Ooops... I've already got one. Sometimes two.
I recently had an appointment with a lovely chap called Francesco, who gave me an extremely painful steroid shot into the underside of the joint of my right index finger (don't worry, he's a qualified medical professional working for the NHS). Seeing as this is the fourth steroid shot I've needed into my hands in the last 6-8 months, I thought hey, let's share the pain.
Endlessly-patient people who follow my Instagram and Facebook posts will be familiar with my moans about my hands not working. I have no doubt some (all?!) of you are fed up reading about it... so yay, here's more!
BUT: as per the original promise I made when I started this blog, I will be (figuratively) punchy (being literally punchy would hurt too much). So captions it is!
HANDy!
Well, not really. Not when they're in this state.
From left-right:
~ Trigger finger in action. The index finger of my right hand in spasm. This goes back to 2014.
~ Injection site for trigger finger in left palm, middle finger (apt!). Going right into the joint (or so it feels), the shots are indescribably painful. I actually weep (quietly).
~ Big fat swollen hand and sausage fingers. At least the wrinkles smooth out, an unexpected bonus.
ARTY!
Early forays into bandages and compression gloves. I have quite the collection now.
From left to right:
~ Stretchy sport bandages or "muscle tape". This was good initially but the inability to remove it without destroying it made it too wasteful.
~ Some rather fetching compression gloves. These were quite comfy back in the Days of Yore, but in the years since, the RA has made my joints bigger so the gloves are mostly too tight to be comfortable now.
~ Before & after: I made this lovely wide band ring with a single peridot for myself in 2019. It was a little loose on my middle finger at the time. Fast-forward three years and I can't get it over the joint any more.
Less arty, more bandagey
I don't think I need individual captions on these, really. As the RA affects my joints and hands differently from one day to the next, I use different bandages and supports depending on what feels like it would help most.
My favourite is an RSI (repetitive stress injury) wrist and hand support because it has a rigid bar running over the palm and down the wrist ~ it's like the protective hand guards you wear if you're rollerskating or skateboarding. I like to wander around pretending I'm about to go do a gnarly drop-in to grab some air on a half-pipe. Dude.
Hand models of the world, relax!
I do all my own product photography and yes, I'm my own hand model. It can be tricky to try and not include swollen fingers etc and often, it's not possible. These photos generally don't make the cut.
Lastly, a big Thank You
To all my endlessly patient followers on IG and FB. And especially to my endlessly patient clients who wait uncomplainingly for commissioned pieces. I can never promise a completion date because, well, hands.
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