04-28-2015, 08:42 AM
Had some correspondence with Doolio, here's an update on his health situation (he asked me to paste this);
Doolio Wrote:Well, long story short (as the long story would take A LOT of space and time:) ), I went to a bunch of doctors as my condition got worse and worse and finally, one of them said it was a misdiagnosis and I am lucky to still have an arm lol. He attributed it to me still being young and all that. But, since it was a bit over a year until someone noticed it, now it's an uphill battle. So, bottomline, I kept the arm, everything else is a bonus.
About the bonus... well, nothing is sure. I did A BUNCH of tests, xr, mmr, emng, ultrasound etc. and the good part is:
-it's not autoimmune
-it's not tumor
-it's not vascular
-there's no major nerve damage
It's a nerve inflammation, but a HUGE one, which on top of that, lasted more than a year - and supposedly, everything over three months is too long. So now, it remains to be seen how much of a percentage I will be able to get back. And it will go sloooowly. We are talking 1-3 years. And on top of that, we don't know how will it be after those 1-3 years. There is no hard assessment or prediction.
The doctor says that I'll probably regain some degree of my former ability, but never the full deal. Most likely I would be able to draw for about ~5 hrs and I have to say goodbye to any kind of, for example, basketball, or going to the store to buy anything more than a piece of snickers or something:) It might turn out worse than that, it might turn out even better, but that's the prediction and they keep telling me that I don't count on it.
Somewhere along the road, before that doc came up, I was convinced I would have to go chop chop and lose the arm, so anything better than that is fine in my book. From a relative standpoint. Of course, from my personal standpoint, including emotions and all that, I am pretty angry at the misdiagnose and mistreatment which might have screwed up the condition even more, not to mention they prolonged the state. Because, if I were to receive a correct treatment back in february 2014. I would be up and running 100% in like april 2014. Which is something I still have hard time of letting go.
As it got worse, I gradually stopped drawing, I could draw like an hour a day till september 2014. and then had to stop due to the inability to do it properly and unbearable pain. I haven't touched a stylus since then. MAYBE I'll try and go for 10 min a day these days, but I am not so sure. Doc says I could try, so I'll see how it'll go.
Anyway, at this point I didn't see much improvement, doctors convince me that it's normal because it lasted so long so now it's chronic and we are, in fact, fighting to bring the arm up to some level x, where x is unknown.
At this point though, I can't draw, I have to take pause when I tie my shoes because it's a problem, I have to brush my teeth with my left hand and I pretty much learned to move the mouse with it too. So I hope that the "level x" will be considerably higher than what it is now.
I received various therapies, from corticosteroid shots, vitamine shots to some nerve medicines (because I have developed a tremor in the meantime lol) etc. and I don't see the improvement - although I must say that I don't see the deterioration either, so this may be the calm before the positive storm (I hope?) :)
I got those steroids in january, now I am going to receive the second round any time soon... I don't know, we'll see.
The doctor is like furious that the docs before him didn't detect it was an inflammation and he told me that if it doesn't respond to physio treatment, then you go for this and that their treatment had probably angered the inflammation even more. I've seen some other patients at his office and they are mostly painters, handball players and guys who paint walls (how do you call them in english lol?), so I guess it happens to those groups mostly.