Mar 22 2007

The third finger on my left hand has epilepsy.

Published by JustLinda at 10:58 am under LINdiscriminate Drivel

No, I’m serious. 

At first I thought it was Parkinson’s.  I was all mentally dividing up my stuff amongst the five girls.  “Well, Katie should get my cheap, trashy earrings.  I suppose Amber might want my, um, what - good coffee mugs?” 

And suddenly I thought “I can’t die - I don’t have enough impressive stuff to leave to my children!”  I could just picture the fight that would ensue following my death.  “Oh, I don’t want that old ratty thing - YOU take it.”  “No way, I don’t want it.  What the hell did she hold onto all that crap for anyway?” 

Me and Anna Nicole… we’d be all torn to pieces for our character flaws after we were gone. 

Fortunately, though, it’s not Parkinson’s.  And that aneurysm I thought I was having seems to have cleared up on its own, too.  Thank God.

I’m always predicting my demise.  At night while I’m lying still, I might be absolutely certain I’m having a heart attack or there is a blood clot trying to get through my brain or who knows what.  I have my husband on high alert.

“Bill?” I say.  “What.” (how can I tell he’s rolling his eyes when I’m not even looking at him?)

“Don’t let mom and Laura go through my closets.” I remind him.  “Oh, and make sure you write long, poignant letters to each of the kids and sign my name.  Tell each of them they were my favorite.  I read that in a Chicken Soup for the Soul once and thought it was a good idea.  If I die tonight, you’ll write those letters, right?” 

“Sure.” he says.  “And can I have permission to upload all those dirty picture of you to the Internet after you’re gone?  I mean, how can you be embarrassed when you’re dead?” 

“DESTROY them!  I mean it!  Once one of us is dead, there is no fall back position.  All x-rated material must be destroyed immediately.  Promise?”  He always does but I never believe him.  In many years from now, I picture my five daughters sitting around going “Wow, I never pictured mom in handcuffs with a ball gag.  Hmmm….. Who would have thought?” 

If I die, people - descend upon my husband and make him destroy ALL OF IT.  Please?  Would you do that for me?  I need to be able to count on you!

So anyway, back to my third finger on my left hand.  It’s got these tremor things going.  They have proven to be more entertaining than American Idol.  I can sit there and stare at my  hand for hours waiting for it to happen.  Once it starts, I’ll call out “Bill!  Hurry, look - it’s doing it again!” but by the time he glances over, it’s always too late.  I don’t know why I have this quest to make sure he sees it.  Probably so he won’t think I’m more crazy than he already does.

The other night he finally saw it happen.  “Wow, that’s weird.”  When we’re driving home together from work, he’ll be talking and I’ll sit there watching my finger.  “Will you stop staring at that and listen to me?” he’ll say. I don’t think he understands how intriguing it is to have a part of your body just start moving on its own.  I can’t stop watching it.

Last week, I went to get my nails done.  It was the first time since my finger-epilepsy had set in.  The nail person says “Honeee - what wrong with that finger?  It keep moving!”  I tried to explain to her the whole Parkinson’s theory and then the epilepsy concept but I think she figured I was possessed.  Evidently, she wasn’t as fascinated with it as I am.

So just imagine my surprise when I was reading your comments on my last blog post and I saw the answer!  Reader Melani makes the casual comment “Oh, on the subject of your friend Wellbutrin does it make your hands tremble?”

Doh!

It’s the medicine!  I’m not dying of Parkinson’s nor do I have finger-epilepsy!  It’s the medicine!!!

I googled it, which is always what you should do when you want to feel better about some medical condition.  Now I’m convinced that I have irreversible nerve damage.  But it’s OK because I’ll probably get rich from the class action law suit. 

How cool is that?  A mountain of money AND an entertaining third finger on my left hand!

Life doesn’t get any better than this.

11 Responses to “The third finger on my left hand has epilepsy.”

  1. Twisted Cinderellaon 23 Mar 2007 at 7:16 am

    I’ll make him destroy yours if you return the favor with Prince Charming should I meet my untimely demise. Sound fair?

  2. Lindaon 23 Mar 2007 at 10:31 am

    I had that conversation with my husband, about who gets what, recently. I was having surgery and felt that he should know how I wanted things to go: Hannah gets my wedding set, Scotty gets my grandfather’s ring. I’m sure my mom and sister would like to have a piece of my jewelry to remember me by, so let them pick, then give the rest to Hannah. My sister can have all my scrapbooking/stamping stuff, if she can come out and get it all. If not, post it on my blog and tell my friends to come and get it. That’s all I have. I don’t care about the clothes…just make sure the scrapbooks stay with the kids!

    I have “trigger finger” in the left ring finger. It locks up…maybe it’s the Zoloft that does that…I was on Wellbutrin, but it didn’t make me feel well!

  3. maddyon 23 Mar 2007 at 8:01 pm

    I do the same thing about worrying that I have some horrible condition. glad ou found out a likely answer via comments and dr. google. Next time you have a tremor, though, call your doc and discuss it. I feel like a women’s mag, leaving such a comment, but that’s what you should do.

    I’ve never thought about how crappy all my stuff is that I would leave to my kids…but now that you mention it….

  4. CarolAnnon 24 Mar 2007 at 4:18 pm

    … “I don’t think he understands how intriguing it is to have a part of your body just start moving on its own. I can’t stop watching it.”

    -Almost like you have a penis … he should understand.

    LOL!

  5. Captain Obviouson 24 Mar 2007 at 4:29 pm

    Linda,

    Not to be totally insensitive but this post made me think you, peculiar :S

  6. Sheron 26 Mar 2007 at 10:36 pm

    Very funny. Finger epilepsy is the worst.

  7. Jezzieon 28 Mar 2007 at 3:18 pm

    okay, nevermind, carolann left my comment.

  8. Jezzieon 28 Mar 2007 at 3:54 pm

    I had to catch up on a few posts… I’ve been preoccupied with school…but I’m happy that you got to go to Singapore and close your eyes, and I’m happy that counseling and Wellbutrin are helping make you feel more like yourself. I missed your post about weight control and so I have to extenda-post, which is where I carry a subject from a previous post over to the next one sos you see it.
    I have been with you for like, a year and a half now? I’m the one who did the whole math calories thing remember? It is still somewhere on one of your posts about weight.
    If you email me I can help. I tell ya my personal bits so you can judge for yourself.I have gotten such a great lift out of your posts all this time, let me give something back?

  9. honestyrainon 30 Mar 2007 at 6:52 am

    but you don’t die from parkinsons anyway. i mean, not for a long long looooong time. but still, really good that you don’t have it.

  10. Lonon 30 Mar 2007 at 4:33 pm

    Actually, I remember back in ‘05 you posted about not getting tags on your car because you didn’t want to come up with the paperwork and you wouldn’t get new tags until you got pulled over…

    So… do you have new tags yet?

  11. just meon 01 Apr 2007 at 12:14 am

    *yawn* … *stretch*

    hi,

    please blog again. we miss you.

    -your fans

Trackback URI | Comments RSS

Leave a Reply