#212 CT Syndrome

https://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2025/06/212-ct-syndrome.html

 

Wednesday, 18 June 2025

 

Posted by Denny Hatch.                

  

       My Revolutionary Way of Coping 
         With Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.  

                                                                                                  Photo: Peggy Hatch

The Illustration Above May Be a World First. 
Nothing Like This Seems to Exist. Anywhere. 

I woke up last month and the first three fingers of my left hand — thumb, index and middle digit — were numb. I assumed blood hadn't circulated... or something.  I exercised and rubbed my fingers and they were okay in 20 minutes. Same thing happened a day later.

Called my wonderful concierge doctor, Gary Dorshimer, and left a message about numb fingers. His assistant called me right back. "That's very probably carpal tunnel syndrome," she said. "Get a wrist splint." 

I Googled "Wrist Splint." Here's a sampling of what comes up. 

 

I bought one of these splints at my local pharmacy and started wearing it.

And also Googled "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome." This Google AI paragraph came up:

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a common condition that affects the median nerve in the  wrist. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS),  the prevalence of CTS is estimated to be:
    — 5%: of the general population [±15 million in the US].
    — 10-15%: of women between the ages of 40 and 60.
    — 3-5%: of men. 

I wore my boughten wrist splint 24 hours a day (not in the shower). A couple of mornings later I awoke with three very numb fingers. Not painful. Numb! Out of a possible 10, this numbness was an 8 or maybe 9.

Of course, my fingers were numb! They were out there. Not cared for. Wanting attention.  

Health bores me. Many geezers love talking (and talking, talking, talking) about their ill health. (We call that the "organ recital.") Doctors' appointments are a kind of hobby and time killer — a welcome activity that breaks up their boring day. I am fascinated by doctors, but don't like to bother them. They are busy as hell, often under great pressure... on call 24 hours... it must be a checkered life.

As a committed direct marketer, I did some basic research on carpel tunnel syndrome and discovered two fierce marketer foes: the "Wrist Splints" crowd vs. the "Squeeze Balls" crowd.

 

Nowhere on the Web did I find an illustration of a hand in a wrist splint holding a squeeze ball. The Obvious Logic:
The wrist splint seems to be designed to help line up the median nerve in the wrist. The squeeze ball works the fingers. Ergo: maybe I should wear the wrist splint and hold a squeeze ball for finger relief. I tried combining the two.

Obvious Problem:
A squeeze ball will roll out of your splinted hand the minute you drop off to sleep. Duh. For that reason I ordered the little blue rubber Fanwer Finger Exerciser Squeeze Ball ($14.99 Amazon Prime) at the far right in the illustration above. It has 4 finger holes and lotsa little rubber spikes to keep the blood moving in my fingers, even when I'm asleep. And it shouldn't fall off when I'm asleep.

I Caved.
If I spent the rest of my life in a wrist splint and clutching a spiky blue rubber thingy, I would come off as a world class weirdo nut. What's worse, half the new people I meet would see this thing and ask, "What's that?" Whereupon I'm in yet another dreary discussion of carpal tunnel syndrome. 

I called Dr. Dorshimer's office to arrange for Carpal Tunnel surgery and was scheduled for three weeks. I met with Andrew Sobel, M.D. in a Penn Medicine facility a few blocks from our apartment. Young, personable, smarter than a whip and terribly nice, he explained what would happen and gave me a date and time.

I had had the same surgery 25 years ago on my right wrist; it was a quick outpatient procedure by a good guy. As I recall, he did it right in his office. No anesthesia. I don't think I went to a hospital. In the words of my favorite author, Patrick O'Brian, "As easy as kiss my hand." 

In the two weeks prior to this upcoming operation I wore the wrist splint and blue rubber doohickey with finger slots and spikes for 24 hours a day (excluding showers).

During that two week period I had one brief teensy numbness in my thumb. Period. Other than that, this revolutionary combo of splint & squeezer worked just fine for me.

The 30-or-so-minute operation took place in a modern Penn Medicine operating facility with myriad nurses, helpers and other procedures with other patients. It went off without a hitch. Minimal discomfort. Was sent home with several pages of To-Do Post-Op stuff.

