Growing Pains (And a Job Update)

Cruz, as much as we love him, occasionally has caused us physical pain.

Of course there are the pains associated with pregnancy and child birth. But shortly after he was born, Sue and I both noticed that we were developing lower back pain. More likely a reflection of how out of shape we were, our lower backs weren't used to the constant bending down and picking up. Our backs would get stronger and we eventually got used to it. And good thing too since he's more than tripled his birth weight.

More recently, I started noticing that my right thumb/wrist has been hurting. Coinciding with Cruz becoming more mobile, at times I've had to constantly pick him up to get him out of harm's way. A little investigation on my part and I self-diagnosed myself with de Quervain's tenosynovitis. Also known as "mother's thumb" it's a repetitive motion injury. I'm not entirely sure of the diagnosis so I'm getting checked out by a orthopedic hand specialist tomorrow just to be sure.

Normally, I'd let this type of thing sort itself out. The reason why I'm seeing someone though is because after this month, we won't have health insurance for a little while. As you probably know, Sue and I will soon be done with our fellowships. Thus, our health benefits from UCSF and Stanford will be done soon as well.

We have decided to stay in the Bay Area! I'm going to take a job at Kaiser Santa Clara, however the position is only a "pool position" job, meaning I'll get paid hourly and won't have health benefits. A "contract position" will open up for me in the next calendar year. Sue is taking a job with the Santa Cruz branch of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. Her job (and thus benefits) won't start until November.

We're really excited to be staying in the area. Coming out of college we both knew that we wanted to spend at least some time in Northern California. But who knew that this is where we'd decide to eventually settle down?

Update: I do indeed have de Quervain's tenosynovitis. The hand specialist and I decided to take the semi-aggressive approach and go ahead with a steroid injection. Hopefully it works.