Discovery

Sometime during mid 2007, I started to notice that my right hand, my dominant hand, was losing some mobility. I could stretch the thumb on my left hand further than the thumb on my right hand. I watched over several months and noticed it was getting progressively worse. When it started getting somewhat awkward to pick up things, like a pencil, I decided I needed to talk to the doctor. In December of 2007 I spoke with my primary care physician who referred me to a neurologist.

The neurologist scheduled me for MRI's of the brain, neck, and brachial plexus nerve (a nerve that runs down the neck into the arm). He also scheduled me for an EMG, Electromyogram, a test that is used to record the electrical activity of muscles. They used a machine to send electrical pulses through certain muscles in my arm & test how well the muscles conducted the pulses. Yes, it felt like I was being shocked and was a bit uncomfortable. They also put needles in those same muscles to listen to the signals as they passed through my arm. (Also not a fun experience.) The MRI & EMG showed nothing abnormal. This doctor also sent me for occupational therapy, thinking that might help. After several weeks of OT, the hand was not getting better. In fact it was significantly worse.

So I got sent to another neurologist, this one at Jackson Memorial. A little over a year after I first asked a doctor about this problem, I walked into Jackson Memorial. This neurologist also did not recognize the symptoms so called in a colleague. His colleague asked some questions and said that it was the posterior interosseous nerve. This is the nerve that works the extensor muscles of the hand. He sent me for another MRI and, you guessed it, another EMG. Fortunately this time they found something.