Relieving the pain in my hands

I had an appointment with my worker's comp doctor today regarding the pain in my hands from carpel tunnel and tendonitis, as well as the scar tissue damage from the surgery I had in my dominant hand over a year ago.  I'm basically in pain all the time with my hands, but like everything else, I have been trying to cover up the pain on the outside and just tough it out even though the pain is STRONG on the inside.  I'm on lots of meds and we're trying other remedies as well to give me some relief from the pain.  Today the doctor decided it was time for some more shots in both my hands.  So he injected Dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory cortisone on the inside of both of my hands right above my wrists.  After a little while, the only difference I felt is that I felt numbness go from the injection site all the way to the tip of my middle finger on my right hand. Alright, insert joke here ;-)

Perhaps the relief will come later, who knows.  I felt kinda funny, not myself at all, so I thought it was time to check my blood sugar.  It was a shock to read that my level was at 321.  Holy smokes!  It should be about 140 or less after eating a meal or 80-120 on an empty stomach.  Then I remembered that cortisone injections can significantly raise blood sugar but I wasn't prepared for that.  I do have some emergency Glyburide pills at home that lowers blood sugar so I took some of those.  The doctor also gave me some new medication to help with the pain.  It does cause dizziness and drowsiness, so obviously I'm taking those at night.  I also have the Nortriptyline I take at night to help with the pain in my legs.  It also causes drowsiness.  Tonight is the night that I'm supposed to increase the dosage from one pill to two pills.  All these meds that cause drowsiness is a good thing for helping me get sleep.  The only problem is that if I can't fall asleep, I will be beyond groggy.  That was the case for me last night and I was feeling like dead woman walking all day today.  I pray, pray, pray that I will be able to fall asleep enough to have the drowsiness wear off.  Can you see why I have been so frustrated lately with all the medical stuff I've had to deal with?  This is just one component of it all and I'm exhausted just describing it!

I did start looking into a local Weight Watchers meeting that I can start going to.  There's a few on Saturday morning that are close to my house, so I'll be going there.  I like that I have the option of going on the weekend since the weekdays are very full for me, especially now that we are in the spring term of the year at work.  I am busy all the time at work, there's no question about that.  However, I'm beyond crazed at times during the spring term.  I have a lot more students coming to see me for help with scholarships, financial aid or making alternate decisions for college.  I also put on a huge awards ceremony at the end of the school year and that takes months of planning and coordination.  Besides that, I have my own college courses as well as normal life stuff for someone trying to be healthier.  I'm excited to start at WW this weekend.  It feels for me like it did when I was waiting to start Optifast.  I felt so positive and hopeful then.  That's what I feel now, too.  It just feels like a nice start to the second chapter of my journey.  Gosh, is it only chapter two?  More like chapter 20 ... so much has happened in the last year.