Tuesday 27 May

Every day is different, one day my hand and fingers will be extremely stiff and sore, another they will be more supple and the pain will only be intermittent. Some days the pain goes up to the elbow and shoulder, some days it doesn’t. This is what makes it difficult, this unpredictability and lack of control.

However my strategy of constant mobility and deep massage seems to be working, my fingers are less hard to the touch, I think they are less swollen and I feel they are more flexible, freer in their movements (except for the middle finger which remains a big problem and still prevents full fist).

Yesterday I had shooting pains in my other wrist for the first time, I wonder if it’s just a coincidence or whether it is related to the CRPS in my right hand.  I read somewhere that the other limb can also become affected …

Tonight I can feel my fingers and palm seizing up and becoming like a piece of wood, every movement hurting. I hate this feeling but there is nothing I can do, even massaging deeply  doesn’t help much when my hand is flaring up.

Tuesday 20 May

Woke up with pain in shoulder and elbow. The pain seems to be creeping up the arm; got the pain in the elbow in the afternoon as well. Felt extremely tired all day.

Swelling increased today on back of the hand. Scar extremely sensitive and palm very hard to the touch. Not a good day but I made sure I used the hand as much as possible. Mobility hurts first but the hand feels better after sustained movement. Dribbling a ball, throwing it on wall and catching it with both hands, all this helped, it’s also quite a ot of fun to use the hand in this way.

I also bought a dart board and threw darts for about half an hour; was able to be quite accurate at the end of the session, felt more in control of my hand; it also felt better, more supple.

Walked for an hour.

Tuesday 20 May

Trying to regain mobility-Saturday 3rd May

I have been asked to do regular exercises:

- hook fist to get my fingers more flexible, especially the middle and little fingers,

- extension and flexion of the wrist,

- grabbing rice in a bow.

Since I do feel better and more in control of my hand, I have also decided to work on the muscles of my arm and try to regain more wrist extension.

I have been doing arm movements: large circles forward and backward, circles with arm flexed and hand on shoulders, arms up and down, arms extended in front of the body and flexed back toward the body.

As for working on the wrist extension, I sit at the edge of a chair with my legs at shoulder width and my right forearm resting along my right thigh and I lift my wrist upwards. I have also used a light jar of fruit (300g) in my hand to add a bit of weight to the movement. I only felt a bit of disconfort, no real pain. Can’t tell whether the wrist extension has improved.

Later this evening had an attack of CRPS pain, not too severe and chose not to use the TENS. The pain lasted for about two hours. Middle finger felt very stiff and ‘woody’.