:Hi there,

Well, I don't have much change to report unfortunately. I am definately better then I was since my surgery (as far as my neck goes) but I still have pain and nerve damage in my hand, and a lot of pain in neck area, shoulders and traps. The pain seems to worsen when I ride in the car or do too much of any activity. The bouncing and vibration from the car is the worst though.

I'm still off work, since I need my hand in order to do my job, but I have a target return to work date from WSIB at the end of Sept. We'll see how that goes. My neuro thinks I may need a second operation on my ulnar nerve and wrist to fix the nerve pain in my hand. I don't want any more surgeries right now. So it's a wait and see if it heals on its own.

I haven't any idea if I have bone growth yet, I don't have another followup for a month, and last checkup showed nothing. I'm at the 5 month post-op mark now.

Tired of hurting all the time. It seems like everyday has to be planned around my pain and issues. Lots of resting and lying flat to relieve neck pain and pressure. Would like to get back to normal soon.

My family dr put me on a new medication for nerve pain, Cymbalta, so far it hasn't done a whole lot, it helped with my mood and coping with the chronic pain, but I don't see much pain relief except for the burning pain when I wake up in the morning, that seems to have calmed down with this. And it makes me sleep like a rock! LOL. The first week I took it during the day and slept for a week straight. Now I take it in the evening and it seems to be good.

Well, that's about all the news with me, thank you for checking in on me. How are you feeling now? Has all the issues with your fingers been resolved? What ended up happening with that?

Hope you are having a great summer.
Take care, Cathie