Here's My Story

 

Me: Since we have stuff to do later this week, we should clean house today. If not, no chance to clean before we go to hotel this Sunday. Daniel: Yes, otherwise the gremlins in our house would be unhappy when we're away in Australia. Me: 😂

(Still not allowed to use mouse and keyboard. Hence the short sentences.) Recap regarding pain: Pulling pain at the wrist just below the base of the thumb when I moved my clenched fist upward. Sharp pain at around the same spot as above when I push the back of my palm towards me. The stretching exercise worsened the second pain above but the strengthening exercise lessened the pain. Nether exercise eased the first pain. In fact, the pain level increased. Noticeable muscle loss around the pain area. the therapist remarked. He applied massage and ultrasound treatment and got me to do some strengthening exercises. For the next one week, I'll be doing these exercises: (1) Hold 2x1kg dumbbells, facing up. Don't grip hard. Move down all the way, then back to neutral. 4 x 10 rep, once a day. (2) Hold 1kg dumbbell, facing down. Don't grip hard. Move up all the way, then back to neutral. 4 x 10 reponce a day. Still don't use mouse and keyboard. Can resume swimming.

About 6 months after purchase , the condo unit was renovated, partially furnished (the idea, as presented by my sister, was that some tenants may already have their own furniture) and ready to be rented out. So, I contacted the agent to commence looking for tenant. Less than 2 weeks later, I happened to be in Butterworth to meet the agent who brought a family of three to view the unit. It was quite clear that it was the wife who wanted to move out from their then current rented place: Husband told me that his wife wanted to move to a condo. He asked both his wife and daughter whether they liked the unit or not. The viewing went well. The mother/wife was impressed with both the photos of the unit and the unit itself. In fact, among the preliminary questions that the agent asked (I suspect it was part of a standard form of enquiry), "What are your requirements for the unit?" Their response was "LIKE THE PICTURE". Both mother and daughter liked the place. There was no...

After the previous session , the pain stayed away for a day and then it started coming back gradually over the week. So it was back to square one. After doing further test to a certain, once again, where the pain was exactly, the therapist concluded that I did not have De Quervain’s tenosynovitis (what??). The pain seems to be around the carpal tunnel but it is not carpal tunnel syndrome. Tendonitis, probably. One quirk that the therapist commented was that when he fixed the alignment on one side of my hand another side of my hand went out of alignment and when he fixed the second one the first one occurred again. 😵 The treatment he applied consist of massage, shortwave, ultrasound, icing and taping. Next appointment is in a week's time. In the meantime, I cannot use mouse and keyboard with the right hand for a week 😱. Can try swimming but stop if pain comes the next day. Do the following exercises: (1) Hand's pointing down, inner palm faces out. Use other hand to lightly pul...

Playing this vocation is like being a character in anime such as Naruto: zipping around in a blink of an eye, with a spear. Horizontal. Vertical. Flurry of attack, with after-images. Truly one of its kind in such ARPG. So after pretty much completing my Sorcerer build , I switched to Mystic Spearhand. Here's my final build: Weapon skills Dragon's Foin: Very useful in closing the gap or to run away. Also, it's used to go across a chasm but make sure it's not a wide one :D Skiedragoun's Feste: Use it to evade enemies' attack and if the evasion is successul, deal more damage to them. Quite amazing, actually. Mirour Shelde: Cheap and almost-broken invulnerability. Wild Furie: The above-mentioned flurry of attack. To be honest, I didn't observe how much damage it it but it was so cool to watch anyway :D Augments Mettle: Increase physical defense. Never a bad choice, in my opinion, especially for melee characters. Endurance: More stamina, much needed. Apotropaism:...

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today. - Abraham Lincoln

Two days after the previous session , I sent a WhatsApp message to the physio centre with this question: is it normal for the pain to temporarily flare up (it settled down less than a minute later) after doing the stretching exercises? Apparently not and so I was asked to stop doing those exercises too @@ Unfortunately, stopping these and exercises that significantly involve the arm didn't result in any difference. So, it's back to square one 😔 The good news that came out of this latest session is that there's further confirmation that the diagnosis, De Quervain’s tenosynovitis, is correct. The next theory is that the previously injured tissue healed incorrectly, resulting in inflexible tendon. This explains why directly pressing the area firmly doesn't cause pain but pushing the back of my palm towards me does. So, in between the usual massages (which still helped a lot), the therapist used shockwave therapy to break down the scar tissue. The idea is to help it heal ...

Saw this at Burns Club, Canberra:  How does this work?  

Once again, the good times didn't last: the pain gradually came back to usual a few days after the last session :( During this session, he discovered that the forearm muscle, especially the part closer to the elbow, was even tighter than it was in previous session. It was also more painful when he massaged to loosen it. After some massages, he asked me to test the pain level again. It decreased. Then he pressed that muscle down and asked me to test again. No pain! Omg. All the while he asked me whether I did anything different during the previous two weeks to tighten that muscle that much. The only relevant one is that about half my push-ups were done normally. Previously, all 3 sets were down with knees down. So, for investigation purpose, he asked me to stop doing any exercise that uses my hands e.g. push-ups, swimming and that thumb exercise with rubber band. Meanwhile, he placed kinesiology tape on the forearm, around the base of thumb and half of my wrist, covering the pained...