Since the fresh age of 18, all I can remember is spending 12-15 hours a day glued to a computer screen or painting til sunrise. Back when phone cords assisted in online speed and AOL ruled the world wide web, I could be found typing up a storm. Everything should be done in moderation, but does that apply to what you LOVE LOVE LOVE

Fifteen years would pass until I’d learn that answer the hard way. It starts in the most subtle manner… I simply turned a door knob one day in 2011 and a lightning bolt of pain jolted from my wrist up my right arm as if to say… ” HELLO, MY NAME IS CARPAL TUNNEL.”

Like most things that scare us, I simply ignored it. Thinking it would go away if I was strong enough to endure the odd sharp pain. In my mind, I would be rewarded with its disappearance if I allowed the pain to take its course. Boy, was I wrong. 2 years would pass until my breaking point would boil over like lava. In March of 2013, my pregnancy would intensify this pain like no other, and by the time I delivered, there was no feeling in 3 of my fingers, and I couldn’t write anything over a paragraph without pausing to rub and self-soothe my wrist. Something had to be done.

That’s when I discovered the ” Shero of Hand Surgery “. Dr. Faranak Vossoughi, M.D. – a female surgeon who’s my ” Wonder Woman ” of Carpal Tunnel. She herself proudly displays the war wound of the surgery, so she understands what you are going through without you saying a word. It’s one thing to practice medicine its another to experience what hurts your patients. The procedure was a quick outpatient surgery requiring a 10-day healing process. Getting both hands done was trying, but the bedrest was what really drove me crazy. The hardest thing was watching others care for my daughter and not being able to hold her. Fun times were when she’d be placed on my lap in bed to snuggle. My mom came in from New Orleans to help out, and so many pitched in but some days were still harder than others.

Everything heals in time, though. I returned back to Dr. Vossoughi for the removal of the casts and pulling of the stitches. She gave me thumbs up to begin enjoying my hands again but just to take it easy for a few weeks. To say thanks to the Doc, I gave her a Thais Flower design so she’ll never forget this bold painter from New Orleans. Now I’ll always have the cutest scar on both wrists, adding me to the unspoken group of Carpal Tunnel survivors. If anyone out there suffers in silence from hand pains, make your voice heard and visit www.KatyHand.com – let Dr. Vossoughi be your light at the end of the Carpal Tunnel! – Thais Mills