Back to Basics

Howdy!

I hope y'all have been having a dandy week thus far. Mine's certainly been interesting. Shall I bring you guys up to speed?

First off, someone hit my car in a parking lot... with me in it. No worries though, there was hardly any damage to my precious Penelope, just a scratch on the car and a few scratches to the rim of a tire. Seriously, it was so minuscule that I told the guy who hit me not to worry about it. It was a scary experience though. One of my main fears about driving is getting into/being involved in an accident and killing myself and or someone else. My thought process getting out of the car was "OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! WHAT AM I GONNA DO? WHAT AM I GONNA... oh... wait... there's no damage here... oh... okay... we're cool." I was a lil shake-y for a while but I calmed down after an hour or two. Now I ain't even mad, just thankful that nothing worse happened.

On to cripple things, the past few weeks have suuuuuccccccckkkkkeeeeedddddd pain wise. How bad? Well, I spent most of my labor day weekend laid up in bed watching "Orange Is The New Black" because I was literally in too much pain to move. Side note, I really enjoyed that show. If I had a "busy" day it would take another day to recover, and I'm using the word "busy" loosely because I really wasn't doing all that much. Anyway, today I went to my pain management doctor to discuss everything. She gave my back a once over and we came to the conclusion that my gait and lack of strength in my back is causing the pain. She gave me some exercises to do so hopefully that'll help. We're also adjusting my medication schedule a bit. I usually take my meds at night. We're now splitting them up so I take some of my weaker meds earlier. This should help manage my pain better and keep it at bay longer. Fingers crossed that it works. On the bright side, my arms having given me much trouble over the past two weeks, which is a welcome change. Pity the other issues overshadowed that.

On to piggie things. Lucy-fer was on a bit of an asshole rampage for a few days, until we discovered "solitary confinement". And by that I mean we put her in a pet carrier and left in there for a little while. One night before dinner Lucy was acting up so I put her in solitary. Her case was on a chair next to me so I could see her the entire time. It was 30 minutes of "WHY AM I HERE MAMAAAAAAA" and lots of sad piggie eyes. She started to learn her lesson after that, but she truly learned her lesson a few days after that. Lucy had settled down, but one her favorite pigs, Maggie, was ignoring her. Lucy would go by Maggie, not touching her or anything, and Maggie would start freaking out and screaming at Lucy until she left. Well... one day I check them and I found Miss Lucy-fer sulking in a corner. I took her out for some one on one time and we had a nice talk. I think she's starting to realize that her actions have consequences.

YOU CAN SEE THE SADNESS ON HER FACE! It's been a few days since we've had that discussion and *knock on wood* Lucy has not gotten into trouble. She's been a very good girl. Maggie is still wary of her and screams whenever Lucy comes near her. Poor Lucy-fer, she just sits there like "WHAT DID I DO!?!?! I JUST WANT TO SHARE A HOUSE WITH YOU".

So that's about it. Fun week. Happy Friday everyone!

Crippie's Tippie - Just because an animal is aggressive at times don't assume it's evil

Tumor, With Love

A MIILLLLLIIIIIOOOOOON points to everyone who gets that pun

I have several things to discuss with y'all tonight!

First, I FINALLY put a page up on the menu for the piggies. I'll add to it eventually, but basic profiles of the piggies is good place to start.

Speaking of piggies, I've been trying to slowly introduce Maggie to members of the trio. Yesterday she had a play date with Frida. It went better than expected, Maggie seemed to approve of Frida, but Frida wasn't too fond of Maggie. Since the local rescues have not contacted me back in regards to the baby, I might as well attempt to introduce Maggie to the trio. When I do I'll make sure I have a MASSIVE amount of space and a crap ton of salad. For those of you in a similar situation, remember that as tempting as it may be to just go and buy a baby pig, RESIST. Always rescue your piggies.

