Travel Success & Trigger Fingers

It's been a while now that I have stopped taking the vitamin E (400 IU/daily) & it may just be a coincidence but I haven't had any of the dizzy/sick spells in that time. I may wait a bit longer & then try taking one tab every other day to see if that makes any difference.

Went to my daughter's graduation from college last Saturday & had a great time. No problems other than having to navigate over a lot of stairs. But it went well & I'm glad I went. No panic attacks & had a great time on the road going & coming back with my daughter's best friend who has just graduated from nursing school & is actually interested in talking about health-related issues. I also didn't even need to use the large tanks of O2 as my little liquid O2 tanks were enough to get me by. I even turned my tank down to 1 liter & 1.5 liters at various times to conserve & there was still more than enough left when I got home (at 2:00 AM). So I guess I really CAN travel if I put my mind to it. I have an elderly aunt & uncle in IN that I would love to go see as they haven't been able to travel up here much in the past few years. Maybe that will be my next trip.

I'm truly perplexed at what has been happening to the ring finger of my right hand. I have developed a trigger finger & from what I read about this condition, it develops from an inflammation of the tendon bundle just under the finger in the palm & sure enough, if I press there, it is quite sore. I thought this might be a part of the myositis but I asked my neurologist & she said it wasn't. But as I read the blog entries by other people with Inclusion-body Myositis , they complain about the gradual weakening of their hands & how they are unable to grip things very well anymore -- like when trying to open a new jar of something. So I'm confused. My daughter's friend -- the new nurse -- told me on our trip that there are no muscles in the hands themselves, so the myositis would have no muscle tissue to affect. So what are the "pads" of our fingers made of? I think I may post a new thread on the IBM blog & ask if anyone has any experience with hand problems & see if I'm not alone.

In the meantime, I have been knitting up a storm lately. Just made my 1st pair of socks by following the instructions & looking up the technical stuff in other knitting books. And I did it ALL BY MYSELF! (*she says proudly*) I think this frequent exercising of my hands in knitting may be having a positive effect on the trigger finger because when I wake up in the morning after not using my hands all night, I have had less "popping" of the trigger in that finger, & this is when it would happen the most. I go to see an orthopedist at the end of the month for this so many of my questions may be answered then. And yet, maybe not, as I find the general level of knowledge of IBM by most doctors I have spoken with is abysmal. But I have my hopes.

Going to go make homemade gnocchi for tomorrow's dinner at my eldest daughter's house to celebrate a belated Mother's Day, my younger daughter's graduation, & my son's 21st birthday, which is today. We have a lot to be thankful for right now. Well, maybe not for everything. Something came in the night & killed (& partially ate) 2 of my 3 chickens on successive nights, & I was quite upset by this. I am scrambling around to see if I can find a few replacements & to improve the safety of their coop & pen. I feel really sorry for the survivor who seems totally freaked out having seen the demise of her 2 sisters. Life is REALLY tough out there for some species...