I'm pretty sure I have tennis elbow. That's a form of tendonitis. Of course, I haven't been to a doctor yet. And I haven't played tennis since 1970. Still, that's my self-diagnosis, and I'm sticking to it.
The problem flared up over a month ago and my appointment with the doctor is in late August. So that leaves me plenty of time to log in to the Google School of Medicine. Like so many others, I have read too much about my elbow. I'm sure most of it is useless. I may have misdiagnosed myself, but what option do I have. It hurts. Now. My appointment is still a month away.
Since my elbow pain wakes me up at night, I decided that some kind of elastic bandage that kept me from moving it into uncomfortable positions in my sleep made sense. So I went to Walgreen's, perused the first aid options, and bought a simple elastic sleeve. Convinced that this helped a bit, I soldiered on.
Despite wearing my Walgreen's wrap, I continue to wake up several times a night. I tell myself it is a foot cramp due to my messed up hallux rigidus problem (translation: bump on top of my big toe), now waiting to be resolved by minor surgery (translation: it will hurt like crazy and take 3 weeks longer to heal than promised) scheduled for September. I also tell myself I am worried about life or I have to go to the bathroom or I can't get some stupid song out of my mind.
This morning, after a particularly sleepless night, I decided I need a better support system for my elbow. Not something just anyone can buy at Walgreen's. This time, I will turn to Amazon for a better selection.
Imagine my surprise when I found not only what appears to be a 5-star rated elbow stabilizer, but also the probable cause of my tennis elbow. It's my writing. In one of the first reviews of my bamboo (bamboo?) elbow support, "the best elastic compression sleeve for tendonitis" that Amazon can deliver to me in just two days, it says it worked great for a woman who had tennis elbow from keyboarding. Wow. That makes sense for me.
My detective skills kick in. After spending five days taking care of my Indiana grandkids ages 8, 6, and 2, I expected to come home with my elbow seriously hurting. After all, I had picked that 2-year-old up so many times. Instead, my elbow actually was less painful.
I was about to chalk this up to having a doctor's appointment coming up. I know that usually cures much of what ails me. Just make an appointment and nine times out of ten, whatever the problem was disappears and I cancel. But as soon as I got home, I was back at my computer keyboarding away. And within two days, my elbow hurt again.
For this to make sense to you, I have to explain my keyboarding technique. I have become rather adept at typing with my two index fingers, and being right handed, the right index finger is the workhorse. In fact, as I write this, my elbow is starting to ache.
Maybe I'm wrong about this whole thing. That would be a bit disappointing, as my previous diagnosis of the cause was schlepping too much heavy stuff. This meant my husband had to bring in the groceries and carry other packages. Maybe I shouldn't tell him what I think I learned on Amazon. Maybe my compression sleeve won't help. Maybe I shouldn't cancel that doctor's appointment just yet. Probably I should stop keyboarding and push the submit button.
I invite you to join my Facebook community and subscribe to my newsletter.