Not that the allergy situation is any better, but my biggest problem today didn’t blow in on the wind and had nothing to do with the waving grasses growing high all around me. I went to bed last night with my left thumb in serious pain, and with the hope that by this morning it would be better. It wasn’t, though, and I didn’t know what to do about it.

At first I thought I had dislocated it, or broken a bone, but from the way I was able to move it around, I didn’t think that was the case. It hurt, but I could move it. I described the pain and its location at the bottom joint to Mom, and she gave me her diagnosis. Arthritis, she thought. And she’s the arthritis pain expert in the family.

Believe it or not, this actually made me feel better, because I knew there was nothing I could do but try to manage the pain. She also suggested trying the wrist brace, which was something I hadn’t though of, since this wasn’t exactly a wrist injury. But I still had the brace from last time, so I put it on. The pain didn’t go away, but it stopped moving around every time I moved my hand, and that made it easier to take.

It would have helped even more if I hadn’t put the brace on upside down. It’s been so long since I used it that I couldn’t remember exactly how it was supposed to fit. So I put it on backwards and even though the thumb pain was less, I had to take it off after a few hours because it was cutting off circulation. There were big red marks where it was eating into the flesh of my hand. (In my own defense, I’d always worn it on my right hand in the past.)

Somehow, late in the day, I accidentally put the brace on the right way and noticed immediately how much better it fit and how much more relief I got from it that way. So now with the brace and a little help from over-the-counter pain relievers, I think I can get through whatever time it takes for the pain to subside. I’m so glad, because if and when I do ever go to the doctor, I want it to be for allergies, not something like this.

Life isn’t simple, though, despite the fact that I diagnosed and treated my own condition with some success today. There’s also the matter of the muscle I strained in my right arm the other day when I was lifting the five-gallon water bottle into place on the cooler. That pain isn’t as bad as the thumb, but it comes and goes so erratically that I never know when I’m going to be unable to lift anything heavier than a pillow. And since it takes three pillows at a time for me to sleep at night, that’s a problem.