Thats great idea, thank you. My husband has Dragon on his computer -- I never even thought of that.

That must suck coming from a world where you probably typed a million words a minute. I make my living on my computer too as a designer. Worried - as it's not only my job it's my hobby.

Yes, up until about two or three months ago I could type 260 wpm. I'm down to thumbing it.

Here's my honest advice re pain meds -- and I realize I may not be in the majority here, but if you're not going to be honest, why bother? If someone would tell me that I could go the rest of my life without worrying about complications from leaving this untreated, and if my symptoms hadn't so rapidly and suddenly progressed, I'd live the rest of my life on whatever pain meds worked. They have obviously steadily gone up and I've had to be careful, but I am honest with my doc, and he respects that. I take what I need, when I need it, and once my body adjusted (i.e., not so tired all the time) I'm fine on them. If it were safe for me to just stay this way, I would. I attribute the fantastic quality of life I've had thus far to having access to pain control. It's when I'm in pain that I'm a different person. Pain meds are often abused and thus given a bad rap, but they have a time and place and are there for a reason. I hope that helps. There's also some huge support in the belief in the theory that when your body NEEDS pain meds, it uses them
appropriately.

I hear you there. up TOS has really had me look at my life a lot differently. Unfortunately I am self employed as a freelancer so there is no disability or early retirement option for me. I'm only 33. If I can't work I'm totally screwed. I have a new wife and the constant doctors' visits and tests are adding up quick. We're not prepared if I become disabled. The stress has made it very hard, and when someone does a google search on TOS surgery, the outcomes see so favorable. But then you talk to REAL people and see their actual results. It's scary to know how to proceed, especially bilaterally. Even if I dodged a bullet and got lucky once, a 30% favorable outcome, twice? I'm not sure I could count on TWO successful operations, let alone one.[/QUOTE]