use ’em or lose ’em

I’ve had big problems with this for the past 4 years, and worse this year.
So I do a lot of range-of-motion exercises with my hands and fingers many times a day. I also make myself do things my hands don’t immediately want to do. Handwriting…first my hand will hardly grip the pencil or pen, then I can only print clumsy, then I can print evenly, then I can start to write, then the writing improves. (all within a few minutes)

I believe that it’s a case of: use ’em or lose ’em.

Another thing that I worried about for 4 years (yes, I’ve just passed my hellaversary), was using my hands for sewing, crochet and knitting again.
Playing musical instruments continues to be very painful and awkward, and I’ve lost a lot of ability there.

But this past Sunday, I brought out my crochet yarns and needles, and attempted to crochet again with a large hook. And I found out that I could still do that. So I tried a smaller hook, and after a few minutes, I found out I could do that too. So I crochetted for a few minutes, then my hand froze up and burned till I rested, and after I rested I resumed, and crochetted an entire dishcloth for a Christmas gift. After I was done, I noticed that my fingers could actually touch the palms of my hands next to my wrists again (haven’t seen that for a long time). And though I couldn’t sleep that night because of the cramps, the next morning after the stiffness wore off, my fingers were a bit more limber than usual. So I tried crochetting with a fine metal hook, and found that I could still do that too, though it is extremely slow and painstaking work. And that was a very exciting find for me, folks!

So I brought out all my yarns and crochet cotton and hooks and supplies, and it’s spread all over the house, and I’m getting free patterns off the internet, and planning hand-crafting gifts for years to come. And I haven’t been so happy in years….years…

On the downside, I ate chicken noodle soup last night and today, so my hands and fingers swelled from all the salt and preservatives, but it hardly dampened my spirits at all.