In non-guinea pig related new I saw my pain management doctor today. It was my last visit before having Fanny removed so we went over all the pre and post surgery pain management goodness. Usually I'm pretty good when it comes to taking pain meds after surgery, I take the crazy strong stuff for a day or so, then I go back to normal stuff. After we discussed everything my doctor wanted to examine Fanny for one last time, cause let's face it, Fanny might be a massive pain in the ass but she is one impressive tumor. Fanny is so impressive that a nurse wanted to come in and check it out as well. What can I say, I'm the only person with MHE that either of them has ever seen, how can I not take an opportunity to show of my best tumors?

I'm sure there are people out there who think that naming tumors, getting a kick out of showing them off, etc. is weird. Well, of course it's weird, but I do it because I think it's fun. I have a giant tumor on my ass... HOW CAN I NOT MAKE FUN OF IT?!?!?! The way I see it I can either be ashamed of my disability and hide my giant ass tumor, OR I can embrace and own it. Most of these tumors are not going anywhere, so I might as well get a few lulz from 'em.

Crippie's Tippie - Try to find the humor in your situation, it sure beats moping around

That Went Better Than Expected

Ohai!

The Mama Pig Update - She seems to be stable again. She probably had a very minor UTI that we were able to treat by flushing her out. It's become pretty apparent that Mama, Frida, and Nellie are genetically prone to UTIs and bladder issues. Knowing this Crippie has to make a special effort to keep their tushies clean. This involves changing their bedding more frequently, occasionally wiping their butts with a pet wipe, and maybe trimming the fur by their bums. Sure, it's a little more effort, but it's soooooo much easier than taking care of a pig with a massive UTI.

I hope all my crippled comrades are having a lovely week. Crippie's week is going oddly well. First off, Crippie managed to redesign the blog (one of my new year's resolution)! It's not completely done yet, but I figured out how to make a custom navigation bar and remove some parts of the HTML/CSS coding that I didn't like in the original theme! YAY ME! If anyone is wondering how I did this, Crippie has a very basic knowledge of HTML and CSS, and what I didn't know I looked up and occasionally just googled "how do I make a custom navigation bar on blogger" or "How do I get rid of the white panels in my blogger theme". Crippie used Adobe Illustrator to make her new header and menu, I lurv me some Adobe Illustrator. Overall the whole process was much less daunting than I thought it would be. Crippie thought she was gonna crash the blog or something, soooooo happy I didn't break this thing.

On Thursday I went to my bi-monthly pain management appointment. It went very well and we bowed down to my doctor for guessing the whole sciatica thing before anyone else. She recommended that I do exercises to keep my sciatica at bay for the time being. My doctor also told me how much full blown sciatica sucks, so that reaffirmed my decision to remove Fanny.

Speaking of Fanny, today I decided to tell my boss that I will need 2-3 weeks off of work to have surgery. Crippie's opted to be very upfront with her. I told her that I have a genetic disorder that causes bone tumors to grow on my bones, that I have a tumor the size of a grapefruit on the back of my hip, and that I need to have it removed. My boss was super nice and supportive about the whole thing. I did stress that the surgery doesn't have to be done immediately so I can wait for a slow period in work. She said that if that doesn't work, she can just hire a temp for 2 weeks, no big deal. Soooooooooo relieved. I was nervous as to how my boss would react to me telling her what was wrong with me, her only question for me was "Are you in pain?". It was kinda adorable actually. It's good to know that my boss actually cares. Now Crippie has to try to schedule her surgery, that'll be interesting to say the least.

Crippie's Tippie - If your boss/doctor/superior/whatever doesn't care about your general well being... they suck

Damnit Fanny

Ohai,

Thanks for your support guys, the ninja vibes totally help!

