A strange trip to the Land of OZ.

Did you ever find yourself in a situation where you begin to question your sanity? Jim and I went through that recently--at a doctor's office.
A few years ago I developed a nasty disease called "lymphedema". This is what happens when something goes haywire with your immune system. You can have lymphedema in various parts
of your body--mine was in my arms and hands. Strangely, many doctors don't know much
about the disease and just kind of push you on to another doctor to deal with it.
Jim had to wrap both arms and hands every day--and I was only allowed 1 hour out of the wraps
in each 24 hour period--in order to take a shower.
The wrapping causes pressure to be put on the swelling and attempts to trick the immune system
to start working again. In the midst of this, all at once 2 fingers on my left hand began to "dangle". The doctor said arthritis had eaten through the tendons on that hand. My regular doctor suggested I see Dr. Naam, who is known in these parts as the "hand doctor". We thought Dr. Naam could tie the tendons up so I would have some use of that hand. At the time I was
playing the organ at church and although it was easier to play the organ at that point than the piano (I could slid my fingers on the organ and somewhat hit the right notes), it was still
difficult to do daily tasks around the house with 3 fingers working.
I went to Dr. Naam and he agreed to do the surgery on that hand and we had a time set and everything. Only a day before, however, he called me and said that he had consulted with
doctors across the country and they had advised him it was too dangerous to do any surgery,
as they were afraid the hand might get infected and the infection would spread all over my body.
So, I forgot about surgery and went about my business. Then, I ended up with 1 dangling finger on the right hand. In time, both hands began to draw up and kind of form a "cup". I
can't straighten them out, so my doctor said it was time to talk to Dr. Naam again.
When Dr. Naam came into the office that day he said, "Well, did you have surgery?" Jim and I
looked at each other in confusion. I told the doctor that I had not had surgery because he
backed out of doing it. He argued with me and said another doctor had sent me to him and
the other doctor was going to do the surgery. Finally, Dr. Naam spotted 2 sticky notes
on the inside of my file and they must have explained what had transpired the other time,
so he ended up apologizing for the misunderstanding.
To make a long story short--I am scheduled to have surgery on May 5, to be done by Dr. Naam
to try to correct the cupping on my left hand. If it works, I will have the right hand done later.
Later on this blog, I will tell you about how the visit to Dr. Naam turned into a strange turn of events. I want to make sure everything works out before I talk about--afraid talking about it
prematurely might jinx it. Stay tuned!