Painful Arm

I have hurt my left arm and I don't know how.

I am aware that a pain in the left arm can be a symptom of a heart attack, but this pain is not in my upper arm and there is no accompanying tightness in the chest, difficulty breathing, etc.  I checked my blood pressure in the morning and it was good, pulse was good, too.  So, I don't think this is due to a heart attack or anything serious.

The pain is near the elbow, but on the outside.  It started on Thursday night.  I am wondering if I strained a muscle or pulled a tendon when I carried the groceries in on Wednesday (unlikely) or when I went to open the jar of Miracle Whip on Thursday (more likely - I recall I struggled a bit to open it).  The pain wasn't too bad on Thursday night; I checked to see if there was any redness or bruising and I didn't see anything, so I just sort of ignored it.

On Friday, the pain was still there, but it wasn't too bad.  I went to the office and did my work and drove home without any problems.  In the night, before I went to sleep, I rubbed some heating balm on it (called Tiger Balm) and put some blessed water (Buddhist equivalent of Christian holy water)  and some holy water (from Lourdes) as well, for good measure!  *smile*  But the arm felt sore and painful, although there was no swelling or redness, etc.

This morning, the pain woke me up at 6:30 a.m.!  I could barely move my arm!  I rubbed more balm and went back to sleep again.  I am icing it now, hoping that will help.  I suppose I should take a Tylenol, too, but I haven't done so, yet (Update: took two Tylenols).

What bothers me most is that I had agreed to drive one of my aunts, two cousins, and a friend to this evening's prayer gathering at another aunt's house, some 40 miles away.  It is a 45 minutes to 1 hour drive (depending on traffic) and I am not sure if I am up to it if my arm is hurting.  In fact, to be quite honest, I would have preferred if someone else had offered to drive in the first place (and given me a ride!), but, apparently there was no one else willing or able to drive that distance on the freeway at night.  Aunt is in her 90s and isn't allowed to drive due to her age, cousins and friend won't drive on the freeway or at night, cousins' children aren't free on a Saturday night, etc.  So now, I am stressing about driving that distance with a painful arm and possibly over-exerting my arm instead of resting it.  If it was a shorter distance, I might not have stressed about it so much.

The problem is, as one of my friends has pointed out, my family is accustomed to me chauffeuring them around!  As she says, they managed to find their way to the prayer gatherings, etc., just fine, when I was too ill to attend them, but now that I am better, it's back to normal!  LOL.

For the most part, I don't mind.  If I can be of help, then, I am happy to do so...usually.  Occasionally, however, I grumble, because, after all, I am human.  There is much I don't say about our family dynamics, here, on the blog!  I try to focus on the positive and not dwell on the negative.  So, for example, I will write that a cousin visited me, but I won't say that it was after 6 months into my treatment, even though she had been to visit my other cousin who lives practically across the street from me, several times, or how that made me feel.  Or, I will write that my cousin brought me dinner, but I won't complain about the time she forgot to buy me the bread I had asked for (back when I was told not to go grocery shopping due to increased risk of infection). 

Anyway, I spoke with my daughter, who begged me not to over-do things.  Then, I called my cousin to tell her about my arm and that I was not sure if I could drive them tonight.  Cousin told me not to stress about it, that she will ask her daughter if she can drive them, instead.  (Earlier, she had told me that her daughter had plans to go out with friends.)  She asked me not to say anything to our aunt until she has checked with her daughter.  So, I will call her back, later (if I haven't heard from her before) to ask if her daughter can drive them.  In which case, I won't be going, since there won't be any room in the car for me - but that's OK.

Update:  Cousin just called to check on how I was feeling.  She said she spoke with her daughter but doesn't know yet if her daughter can drive them (daughter is out with friends who are visiting from San Diego).  I told my cousin, if her daughter can't drive them, to get one of those rides like Uber, if possible, and that I will pay for it.  Cousin said it was OK to call our aunt and tell her what was happening.  So, I called my aunt and told her I wasn't able to drive them and said that cousin is trying to get her daughter to drive.  I also asked aunt if her granddaughter can drive them, but aunt said her granddaughter was busy.  So, again, I told her, too, that if they can get a ride from Uber, I will pay for it, since I can't drive them, this time.  I feel bad about not driving them.  I feel like I'm being selfish, especially since I feel better after taking the Tylenol.  But, I don't want to over-do things, either.  I need to rest my arm and be well enough to do what I have to do.  I owe it to myself to limit my activities until I am fully recovered.  

I really haven't done anything, today, as I've tried to rest my arm.  I slept in, after I woke up at 6:30 a.m., till almost noon!  My daughter calling to check on me woke me up!  Then, I cleaned the litter box, since I didn't do it last night.  I had a cup of tea and a banana for brunch, then, three Ritz crackers just before I took the Tylenol.  I haven't felt hungry, but I'll have a cup of tea in a bit and there is leftover rice, green beans, and chicken curry for dinner.  It was sunny, earlier, but later, a few clouds moved in.  We were supposed to have a 20% chance of rain, today - I hope it does rain, because the garden could do with more rain.  But, I doubt very much if it will rain.  The clouds have moved away and it is sunny, again.

Today, I am grateful for:
- The pain in my arm appears to be due to a sprain or something, rather than a heart attack.
- Cousin said she'll try to get her daughter to drive them to the prayer gathering.
- The balm, Tylenol, and the icing helped; there is still some pain, but not too bad.
- A good cup of tea.
- A quiet, restful day.

Thank you for reading through all that!  This post is a bit all over the place, isn't it?  How was your Saturday?