Crippie had her pain management appointment today, and I honestly didn't know what my doctor would say or do. Crippie specifically told the doctor that my current course of treatment helps most of my pain except for my hip. I showed her my x-rays and she examined my hips, legs, and Fanny. The doctor's verdict iiiiiissssssssssssssssssss...
1) Fanny is pressing on my sciatic nerve.
2) Tumors in my hips are making the muscles in my legs contract, Crippie cannot straighten her leg
The Remedy - Neurontin for the nerve problems and stretches for the muscle problems

Crippie was totally not expecting those diagnoses, but they make a lot of sense. At first Crippie didn't believe the first diagnoses of sciatic nerve issues because my prior experience with nerve pain was a little different to say the least. I'm used to RSD to nerve pain... which is probably the worst pain I'll ever experience. The pain in my hips is more of a dull ache. It turns out the sciatic nerve pain can be a dull ache... who knew! Crippie was also very surprised about the whole muscle thing. I guess I never noticed that my leg doesn't straighten or that my muscles are tight. If anyone is wondering how I couldn't notice that... it's my normal. I'm used to it. I don't know what normal functioning legs feel like.

Crippie is so thankful that my doctor actually gives a crap about my quality of life. She is verrrrrryyyyy cautious about my meds because she knows I'm gonna be on them for the rest of my life. She cares about the quality of my future life, this muscle thing could turn into a huge problem in 10-20 years. Yet she realizes that I am in pain now and that I have to be treated now. It's unfortunate that I don't hear about doctors like her often.

BTW, if anyone was wondering how Crippie deals with news like this... Crippie is usually happy to get explanations and answers, even if it is potentially bad news. Today's appointment pretty much confirmed that my disease is progressing and that I am getting worse. I accepted the fact that my condition would progress long ago, so now I try to focus on what Crippie can do about it. Crippie is going to schedule an appointment with her orthopedist within the next few weeks and we'll take it from there.

Crippie's Tippie for Doctors - CARE ABOUT YOUR PATIENTS!!!

Pain, Pain Go Away

Yo! 

Yeaaaaaaaah, as the title suggests Crippie has been in a fair amount of pain over the past few days. Me thinks the weather is changing or something because Fanny the Ass Tumor, something on the back of my pelvis, and my hip socket and been acting up all at once. Crippie's flare up is so bad that her pain management appointment got bumped up to tomorrow. I'm probably looking at a med change. After that Crippie will monitor her pain levels and if they continue to suck... then it's off to the orthopedist I go.

In the meantime Crippie is using NPH for the back of my hip and my inner hip and Capsaicin for my outer side and front of my hip. WARNING: DO NOT PUT A HEAT PACK ON AN AREA THAT HAS CAPSAICIN ON IT. Capsaicin is one of those things you have to be super cautious about. When misused it causes a whole lotta discomfort. The mix of the two treatments has made my pain levels bearable so at least I'll be able to sleep tonight. 

Part of me thinks that all of this pain is due to an arthritis flare up, simply because it came on so suddenly. Usually my MHE problems takes months if not years to develop. Maybe it's just Crippie being in denial and not wanting to think about hip surgery, but I don't think my tumors could grow to this extent in a matter of a days. Crippie really hopes this is just an arthritis flare up.

Anyway, I'll definitely let y'all know how tomorrow goes. Crippie will be bringing her hip x-rays to the doctor tomorrow so she can clearly see what's going on. Wish me luck everybody :)

To make up for the short post today, here's a pic of Nellie and Frida sleeping

Crippie's Tippie - Capsaicin works, but you have to be reaaaaaalllllllllyyyyyyy careful with it

It's A Sunshine Day!

