Photography: Garry Armstrong
Why aren’t I doing more drawings? Why, for that matter, am I not doing more writing? Well…
As a start, my right wrist and arm have shown a surprising degree of ingratitude toward my artistic side. They were putting up without too much complaint all the typing and photography, but when I loaded on a lot of drawing, it sniveled some. When I ignored it, it stopped whimpering and let out a bellow of complaint.
To be fair, it has reason to complain. I started playing piano when I was four, was writing — pencil in hand — by the time I was five and before I was ten, added touch-typing. Without giving up anything else. None of us thinks the things we do are going to hurt us. I’ve been lucky because a lot of people who’ve less with their hands and arms have needed surgery. This time, though, adding one more thing to the heap of things was one step over the line.
Right now, every time I pick up a pencil, I can feel my shoulder cramp. This isn’t arthritis. It’s repetitive motion. I’m lucky my wrists are in decent shape. We all have to make choices. In my case, easing off on using my right arm is smarter than pushing it until it gets worse.
Of the things I do, photography is the least crippling. There isn’t much keyboard work involved and balancing the cameras doesn’t seem to be a problem. Which is why I’m taking more pictures and not doing any drawing and very little typing.
Also (and finally), I’ve been going through a lot of issues with medication changes. My stomach doesn’t like it. Am I deathly ill? No, but my stomach has its own viewpoint.
Like it or not, I have to go with the flow. Ones body will get what it demands whether or not we agree.I’m hoping this doesn’t go on indefinitely. It has already been a couple of weeks and I’m restless. I am not sick. I don’t have a disease. What I have is a tummy that hates the new medications. Until it settles down, I’m not going to feel great and some days I feel really awful. It’s amazing how crappy you can feel without being actually sick. As for the arm? If I let it rest, it will get better all by itself. If I don’t let it rest, it will get bad enough to make doing anything impossible.
Been there, done that, and it would be really stupid to do the same thing again but expect different results.
Sometimes, reality bites. Ouch!
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Categories: #GarryArmstrong, #Health, #Photography, #Sketches, Anecdote, medication
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
I sure can relate, Marilyn… Have a great day and enjoy the things you can do! ❤
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I’m just not doing much of anything. But HEY. It RAINED! So something good happened.
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Isn’t it frustrating when you can’t do the things you love because they hurt? I’ve occasionally had times when I’ve had arm or shoulder pain which I know was due to excessive computer time. I know the best way to get over it is to stop doing it but I missed it. I usually ended up doing a lot more reading to distract myself.
I hope your stomach settles soon as you get used to the new meds, and I hope they are working. Wouldn’t want the misery to be for nothing.
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I’ve been reading a lot of very long books. And keeping the amount of time I spend on a keyboard as low as possible. It’s really frustrating because it’s not something anyone can fix. No drugs, no surgery. Patience is pretty much the only option.
I’m not sure these meds are going to work out for me. I’m miserable so much of the time. They do good things too, but I’m not sure the trade-off is worth the misery. I keep hoping it will get better. It’s been 2-1/2 weeks and it feels like a lot longer.
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Fingers crossed that things improve with that medication. Wish there could be an r/x for that r/x.
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I’m sorry to hear that. It’s not good to feel miserable all the time. It seems you have the choice between one bad thing and another.
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I understand. I’m sorry for the crappiness! You’ve contributed so much with your hands! I pray the belly will find agreement with the medicines. Pain…leave Marilyn alone!!
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It’s very frustrating. If I were really ILL it would make more sense, but this is an attempt to solve some long-standing problems. Which they do solve, but they cause so many other problems, I’m not sure it’s worth it.
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I had, contrary to you, to get rid of my cameras. I couldn’t balance and hold them anymore.
I also get shoulder cramps when I write too much (handwriting) and muscle pain when I play the cello too long, (which isn’t really long). But hey ho. We’ve both learned to listen to our body which is great.
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I had to sell my piano. THAT became impossible. And drawing really hurts. I bought smaller cameras and I don’t go out and shoot for extended periods anymore. As of now, drawing is almost as bad as piano, so all I can do is be patient and hope it takes care of itself. It ought to. Rest is really the only medicine for this problem. It might not. Getting old is a real pain, in a most literal way.
As for the medication changes, it solves one problem really well, but causes another and I’m not sure the trade-off is worth it. Talk about difficult choices, this one is a doozy.
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👌👌👌📷🖼🌹
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📸💕🌥️
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Have ever tried one of those apps that take your spoken words and turn them into written text? I’ve never tried any of them, but maybe they can permit you to “type” words for your posts.
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I did try them years ago. I don’t know if they have improved a lot now. But regardless, I found that editing them — you know, adding punctuation and trying to get spelling right took almost as much effort as typing them in the first place. English suffers from an excess of homonyms!
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