After yanking me around for almost two months, Soma finally quoted a cost for changing out the
seat and backrest on my chair, and that was only because the very helpful ergonomic specialist contacted a local dealer on my behalf. I think I would still be going in circles with the owner of Soma if she hadn't done that.
The quote still isn't even for what I actually
wanted, which probably would've cost more, but what they did quote would be $427. The
chair only cost $762 in the first place. The last time I talked to the owner, he
said I "don't need adjustable lumbar," even though that's what I'd
really like to get. He didn't seem too cooperative, so I decided to just
buy a new chair from a different company, since this one is so
ridiculously uncomfortable.
I decided I need to buy
from a company with an actual storefront here, so I went to Relax the
Back. They're always super friendly there. Yelp reviews say that might
not last if you need to return something, but newer reviews say they're
now under improved management, so I guess we'll see. I got a chair with
all the bells and whistles mine has - sliding seat pan, rocker tilt,
360-degree arms with adjustable height/width, and adjustable
height/tilt back. And in addition, it also has adjustable lumbar!
The
only downside is I can't have a contoured seat because I've got such a
wide stance with the steno machine now, and Lifeform charges $150 extra
for the flat seat since it's not standard. The standard arms are only 180-degree rotation, but they were having a special on
the 360-degree pivot ones (which do more than just rotate), which is
good since I was going to get them regardless.
I wound
up paying $1200 for it, which is almost twice what the Soma chair cost,
but I don't think I'd find anything better (Neutral Posture chairs are
at least $1200, too), and there weren't any other places with a
storefront here. Supposedly I can return this one free of charge for up
to 30 days, which is a great deal if it turns out to be true (although
hopefully I won't have to test it).
It's also a lot easier
to make adjustments to the Lifeform chair than the Soma one, so it
seems like a better-quality chair. I'm not sure if it will actually be
any more comfortable in the end; I do like that the backrest is taller,
so I most likely won't have a gap between the seat and the backrest
anymore. The chair also lowers more than the Soma one (probably because the
Soma is a split seat with super high springs), so I can add some kind
of a cushion to it if I need to.
I ordered it in
bright blue. I saw some Neutral Posture ones online in bright blue,
and they looked so cheerful compared to this depressing black chair I
have now. It's supposed to be here in 4-5 weeks, and they don't even
charge for shipping or assembly.
Showing posts with label Position. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Position. Show all posts
Ergonomic Specialist: Part 2
The specialist also suggested I could use voice recognition software to do my job and/or general computing. I'm definitely not open to switching to be a voice writer. I like writing on the machine. My throat always gets sore when I try to talk for extended periods of time, too. I think voice writers can only write for short periods of time because of that. I don't want to learn a whole new thing. Maybe someday if I get really desperate, but I'm not even thinking about it right now.
I don't know how much functionality it has for general computing. I don't like the idea of having to talk to it, like for right now even typing this. Talking and typing are totally different things. And in terms of voice recognition instead of mousing, I doubt that works very well.
It actually wasn't something the specialist said that made me want to try the Report-It again. I was hoping that she wouldn't just give me one of those sheets with the diagrams for proper ergonomic desk setup, but she did. Interestingly, though, it had a suggestion for resting your arms on the arms of the chair, and it said the arms shouldn't touch your elbows or your wrists. The person in the drawing looked really comfortable, and that's what inspired me to try the Report-It again. I'm not sure if it's helping or not.
Now that I've been doing it for about 6 weeks, it seems like it would be impossible to write without it, although I don't really think it's helped in any way. It feels super restrictive when I use it. If I write for even a short period of time without it, I feel so free, but at the same time, like it would very quickly become too painful to write that way. Maybe that's just because of where I have the machine positioned, though.
I think the IE in general has given me pain in my right arm, not so much the Report-It. I definitely feel a deeper, sharper pain in my left arm with the Report-It. It's really bad, but luckily I don't write for extended periods of time; usually an hour and a half at the most. It's hard to hold on for that long, though. It's all a work in progress, and I feel like if I just keep trying I'll eventually find something that doesn't hurt so much.
I don't know how much functionality it has for general computing. I don't like the idea of having to talk to it, like for right now even typing this. Talking and typing are totally different things. And in terms of voice recognition instead of mousing, I doubt that works very well.
It actually wasn't something the specialist said that made me want to try the Report-It again. I was hoping that she wouldn't just give me one of those sheets with the diagrams for proper ergonomic desk setup, but she did. Interestingly, though, it had a suggestion for resting your arms on the arms of the chair, and it said the arms shouldn't touch your elbows or your wrists. The person in the drawing looked really comfortable, and that's what inspired me to try the Report-It again. I'm not sure if it's helping or not.
Now that I've been doing it for about 6 weeks, it seems like it would be impossible to write without it, although I don't really think it's helped in any way. It feels super restrictive when I use it. If I write for even a short period of time without it, I feel so free, but at the same time, like it would very quickly become too painful to write that way. Maybe that's just because of where I have the machine positioned, though.