Hi Y'all

I don't know about you guys, but the weather today was AWESOME by Crippie. Mother Nature might be a bitch most of the time but this 70 degree day was totally awesome. Crippie actually got a lot accomplished today!
Since the weather was so awesome we decided to the dogs to the park! We didn't realize how windy it was so it was short lived trip to the park. The dogs had a blast in their quick 10 outing, I reckon that's all that matters.
After that Crippie drove to the pet store. Seemingly not a big deal, but I haven't driven there in years. It was almost like driving to a new place, and I didn't have a panic attack... YAY ME! Mini cripple rant... while at the pet store I could help but look at the guinea pigs... PET STORE OWNERS... TAKE CARE OF YOUR PETS. The piggies had no hay, crap bedding, were not properly taken care of, and most importantly SICK. I feel so horrible for those poor babies. I wish there was something I could do for them. If any of my readers are looking to obtain guinea pigs be very wary of pet stores, try your best to rescue a pig.
Once we finished our errands Crippie had her appointment with the pain management doctor. Since the heat pack has helped my pain levels for the time being we started forming a plan for what to do when I eventually get worse. She doesn't want me to immediately jump into an anti-depressant as a treatment, but there are some transitional medications that she would put me on. Crippie's doctor also suggested injections for pain relief. The thought of needles does not appeal to Crippie AT ALL. Have any of my readers tried shots for pain? Did they work? Were they really painful?
Annnnnnndddd after that we took a drive to the location of a potential freelance client. It was a completely foreign area to me and I was not comfortable driving there. So, Crippie and her mom are going to make some practice runs over the weekend until I am okay driving there.
Whew, what a busy day. Once I got home I fell asleep for a few hours. Crippie also rested with her piggies.

Frida Being Snuggly, she was making up for peeing on me earlier -_-

Mama Pig's Tushie!

Crippie's Tippie - When dealing with a lifelong condition, having a plan for when things get worse will make your life slightly easier and less stressful when that time comes

Frida's Tippie - Depending on where you live there are lots guinea pigs in shelters that need good homes.


P.S. Ever since a tumor split one of my finger nails I've been wearing nail polish to cover it. I recently found a "nail polish of the month club" if you will. If you want to check it out, it's HERE. If you join, use the code COLOR2012 and get your first month's order for a penny! You can always cancel after your first free month ;)

Heat Pack Challenge - Day 2

Howdy Y'all!

Crippie has an announcement to make... I am in love with my heat pack. Crippie used the heat pack again last night and yet again my hip didn't hurt! I was skeptical last too... cause the weather is going through some super fun changes which generally mean a lot of pain. I still can't believe that the heat is stopping my pain. It's weird, now that I'm not in as much pain I can really see how much pain I was actually in. I'm so used to being in pain, it's feels really strange to be without... awesome... but strange nonetheless.
To be fair, it's not like Crippie is just putting a heat pack on for 20 minutes and the pain magically vanishes. Crippie is putting heat on her hip for a solid 5+ hours. Now some people might say "Whoaaaa... isn't that dangerous?" If I was placing this on bare skin it could potentially be dangerous. Crippie is not placing the heat pack directly on her skin. Crippie is well aware that this is not necessarily the safest practice in the world, but honestly I don't care. My hip doesn't hurt. The end justifies the means.
Now all I really need to do is name my heat pack. Since it's hot I reckon it should be named after some totally awesome actor. What do you guys think I should name my heat pack?

Crippie's Tippie - Heat is awesome, but be cautious when using it in excessive amounts like me

Everything Went Better Than Expected

Ohai!

