Sunday 26 October 2008

Tiny stuff

'Hydrangea

I have a ganglion in my right wrist. That's my drawing wrist. Normally a ganglion isn't very painful but in my wrist it is painful. Especially when I have been drawing for a while. So 1,5 years ago I went to my doctor to ask what it was and what he could do about it. He told me what it was and that I could get rid of it by hitting it against the wall or give it a big whack with a phonebook or a bible (in case I had a lot of faith in God's power). But he also said that it wouldn't be a guaranty that it would be gone for good.
My doctor is a very nice man with a great sense of humour. He knows that I draw botanical stuff and he likes my drawings. He therefore thought it would be wise to send me to a plastic surgeon in the hospital in Groningen.

The plastic surgeon (strange name isn't it?) had a look at it and told me it was unusual that it's hurting me so much. So, just to be sure, he told me to get an x-ray. There was nothing on the x-ray. So he told me to get a PET-scan. There was nothing on the PET-scan either. But still he didn’t want to cut the ganglion out of my wrist. He inserted a needle inside my ganglion and removed the glue like substance instead. He hoped it would stay away.
But a month later the ganglion was there again and still painful. So…. I returned to the surgeon. Now he wanted to see an MRI of my wrist.

Sighhhhh……

Ok, so two weeks ago I went to the hospital again to get that MRI. And last week I went to see my surgeon again. He told me that the real problem isn’t in the same spot where the ganglion lump is. But it is more inside my wrist. In the joint of my thumb. Now I have to get a surgery to get it all out. And for that he has to cut around some bones and tendons. He has to cut some tendons too.
The surgery will take place around Christmas time. Yippee! And after that I won’t be able to use my wrist for about 6 weeks.

BUT….. after that I will be able to draw again without pain. At last…..

And until then I only can draw some really tiny stuff. And that’s what I’ve been doing the last weeks. I can show you these two drawings.

'Seeds

One of Clematis seeds (although there are some people who rather think of it as sperm, and others look at it and think of tadpoles). They are the seeds of Clematis viticella “Little Nell” also blogged HERE.
The other little tiny thingy is the small drawing of a Hydrangea “flower” you can see at the start of this post. I want to do some more of those…. They are really very much fun to do.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

auch, well, sounds like you are in good hands :) You draw absolutely beautiful flower today. Hope all will go well!

Sigrid Frensen said...

yep, me too!

Joan Y said...

I feel for ya. I had one of those and mine eventually went away after I whacked it with a hammer. Just kidding :). It went away on its own after wearing a brace to keep my hand immobile for months. I pray that everything will go well. I cringe when the words "hand" and "cut" is used in the same sentence. I'll keep my fingers crossed. But I'm glad you can still draw these beautiful little things.

Sigrid Frensen said...

Hey Joany!!!! thanks for the finger crossing (don't get cramped, you need to draw too! I try not to think too much about the cutting part, I'd rather think about the period afterwards when I can turn on my drawing engine again at full speed and power!!!

Unknown said...

Must be horribly frustrating. My very best wishes, my friend, for a speedy and 100% successful resolution!

Sigrid Frensen said...

Thanks Ryan!

Cecca said...

Oh no! That sounds horrible!!
I hope everything goes well and you have a quick recovery.
Your tiny drawings are beautiful:-)
I hope you're not stressing your hand too much by doing them though!
All the best, Cecca x

Sigrid Frensen said...

Ha, thanks Cecca! Not horrible, don't worry ;-) Just very frustrating. and the nice thing about these tiny things is that they don't take so long to finish. And I never did that much tiny stuff. I must say it is very much fun to do....