I felt a numbness in my lower right arm from the elbow radiating down into my hand. My middle and ring fingers were swollen and there were sensation of pins and needles, tingling and pulsating. Then an excruciating pain followed that made me groan and moan. Lifting my arm made the pain even worse. Was I having the symptoms of stroke or heart attack?
I quickly took two aspirin tablets as my wife advised me to do if ever I felt any such symptoms. Too bad, my personal nurse (wifey) was across the world visiting relatives in the Philippines when I had those scary moments. Therefore, I was alone in that emergency.
Shall I call 911 or drive myself to the emergency room? I prayed, then googled “symptoms of stroke and heart attack” on my iPhone. I could not even use my right hand fingers to type the letters, so I did it with my left.
It turned out that what I was experiencing were none of those that I suspected. It mustn’t be stoke because I had none of the following symptoms except the sensation in my arm and hand. 
Neither could it be heart attack for the symptoms are much different. 
Therefore I ruled out 911 and the emergency room visit.
But I had this painful condition that must be dealt with. I took some Tylenol pain reliever. It didn’t seem to work. The pain actually got worse as I felt a burning sensation in my palm and fingers. I went to the wash room and ran cold water on my hand. The burning sensation was relieved somehow. I laid in bed propping my arm on a pillow. But keeping it still made the pain grew worst that kept me awake all night. I had to get off bed every so often and move my arm and hand. Moving them while standing helped dispel some of the pressure and pain.
What is this condition?
I remember when my wife had a carpal tunnel syndrome. She would wake up in the middle of the night groaning in pain, rush to the wash room and ran cold water on her hand. She developed carpal tunnel syndrome through the years operating an Autocad designing program on a computer. The repetitive motion of her hand and fingers damaged some nerves. She had a surgery to correct injury and the procedure was covered by workman’s comp.
I still have not gone to my doctor to this date. I’m scared of the idea of being under the knife again. Besides, what kind of expense would that entail? Unlike my wife, I had no employment that would provide workman’s comp!
I’m suspecting that I had developed a carpal tunnel syndrome on my right hand and arm. All those years of cooking and food prepping, gardening and all other hand tasks were taking a toll on my busy, overworked hands. 
There is always numbness in my hand. The irony is that I only feel the pain when my hand is rested (not working). For whatever reason, when I’m busy working I feel no pain at all. Seems like work, work, work, work is the cure. When my hand is in pain, I would find something to do- wash the dishes, fold the laundry, clean the house, weed the garden…..How long can I endure that? That’s why I call it “my restless, tireless hand!” Seems like I will only rest when I’m finally laid to rest. Isn’t that true to every human being?
myJOURNEY 