aaargh

the news on my mean pea is dubious. i went to see and orthopedic surgeon yesterday, and evidently i might have bigger problems than the pea. i had some xrays done, and learned that my pea does, in fact, look like a pea under there. that was sort of cool, and i really wish i'd brought my camera into the exam room with me! damn.

the thing is, i have this funny crease in my palm that showed up about four years ago. when it appeared, i noticed my hand lost some strength and was sore. every doctor i saw since then i showed it to, and they all said, "hmmm" and shrugged and left it at that. i bought one of those weirdo hand-squeezey-things to work on my strength and that was that. the pea showed up a few years later, and when i showed that to the doctor, he said that the pea was probably under my skin for a while, causing the crease, before it came to the surface, and that once the pea (thought to be a ganglion cyst) was excised, everything would go back to normal.

now the doctor isn't sure if the crease and pea are even related. he thinks the crease is dupuytren's contracture. this would mean the tissues in the crease are thickening and shortening the tendons in my palm, and will eventually pull my thumb and forefinger into a claw position and i'll be unable to straighten them. without surgery, that is. evidently this is very rare in someone my age without any injury, and it's also rare to have my thumb and forefinger affected. before they know what is, though, i have to go in for more tests. they'll probably do an MRI (ha ha), and i have to see another surgeon for a consult.

the good news is that if it is dupuytren's, we caught it early enough that surgery will help. the pea will still need to come out, but they aren't sure if it is a true ganglion cyst or some weird after effect of the contracture. either way, the surgery on my hand will likely be a bit more complicated and take me out of commission a bit longer. awesome! until then, i'll continue to take photos of the pea, who is now kind of weirded about by the fact that he might not be biggest issue.