The Ganglion

No, this is not a post about a superhero from the fifth dimension who saves Earthlings caught in the cross fire of an interplanetary war.

This is a post about my ganglion. A ganglion is a particular type of lump which shows up next to a joint or tendon; most commonly at the wrist.

A self proclaimed fitness freak that I am, I used to do about ten push-ups whenever I felt like I needed to pump up. If you are smirking let me tell you that I am blessed with a terrific set of genes such that I require to work out very rarely to stay in terrific shape.(well that is now after having done some serious power-lifting for two years during college.)

Back when I was in my undergraduate program I really used to do about 25 push-ups everyday, until a sharp pain in my wrist prevented me from bending them. I had to switch to finger push-ups but that too was a only for a very short time until I started learning Tabla.

I guessed that the pain was because of some smallish injury. Soon the pain would appear even when I only bent my wrist. The doc told me that these were the signs of a ganglion. There was no physical evidence of any kind of growth but the pain continued. After a couple of months I could notice a small lump, the size of a pea, when I bent my wrist forward and looked really hard.

A year after sapping my body of essential nutrition the ganglion, about the size of a walnut now, was clearly visible. Besides being a source of some embarrassment the ganglion was immensely

painful.

I was not able to practice the Tabla for more than 20 minutes at a time before the pain got unbearable. I later learnt that excessive use of wrists actually fuels the ganglion's growth.

On someday's I would tie a piece of cloth very tightly over my wrist and try and practice. This restricted the movement but would numb the pain. I was unable to play sports like badminton or cricket or even ride a scooter comfortably.

The doctors I had consulted with were reluctant to operate on it because of some nerve related problem. I lived with my ganglion for two years before I decided to go ahead and get it operated.

The risk was that some nerve in my wrist area would be affected and that I might experience some kinda numbness in my fingers. I voted for numbness against excruciating pain.

On the d-day I was wheeled into the OT all dressed up in a green gown and a shower cap.

The surgeon and anesthesiologist decided to anesthetize my entire right arm.

This was done by shooting two huge syringe-full of colorless liquid into my arm pit.

I know that some people consider an armpit an erogenous zone but I was screaming in pain rather than pleasure when the injections were administered. Soon the liquid had its intended effect and I was not able to feel anything in my right arm. Well almost, because when the surgeon made the first cut and reached into the wrist to get to the ganglion I screamed out again in pain!!! "He He!! I guess you need some more of the colorless liquid" was all the anesthesiologist had to say. After another shot in the arm pit and 10 minutes the surgeon was back to doing what he thought he was good at: going after my ganglion.

The surgeon tried to talk me into looking at "the other side" when he made his cuts, probably because he assumed that I, with my cute face and all, would not be able stand the sight of my wrist all open and bloody. I quietly told him that I had voluntarily watched a post-mortem (autopsy) and was ok even with blood all over the floor!! No more.

He soon found what he was looking for and the mean little bas@#rd was bigger than expected.

The surgeon cut out several lumps of white jelly like substance from my wrist.

That was how my me and my ganglion were physically separated. But I was not done yet.

I believe in one thing - No matter how high you go up in life(I haven't made it anywhere yet, but I still believe) , don't forget where you started.

In this case my achievement was getting rid of the pain I had experienced for almost two years.

I have had sleepless nights, missed Tabla classes, and huge difficulties in writing lengthy exam papers because of the pain. I used to sit simply holding my right hand with my left just to numb the pain. In two years I had used more than four wrist bands, because they used to get worn out and loose. Was I going to let the ganglion simply walk away(rather drain away) now?

You bet I wasn't.

I requested the surgeon that I wanted to keep it with me. After the autopsy thing, he did not ask me anything like "why in the world?" or "what would you do with it?" stuff.

He quietly put the ganglion in a transparent bottle of formaldehyde, sealed it and handed it to me.

Given that we take our life for granted, I could not remember the last time my right hand was free from any kind of pain. After the dust settled I realized that in the battle against "the enemy within"(pun intended) I had compromised the smooth movement of my ring and middle finger.

A constant numbness exists in the area between the fingers right from the wrist to the base of the fingers.

So did the ganglion have the last laugh? No he did not, 'cause his final resting place in a bottle stacked away in my drawer and I will make sure it stays that way.