2023 has been a very crazy year, it may marks a before and an after to me. I’m having a wrist problem that is still going after more than a month, and I'm gonna get married!
WRIST PROBLEM
You may have noticed that I haven't submitted too much to my galleries very lately. If you follow me on social networks or on my Telegram channel, you may have seen very few sketch and shaky drawings that I've been trying to do with my left hand (my non-dominant hand), because it frustrates me not being able to draw at all and I need to do at least something simple from time to time. Let me tell you what happened.
Since March 21st it started a pain on my wrist that made me stop drawing, I've been visiting doctors since then; First doctor treated my problem like if it was an inflammation after discarding it was a broken bone or arthritis , and second doctor thought it was carpal tunnel. (For my symptoms and my job, it sounded kind of obvious)
After not getting better, I visited a specialist: A traumatologist specialized in wrist and arm problems, he diagnosed my problem as "Teres Pronator Syndrome", and with medicine, ointments and rest I was treating my problem. In the meanwhile he was requesting me more tests to keep discarding carpal tunnel and other problems.
But last week, in the last appointment with him, he told me that, after not healing nor improving, it was necessary a SURGERY. Something that scared me a really lot. But for justify the surgery he needed a last test, an ultrasound of my forearm specifically on my pronator.
The radiologist I chose ended up being a very competent and excellent one.
When he was searching with the ultrasound device through my arm, and I was watching through the screen how my arm looks from inside, he was asking me about my problem, my work, how exactly was my pain... he was asking me everything. And he said "I really don't see a big problem on your pronator, are you sure your doctor told you needed a surgery?" Then he decided he needed to search further, and he made me grab a pen, a paper, and draw something (I drew something with my right hand after not doing it for weeks T_T I drew my panda bear, of course. They joked later that they were going to sell my drawing for millions of pesos, haha), and he made me point where exactly was the pain while I was drawing, and when I was pointing where, he was marking with a pen on those areas. My arm ended up looking like a treasure map. Then he started searching on those areas, and boom! He found some tendons on my forearm that looked wore out, he was taken also screenshots of those tendon problems, and he kept searching more around all way of those tendons, keep searching for more problems. We took more than an hour on that session, but I really liked he was going very into my problem, he made me draw again but now to look in another areas, instead of asking me things, he was trying to analyze the way I drew and how my tendons were reacting. He was really a pro, I think that other radiologist would have just followed the instructions of the order of my doctor and just check around my pronator and that's it, but this was was very intense with finding my problem.
I asked this radiologist who I could ask for second opinions, and he suggested me to check with a physiotherapist. I also got to show the ultrasound with my doctor furry friends and all of them agreed it was not a problem for a surgery. So... for now I'm not visiting my other doctor again, I'm ignoring his surgery suggestion for now, and I made an appointment for the physiotherapist, which fortunately the appointment was for the next day.
I went with the physiotherapist, he checked again all my tests, I got to tell him ALL my problem from the beginning, and about my job, about my obsession to draw, how exactly was my pain. It was about telling him everything.
He also agreed my problem was not for a surgery, but that I will need to keep resting, and also I will need many sessions of his therapies, the first session was shock waves, which was painful, but it was like a miracle than after the therapy, I felt like my pain was gone. He told me that indeed I was going to feel like it was gone, but it was temporary for now, that I needed to still avoid drawing for now, and no drinking alcohol nor smoking (those two last, easy for me, the drawing part, still frustrating to me)
I will need at least 5 sessions of this, and then I will need another test to see how much I'm improving. But well, that's the current status of my problem. I'm still confident I will get better, and I will be able to draw again eventually, even on a very slow pace.
I need to get two sessions per week for these therapies so they won't take too long. And for now that's where this story is going. I still can't draw with my right hand yet. I've been practicing at draw with my left hand, which has not going so bad but it is very difficult. If you want to see those drawings, I'm posting them on my Telegram Art Channel: https://t.me/panda_paco
When I'm back to be able to draw, I will need to slow down my working pace, and I'm definitely going to change my workaholic way to be drawing, that I really could have a daily drawing to share, which was awesome for those who liked seeing new drawings by me, but it was definitely now awesome for my health. But I really can't wait to the time I'm able to draw again, I love drawing and painting so much and it has been kind of a torture not being able to do it. I'm very confident it is not going to take so long for it!
But then it comes a new topic on this announcement:
WEDDING TIME!
Yes, Roni and I are getting married!
I had proposed to Roni on May 19th, 2022. But for family circumstances, we are deciding to do it until now. We wanted both our families to be present, and it was hard to agree that part, since they live in many places.
And it was until last week that we knew we could have all our families here, a new out of the blue and we took advantage to arrange the date as soon as we could, and that date was May 6th, 2023 (This Saturday!)
It was very rushing the way we had to organize it. It is going to be something very small, nothing big than just the official wedding: dinner, cake, coffee and tea. We're not doing one of those traditional Mexican weddings with ballrooms, dances, DJs, mariachi, la víbora de la mar, and all that. It's not even our style, I never liked those parties, and I'm glad Roni doesn't like them either. So...it is going to be something small and simple, just with our families and our local friends. Especially since we didn't have too much time to organize it. And good thing is we're not going to spend too much on the celebration either.
So yeah! I'm going to be a married panda! A very rushing but small celebration, that's why we couldn't invite many people.
Congratulations on your wedding! I hope you two enjoy your special day. Sorry to hear about the wrist problems, but I hope the recovery goes smoothly and that you’ll be back to drawing soon.
Congratulations on your wedding! I hope you two enjoy your special day. Sorry to hear about the wris
I'm glad your doctors were able to find the problem and have started ya on the path to getting it all fixed :3! <3 Also congrats on the wedding, I hope it all goes very well <3! ^^
I'm glad your doctors were able to find the problem and have started ya on the path to getting it al
I wish you both a happy wedding and years of togetherness. I'm also happy that you found a doctor who really looked into your wrist problem with real seriousness. There are too many doctors who have settled into a mental rut and don't question after they make their initial impression of the problem. I hope you get better soon.
I wish you both a happy wedding and years of togetherness. I'm also happy that you found a docto
Big congrats on the marriage and hope the wedding it awesome but what the heck is "la víbora de la mar" ( translated = The Sea Viper???!!! O.O ) and how does it relate to a wedding! O.o
Re your wrist I hope that gets better soon, REAL soon and that you do NOT need surgery as unfortunately that can make these problems worse over the long run. Other than that take care stay safe and keep us updated.
Big congrats on the marriage and hope the wedding it awesome but what the heck is "la víbora de la m
First my congratulations to both you and Roni. This is such wonderful special news, I hope the two of you have a long and happy life together! And thank you as well, for telling us about your wrist. While I have always loved your art, your heath is far more important to me. I would be the first to insist, when you are ready, that you only go as much as you can, without hurting yourself more. *Hugs*
First my congratulations to both you and Roni. This is such wonderful special news, I hope the two o
Congratulations on your wedding! You know, a long long time ago, you made a custom coffee mug for me with your art on it, which I still have and hold very dear. I wish you the best with your wrist recovery.
Congratulations on your wedding! You know, a long long time ago, you made a custom coffee mug for me
First off, congratulations—that's gotta be amazing, especially TOMORROW! Wow. Second, I'm glad that you went and got multiple opinions for this, you ended up finding a solution that was far less invasive than originally planned.
Third, I'm sure that your drawings actually would sell for a million pesos. 😘
Aww, that's so sweet!! First off, congratulations—that's gotta be amazing, especially TOMORROW! Wow
