Hi Ada,
Thank you for your very nice response. Let me first address the W/C...I was sent to 'present' myself to 2 of their doctors at different times and they were the nicest, kindest people and were almost angry they I had to be there. So there are a lot of nice people left! Just sometimes not when you need them.

I did have blocks done and they did help. That was part of the frightening thing about this condition that I had never heard of...they told me I only had 30 days after diagnosis to try and stop the bad spread. That was the difficult part about w/c. They just take so long and I dragged my feet a bit, 'cause I wondered what if his hand would slip, there is only a very small area near the windpipe that they do the shot. Anyway, that all went well and I guess my story might be different, but similar to others. I just felt so rushed.

Mine does not show now; I luckily do not have the purple swelling; I feel very fortunate for that. I have the pain it seems always, just sometimes worse. And yes, the barometric pressure usually hits me 2 days before. As to it spreading, I don't know. For a while my right hand was being just as painful and moving up the forearm; I demanded an xray and nothing was wrong. I was told I was compensating for the left hand and overworking it. I do generally have more leg aches and sciatic nerve attacks, but I'm also in my 50's so what can you expect???? I do try and keep moving more and exercising; I am trying to lose weight so all in all I am trying to keep focused.

I appreciate your kindness.
Cathy