It looks like Crippie's great quest for a heat pack ended rather quickly. Crippie went to Kmart and obtained a Sunbeam Extra Large Electric Moist Heat Pack. I'll admit, I had really low expectations when it came to this heat pack... some relief and maybe it won't catch on fire. I figured I'd test out the new heat pack when my hip pain is at it's worst... at night.
First off... no heat pack product suggests that you use it while sleeping. There is a chance you can burn yourself. Crippie is rebel and completely disregards those warnings! My reflexes are quick enough to remove it if something starts to hurt. Also, this heat pack has a two-hour timer so I don't really have to worry about fires, which is nice.
I used the max heat setting, which was hot but not "OMG I JUST BURNED MY FREAKING LEG" hot, just the right amount of moist heat IMO. I was able to wrap the heat pack around the heat pack around my hip and leg area, which was rather nice because I wasn't overheating in a giant heated blanket. After about 30 of heat I started to notice that my hip wasn't hurting. I didn't have a feeling that a lead balloon was expanding in my hip. Shocked by this discovery I figured I'd just try lying down in some random position with the heat still secured to my hip. Generally speaking I can lay still for maybe 5 minutes before it gets too uncomfortable and then I switch positions. I got into my random position, watched some TV and before I knew it 30 minutes had passed! I couldn't believe it, I was able to lay down in one position for a relatively lengthy period of time. I can count the number of times I've been able to do that with one hand, and all the instances involved some really strong pain meds. After that I figured I should actually try to go to sleep, so I got into a comfy position with my heat pack and stayed in that position until I fell asleep!
I still can't believe it, I had a night where my hip didn't hurt me! I was actually able to fall asleep like a normal person! When I woke up in the morning my hip felt pretty good. I didn't notice quite as many popping noises from my hip today. I'm using the heat pack right now and my hip isn't hurting!
Crippie is really freaking happy. My hip has been the bane of my existence for 5+ years. I've had to cope with the pain every night for years, all of the sudden a simple heat pack is making it go away. To go from being in constant pain to near nothing... that feeling is indescribable. The only downside now that I think about is "CRAP... I'VE BEEN NEEDLESSLY SUFFERING FOR OVER 5 YEARS... FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU".
I really hope I'm not jinxing myself again by posting this, but even if I did, at least I had one night of no pain. I'll definitely keep y'all updated on the miraculous heat pack cure.

BTW - If anyone is wondering specifically what kind of pain the miraculous heat pack is curing, it is helping relieve inflammation from arthritis.

Crippie's Tippie- HEAT PACKS ARE FREAKING AWESOME... OOOOMMMMGGGG

Crippie Plays Catch Up

Sup Everybody?

My cold is finally starting to go away... YAY! I can breathe again!!! Apart from the general annoyance of the cold, it was really starting to get painful, tumors in my ribs were catching when I coughed, hella painful. Anywhooo today Crippie figured she'd talk about some random things that have been on her mind recently...

- Anybody watch the Oscars? Crippie enjoys watching award shows and picking out the winners regardless of whether or not she knows what she is talking about. I did pretty well last night, got a vast majority of my answers correctly. The biggest bummer of the night... WHY DIDN'T HARRY POTTER WIN ANYTHING? I mean, c'mon couldn't the academy at least recognize them for their make-up? Biggest moment of awesome (for me anyway)... when "The Descendants" won an award for it's script. Why? Because this means the academy agrees with Crippie in how the movie is not offensive in any way, shape or form. Snaps for validating my opinions. 

- Now that my cold is going away I can focus on trying to sleep again. Last night I fell asleep around 5:30am. The night before that it was 4:00. Crippie really needs to think of some sleeping techniques. Oh, and for those who suggested either Tylenol or Advil PM... Crippie used to take those to go sleep for several years. What happens when you take a drug regularly for several years? You basically become immune to it. Alas they no longer have any effect on me. 

- Crippie visits her pain management doctor on Thursday. My mom really wants me to consider the anti-depressant as a pain medication route again. This time we are gonna go to the doctor specifically discussing my hip pain (normally I just say I'm in pain from the neck down). I'm gonna bring my hip x-rays and discuss how I want to preserve my hips for as long as possible. Although part of me thinks I should probably be talking with my ortho about that, which reminds me... I haven't had an othro appointment in over a year, YAY ME! 

- The piggies are starting to get dirty, I guess that means it's time to bathe the piggies. Something tells me Thursday will be spent at the doctor's office and then bathing and blow drying pigs (yes, I actually use a hair dryer on the piggies). Anyone interested in seeing pics of that super fun event? 

