One of the weird things about getting older (I’m 44 for full transparency) is that random things hurt for random reasons, for a random amount of time.
Case in point, Tuesday night. I was driving into rehearsal, put my car in park, and ow…sharp shooting pain down my right thumb and into my wrist. It was so bad that I knew I wasn’t going to be able to make it through my rehearsal without a brace (I’m prone to wrist/finger/thumb woes) but of course, I didn’t have one on me. Which meant I’d need to head to the store to get one…I now have four of these bad boys.
I made it through the rehearsal, thanks to the brace.
I get home, pop some Tylenol because I can’t take ibuprofen, and figure it will be fine in the morning.
NOPE. Like 10 times worse. The ENTIRE day I can’t use the hand. Can’t pinch or grab. The hand is basically useless. So I made a sling.
The heating pad was my friend. I had no computer (because it was in the shop to replace a dead hard drive) and could literally do nothing but sit and grumble (ask my friends, they can confirm.)
I figured rehearsal was going to be a nightmare, but I popped some more Tylenol, tightened my brace and went in.
Here is the kicker. I get to rehearsal and my hand feels okay enough to take off the brace (it’s really hard to act without both hands and I’m part French.) By the end of the night? Zero pain. Nada. Is there a 48-hour muscle spasm that I don’t know about?
In as much time as it takes for a random black hair to appear on an inappropriate part of my body, this pain came and went.
My kids think I’m making it up to get them to do chores. If only I were that clever.
Until the next ache or pain comes along…
Danielle Bannister, Author 