The Cost.
We're insured, so I don't expect a bill. (Thank you, thank you, Mr. Late President LBJ, for Medicare! I pray Medicare won't be canceled by the current administration or some bizarre  Muskrat.) I asked Google the cost of CTS surgery and Google's A.I. replied:
The cost of carpal tunnel surgery can vary widely, but generally ranges from $1,550 to  $10,273, depending on factors like insurance coverage, location, and the type of procedure. Without insurance, the cost can be significantly higher, potentially reaching $6,928 per hand,  according to CarpalRx. 

Final Note: I have no skin in this game. No guarantees. No sales pitch. No money on the table. No theft of copyright threats. This free blog post is my story. Hope it helps. I prowled the Web and found no product like this — no illustration like the one at the top of this blog post of my wrist splint coupled with a Squeeze Ball. If you are waiting for surgery — or haven't decided on surgery — this blog post might be helpful. Or not.

I thought the makers of wrist splints and squeeze balls might be interested and could make some money on this product and maybe want to give it a test. I Googled a bunch of the manufacturers of these various products and found the names of some executives and marketing folks, but nary a single email address. My guess: the direct marketing world is so befouled with scammers and scumbags — whose specialties are thievery and mischief that no reputable marketers want have their email names and addresses available to bad guys and bad gals. (Example: in the past month we were getting 40-50 telemarketing calls per day!  We disconnected our land line of 89 years. If you want to get in touch with me — say maybe you'd like to subscribe to this free blog, criticize my logic or give me hell — email me at: dennyhatch@gmail.com).

-30- 

 Word Count: 1098 

   

 A Riveting Rave Review of Denny Hatch's Masterpiece.

By Oluchi Samuel
10 December 2024

An official OnlineBookClub.org review of Method Marketing by Denny Hatch.

               5 out of 5 Stars

To make a lot of profit, business owners need to understand and employ marketing. As the name implies, Method Marketing by Denny Hatch is a book that educates readers on method marketing. The author also shares the stories of some people who employed method marketing.

Marketing is the business of acquiring customers and continually thrilling them. Method marketing, on the other hand, is the ability to get inside the heads and under the skin of the people you are marketing your product to. Direct mail is the largest advertising medium, and it is the medium a lot of method marketers build their businesses on. The author shared the stories of some marketers with huge businesses. These marketers were Father Bruce Ritter, Martin Edelston, John Peterman, Bill Bonner, Bob Shnayerson, Curt Strohacker, David Oreck, and William Kennedy. They owned businesses like The Boardroom, J. Peterman Company, Agora Publishing, The Eastwood Company, The Oreck Corporation, and Western Monetary Consultants. He shared their stories, how they started their businesses, and he also dropped points for marketers to pick up from their experiences.

This is a wonderful book with lots of great lessons in marketing. I loved that the author shared some successful marketers' experiences. He used these stories to educate us. He discussed how they started their businesses and some of the mistakes they made along the way. These real-life stories made me understand his lessons quite well. I appreciated them. Readers who are planning on venturing into these businesses could learn a great deal from these stories. The author also exposed me to some businesses I hadn't heard of before, like The Teaching Company, Agora Publishing, Quest/77, and The Oreck Company.

Copywriting is a business venture I have been meaning to start. Luckily for me, I got the opportunity to read this book. The author showed the significance of copywriting and also shared tips on how to write a great copy. It gave me insights and taught me how good a copy should be written. The story of the First Bank of Troy was one of the stories I loved. The president of the bank, Frank O. Brock, operated a customer-friendly business. He paid personal attention to all his customers. He would go over lists of customers and call or give personal notes to them at least once a month. As a novice in marketing, I appreciated the appendix the author added at the end of the book. It saved me a lot of trips to the dictionary.

For all these reasons, I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars. It is an amazing book that all marketers should read. There was absolutely nothing to dislike. I found one error, showing that it was professionally edited. I recommend it to marketers and people planning on venturing into marketing, as it contains a lot of tips to flourish in marketing. 

METHOD MARKETING
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And Read the First 31 Pages FREE.

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