My wrist seem to very very slowly getting better. If you have been following my progress you may recall around last September I lost the wrist function that I did have, which was wrist extension. Wrist extension is when you can bend your wrist up like you are doing the Motorcycle. This function is very important because it gives me the ability to grip without the use of my fingers; this is called tenodesis grip. Tenodesis grip works because when you relax your wrist, your fingers naturally extend and open; bending the wrist up makes the fingers close, creating just the right movement to be able to “grip” objects. As you can guess loosing my grip was a pretty big setback. The thing I miss the most is the ability to pick up a drink and drink it on my own. Just prior to loosing my grip I had learned how to open a soda can and drink it without a straw. I’ll try to post a video of this if I can get it from my therapist.
The cause of this lost of function was a syrinx. A syrinx is a rare, fluid-filled neuroglial cavity within the spinal cord (syringomyelia). I had a surgery on my spinal cord to correct this, December 2012. It’s been almost 5 months now and besides the weakness in my wrist, I finally feel like things are back to “normal”. Neurologically, I’m still healing from the surgery so I’m hopeful that I will regain more function and sensation. Maybe, by the Zumbathon I’ll be picking up my own drinks again!