- Speaking of piggies, here's some pictures of Frida sleeping in Nellie's house. Ever since Frida managed to get in Nellie's house she has refused to come out :D

- So yeah, that's about it. Random jumble of a post. Crippie's thoughts get jumbled at 3:00am... which is mainly why I NEED TO FRIGGIN SLEEEEEEEEEP!

Crippie's Tippie's - In this day of digital x-rays its super easy to ask for a copy, they can be emailed to you too! 

Crippie Submits To A Random Drug Test!

Ohai!

Crippie certainly had an eventful day today. I had my pain management appointment in the morning. It went better than expected. My doctor opted to not change the dosage of my medicine, but the amount of pills I have. That way if I need more I can use it. I'm very relieved that I didn't need a full out dosage increase. The doctor also recommended that I take extra strength acetaminophen during the day as needed. Also, as the title suggests I had to submit to a random drug test, just to make sure that Crippie isn't a druggie. Funny story about that, the drug test involves peeing in a cup. The nurse gave me a cup with a very secure lid on it and showed me to the bathroom. I go into the bathroom, try to open the cup, and gosh darn it I cannot get the damn cup open (arthritis + stupid cup = lethal combo). So Crippie had to go back to the nurse and ask her to open the pee cup, that wasn't humiliating at alllllll. Once the drug test was completed we continued on to do other errands.
My mom and I went to get some supplies for the pets at a local petco, and while I really do not advise buying any animals from there I couldn't help but snap a few shots of some the little critters they had.

Speaking of cute animals, Frida is in the running to be featured on a site about cute animals. Vote for her HERE. 

Anyway, after we finished running errands I collapsed on the couch for the next few hours. I'd call today a success. I took the extra dose of medicine tonight, let's hope it works.

Crippie's Tippie- If you know that you have issues opening jars, ask the nurse to open your pee cup BEFORE you go into the bathroom. 

Holiday Round-Up!

HAPPY ALMOST NEW YEARS!

I hope all my readers had a lovely Christmahanukwanzika. My Christmas weekend went rather well. Crippie got to sleep in and consequently got enough sleep to have dreams that Voldemort was hiding in my coat closet, I made the family a Christmas brunch (if anyone wants tips on how to make kick-ass eggs... hit Crippie up), and I got to catch up on my video games. 

Since today was the last night of Hanukkah *sob* I present you with the question I asked most often. You would think it is something deep like "what do Jews think of hell" or "Do Jews think Jesus existed?" LOL... no. The question I most often get is... 

"You're a Jew right? Do you like that Adam Sandler Hanukkah song?"

The Answer: THE HANUKKAH SONG IS THE BEST SONG ABOUT HANUKKAH EVER WRITTEN. PERIOD. I mean c'mon "Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel" is cute and all... but it's kinda dumb. Crippie even likes the second and third parts of the song, viewable HERE and HERE.
Off-topic... OMG Adam Sandler looks soooooo young in that video.

Moving on to cripple related business, the weather got really bad again today so my pain levels were once again in the 7-9 range. Sometime during the day I realized that my pain levels have been increasing over the past couple of months. Part of this could be me developing a tolerance to my medication, but part of it is general progression of disease. Literally 10 minutes after coming to this realization my mom texted me saying my appointment with my pain management doctor had to be rescheduled for tomorrow. What luck! I probably need to increase my nighttime meds. I reeeaaallllyyy don't want to do that, but me thinks that's whats gonna happen. On the bright side, I have tomorrow off work so I can relax after the doctor. Doctor visits usually knock me out. Wish Crippie luck!

Jew-ie's Tippie - Stop hatin' on "Eight Crazy Nights". Sure it's dumb and crude... but hey it's a heart warming Hanukkah movie. They're aren't too many of 'em around. 


Crippie's Tippie- Got some spare holiday cash? BUY MY BOOK! Use the code BLIZZARD305 to get 35% off your entire order! Hurry up, this coupon is only good for December 28th! 

