We Don't Know, Part 1 of 2

I noticed the slight stiffness and swelling in both my hands as I woke up that morning. I'd experienced the same thing a handful of times throughout the years, so I thought nothing of it. Too much salt. That's what I had been told during undergrad when it first happened. Given my dietary craves, it made total sense.


Throughout the day the stiffness and swelling increased. I continued to brush it off and pushed aside any worries. It was my day off, so all I was doing was watching TV. My usual days of typing and other hand-related activities weren't present. In the evening, while eating a hamburger, I finally realized the extent of the pain and swelling. I could barely hold the burger. My fingers felt like an overstretched exercise band ready to pop. I slowly ate the burger and entered into a slightly surreal state where I was hyper-focused on holding the burger while simultaneously trying to make sense of the difficulty I was having manipulating my hands and fingers. Still, I only mentioned in passing to my husband that my hands and fingers hurt.


It wasn't until I tried to brush my teeth for the night that I realized my hand was unable to hold unto something so thin as a toothbrush. That's when it hit that something was really wrong. "I think I'm going to urgent care" I told my husband. I don't quite remember his reaction, but I'm sure it was one of surprise and potentially one of confusion. Outwardly, the situation seemed to have escalated quickly. When we got to the truck, my husband had to open the door and buckle me in; my hands were no longer cooperating at all. On the way over there we threw out ideas: Is it an allergic reaction? Did I somehow fracture both my hands without realizing it? Is it cancer?! (hypochondriac...yes, that word had come up before!). Allergic reaction. It had to be, at that point both my hands had swelled significantly and were bright red.  


It was around 10pm and the urgent care center, which turned out to be a mobile ER, was empty. They processed me in and the nurse just sort of frowned the entire time saying "Hmmmm, I'm not sure what's going on." For some reason that made me feel better. Surely if it was serious they would know right away! After a steroid shot, pain meds, and x-rays, my hands were still very swollen and at this point very painful. "I'm at an 8/10 !" I kept saying throughout my time there. A favorite pain question at any medical center as many of you know. After 1.5 hours of no improvement and normal x-rays, I was given an injection of morphine via my IV, along with some fluids. The initial surge of morphine made my stomach flip, but did little else. Eventually the ER doctor came in and said "Look, we don't know what's going on. It might be an allergic reaction or maybe some sort of arthralgia." Looking back, I paid very little attention to the second option. "Go to your PCP as soon as you can" she said. I was promptly discharged after that with some steroid and pain pills.


I couldn't see my PCP for 3 days after that night. I spent those 3 days taking all my medications and icing my hands on and off. The pain medication numbed some of my pain, but driving and handling small objects was still hard. I started to Google possibilities, which is never a good idea! Rheumatoid Arthritis came up as an option. As I read through the list of symptoms I knew in my heart that it was RA. Still, without confirmation, the diagnosis still felt foreign and hard to relate to.


Part 2 coming soon...