad to hear you are doing better. Thanks also for sharing about your medical condition. Its interesting as long as it is not happening to you.

[Dennis Ng]

As an IT guy who type since the day of Apple II to ICL and IBM terminal, I suffer quite a bit the pain. After all sorts of treatments, I finally do one simple stretching exercise and seems resolve the problem (for now).

You straight your whole hand and arm (just relax them on your side of your body is ok). Then hold your palm up 90 degree (like push up but in the air and only the palm) for 10 seconds and relax.
Repeat 5 times. It is done.

Webmd has better instruction I think about this kind of executrices. It is a saying in this region that stretching can prolong life it was said. Believe it or not it is not complicated exercise and just ensure you do not force it and do it very slowly. It helps your muscle to relax.

BTW for mouse, try to use roller ball instead of desktop mouse. (I lately use Logitech MX ERGO. Roller ball in Apple Macbook in System 6/7 days started my habit but my terminal days do not have those.)

[hugh crawford]

Your readers are a pretty agreeable lot, so let me the first to disagree that this is off topic.
Also to be the gazillionth to welcome you back.

[HowardH]

Hope you continue to recover Mike. As a temporary (or permanent?) solution to typing for long periods have you thought of using voce recognition to 'dictate' to your iPhone - you could then copy and paste and make small edits or corrections using a keyboard.

[Ric]

Great to hear you are on the mend. My job used to involve using a mouse all day and I found a vertical mouse useful for minimising carpal tunnel syndrome caused by this - definitely worth trying one if that issue recurs. It lets the wrist relax more than a conventional mouse. There are various ones on the market, I found I had to try a few to find which suited me best.

[Eric Walter]

As a mechanism for coming over your blockage with "It Must Be Color", may I suggest that you simply come up with as many baker's dozens as you feel are worth posting? After all, why deprive us of such valuable inputs?

[Mike Hess]

I too have a large port wine stain birthmark. The majority of my right leg is covered. I also found it hard to find much information on them. One thing I read about, and have noticed with mine, is that it affects the bone that is under it. Apparently it increases calcium deposits, causing 'lumpy' bones. My shin is like this now. As a child, I was told that there was a chance my right leg could grow longer than my left. I believe this has happened.

I don't come across many people with a port stain birthmarks, so it is nice to see I am not the only one out there.

["Mon semblable, mon frere!" —Baudelaire (I think). Are you aware of the VBF, Vascular Birthmarks Foundation? They seem to collect what information there is. --Mike]

[Chris]

So glad to wee you're back, and taking it gently. I suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome some 30 years ago (then known as RSI, or scathingly in Australia as "Kangaroo paw"!). Apart from rest and exercises, the major thing I did was switch mouse hand to my non-dominant (left) side. That seems to have balanced up activity and I've rarely had a recurrence since. Not so easy in these days of track pads, I guess.

This change turned out to be useful 10 year ago when involved in a major RTA that resulted in much reduced capability in my right hand. So I now type with 4 fingers of the left hand and one on the right!

Anyway, it's important to make the adaptations that work for you. I could never get used to dictation, no way. Just don't think ahead that far. Writing is a process, that involves... writing!