NHBPM- Oh My Word, WHAT DID I JUST POST?!?

Ohai Everybody!

First off, Frida says "thank you" to anyone and everyone that thought she looked adorable as "GUINEA BEE". If anyone is wondering, she really didn't mind the costume all that much. I tried to put it on one of my other guinea pigs, Maggie, first. She started screaming and tried to rip the costume off, so after snapping a quick shot of her we took it off. Frida did not scream or try to kill me, she did try to pee on the costume... but she does that with everything. Here's a picture of me with the "Original GUINEA BEE", Maggie.

Moving on to day 3 (for me anyway) of National Health Blog Post Month. The topic du jour is...
What happens after you press “publish.” Write about your post-blog-writing process. Do you immediately tweet a link? Email it to everyone? Re-read it for spelling errors?
After I finish writing all the crippled goodness that is this blog (which I usually write really late at night/early in the morning when I am tired and not exactly functioning) I do a quick skim through to find typos. Generally speaking I don't spell words wrong, I either forget a word or rearrange it with something else. Once I finish the basic look over I press publish. After that I actually view the post and find more typos. I go and fix those and then I press publish again.
I use Networked Blogs which automatically updates my twitter and facebook page with a link to the new post. I highly recommend this feature because I can never freakin' remember to update those.
So yeah, that's the glorious story what happens after I publish the blog.

Tomorrow I have regular appointment with my pain management physician. Crippie's Mommie thinks I should switch some of my medications. She wants me to replace my anti-inflamitory drug (which can do a crap ton of damage to my heart and stomach) with an anti-depressant. Crippie is not depressed nor does Crippie suffer from depression, but apparently anti-depresants stop certain pain signals in the brain. I'm curious as to what my physician will say about this manner, I'll def keep you updated.

Crippie's Tippie- Research different pain treatment options, http://www.painfoundation.org/ is a great place to learn and get information about pain and pain treatment.


This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days:http://bit.ly/vU0g9J 

Working With Pain

Hey Y'all!

I took my pain medication an hour later than I should've and boy am I feeling the consequences. Lesson learned, and I hope you all have learned from my fail.

While I'm on the subject of pain, people have been asking me how pain effects me at the office. I'm not gonna lie, there have been times whilst at work where I've been temporarily rendered useless by pain. I could hardly type a few days ago. My arthritis was so bad that it literally hurt me to press the shift key with my pinky finger. Regardless of how much pain I might be in at any given time I refuse to let my coworkers know it. The moment I put the "pain card" on the table people are gonna start treating me differently. So here is what Crippie does for pain management at work...
1) Take pain medication regularly- I take pain medication every morning before work, usually that helps take away the worst pain. If I am in more pain during the day I just take another pill.
2) Hot Water- When I couldn't type I took a quick bathroom break and ran my hands under hot water for a few minutes. It loosened my hands up enough so I could continue work.
3) Take a super quick break- If my pain is so bad that I literally can't do anything I just sit at my desk for a minute or two until it passes.

While these work relatively well, at the moment my biggest life saver is SQUISHY!

I Shall Call You Squishy, & You Shall Be Mine, & You Shall Be My Squishy

Squishy is technically a "sensory stimulator gel pad" and is used to calm down "agitated, diminished capacity, elderly people". Squishy looks like something you would buy to keep your hands in a good position while working on a keyboard, so no one at work seems to notice the giant blue squishy thing on my desk. Not only does Squishy keep my wrists comfy but it also me message my fingers when they stiff, distracts me when I am in too much pain to focus, and it helps me focus when I get tired. 

Fidget toys in general have kept my functioning for years, but Squishy is probably the more "grown-up" fidget toys I own. One of these days I do a post devoted to the rest of my collection.

Crippie's Tippie- Don't stray from your medication schedule. Bad things happen when you forget your pills.