2 posts tagged “sexy”

for some reason, i am repeatedly spraining both of my wrists nightly.  i am not sure when it started, but i curl up my arms into some kind of morphed fetal position and sleep directly on top of them for hours, cutting off the circulation.  when i wake up, my hands are numb and my wrists are popping.  i then have been taking naproxen to soothe the pain.

husband has attempted to wake me to unfurl my arms, but then i end up putting both hands between my knees and squeezing them while i sleep.

i have a couple of theories. 

one is that the bipolar and sleep meds i take before bed are so sedating that i am doing really stupid and pointless things whilst slumbering.  but i've been taking those same meds for almost two years.  it has only recently caused problems.  

a second theory is that the chemo-induced neuropathy has gradually caused so much nerve damage in my fingers that i am trying to compensate for the numbness by putting tons of pressure on them.  again, this makes little sense.  my slumbering habits are making said numbness incredibly worse.  and the constantly popping wrists cannot be assisting with restoration of nerve endings. 

a third theory is that i am cold at night and trying to warm myself up by cradling my exremeties close to my body cavity.  i have been able to pretty much rule this possibility out by 1) getting a warm electric blanket which causes me to sweat profusely and 2) testing out at a hotel this past week by turning the heat in my hotel room up to a balmy 80 degrees.  this makes no difference.

a fourth theory is that my new piano playing is causing wrist problems.  no way.  i played for about 15 years as a child with no wrist problems, and, truth be told, i am not playing well enough or hard enough to impact my fingers or wrists.

at any rate, i love to blame cancer and/or chemotherapy for all my woes, so i'm going with theory #2.

but what to do?  i have come to the conclusion that i will need to splint my wrists so that i cannot curl them at night.  husband was incredibly supportive of this and last night loaned me a splint and bandage from his many first aid kits.  we tried out one arm and it worked quite well.  unfortunately, i removed the splint around 9am and went back to bed until 1pm, and re-sprained my wrists in the process.

at the pharmacy this evening, we picked up my prescription vaginal estrogen tablets and a couple of wrist splints!  i am pleased with the splints as they completely immobilize my wrists without pinching off feeling in my fingers. 

SO - here is my nighttime routine --

1. remove fake breasts and bra and slip into breathable flannel or cotton

2.  take copious amounts of ambien, seroquel, and lamictal

3.  insert vaginal estrogen tablet (twice weekly)

4.  apply wrist splints

5.  wait to feel sexy 

my nose hair is growing back, and it is creeping down out of my nostrils onto my upper lip.