I think the IE in general has given me pain in my right arm, not so much the Report-It. I definitely feel a deeper, sharper pain in my left arm with the Report-It. It's really bad, but luckily I don't write for extended periods of time; usually an hour and a half at the most. It's hard to hold on for that long, though. It's all a work in progress, and I feel like if I just keep trying I'll eventually find something that doesn't hurt so much.
Ergonomic Specialist: Part 1
So I skipped a month, which is actually not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I have the typical reason - super slammed with work. I haven't made much progress on the pain front. The touchpad didn't help with my right hand pain/numbness at all, but I had an ergonomic specialist come check out my steup, and she suggested "mousing" (weird word, but it makes sense once you get used to it) with my left hand. I actually had both a wired and wireless mouse (and the touchpad) hooked up to my computer when she was here, and she said, "does that mouse work?", referring to the wired one.
So I put the wired one on the left, and kept using the wireless on the right. At first I thought I would need to switch the function of the buttons (right and left click), and I was really disappointed when I couldn't figure out how to set the functions for each mouse individually - if I changed one, it changed both - but now I'm pretty used to just using the buttons the way they are with my left hand. I use the left mouse at least half the time, and it really has helped with my right hand. Mostly it's nice not to have to push through the pain when I use the right mouse; if it's painful, I just switch.
Unfortunately, I have an exciting new problem with my right hand. I saw that a few people write with their machine pods vertical instead of horizontal. I had tried it out when I first got the IE and it didn't seem good at all, but since the ergo specialist was here I've been using the Report-It, so I thought maybe it would be different now. I gave it a good try for about an hour and a half. It was surprisingly not that hard to write that way, but it just wasn't going to be comfortable.
After that I had to put everything back in "normal" position (since the specialist was here I've been trying it with the pods separated all the way), and ever since then there's been something wrong with the right pod, at least for my hand. I can't reach the U without pain, and my right wrist hurts. I've had that problem with the A and the U before, where it kinks up my thumb for some reason, and then eventually after moving it around a bunch for other reasons, I get it in a spot that doesn't hurt my thumb.
My left hand is that way now - I have minimal pain with the A. But the right hand is awful. Previously I've been able to fix it by just trying to line the pod up "straight", like parallel to me, but it's not working this time. I've tried raising/lowering, titling up/down and left/right, physically moving the machine left/right, and nothing seems to fix it. I'm really at a loss. I guess I could try to "reset" everything and start from scratch, but since the left side isn't any worse than usual I'm hesitant to mess with it.
I also got a suggestion from the owner of the IE company, Jason Pardikes. He said maybe I should make my stroke deeper, to about 4-5mm. It was already at 3mm, which I felt like was pretty deep, but I gave it a shot. It's pretty crazy; like writing in quicksand. I'm sort of getting used to it, but I think I changed it while I was already having problems with the right hand, and I'm not sure if it's making it worse or not. I haven't resorted to putting it back to 3mm to see if that fixes it yet, but I probably should.
I ordered one of the new "Gen O" IEs, so we'll see how that goes, hopefully in November, although that's just an early estimate. Supposedly you don't have to use the software to calibrate it after you make physical changes on the machine anymore, so that will remove one barrier to experimenting with different depths.
So I put the wired one on the left, and kept using the wireless on the right. At first I thought I would need to switch the function of the buttons (right and left click), and I was really disappointed when I couldn't figure out how to set the functions for each mouse individually - if I changed one, it changed both - but now I'm pretty used to just using the buttons the way they are with my left hand. I use the left mouse at least half the time, and it really has helped with my right hand. Mostly it's nice not to have to push through the pain when I use the right mouse; if it's painful, I just switch.
Unfortunately, I have an exciting new problem with my right hand. I saw that a few people write with their machine pods vertical instead of horizontal. I had tried it out when I first got the IE and it didn't seem good at all, but since the ergo specialist was here I've been using the Report-It, so I thought maybe it would be different now. I gave it a good try for about an hour and a half. It was surprisingly not that hard to write that way, but it just wasn't going to be comfortable.
After that I had to put everything back in "normal" position (since the specialist was here I've been trying it with the pods separated all the way), and ever since then there's been something wrong with the right pod, at least for my hand. I can't reach the U without pain, and my right wrist hurts. I've had that problem with the A and the U before, where it kinks up my thumb for some reason, and then eventually after moving it around a bunch for other reasons, I get it in a spot that doesn't hurt my thumb.
My left hand is that way now - I have minimal pain with the A. But the right hand is awful. Previously I've been able to fix it by just trying to line the pod up "straight", like parallel to me, but it's not working this time. I've tried raising/lowering, titling up/down and left/right, physically moving the machine left/right, and nothing seems to fix it. I'm really at a loss. I guess I could try to "reset" everything and start from scratch, but since the left side isn't any worse than usual I'm hesitant to mess with it.
I also got a suggestion from the owner of the IE company, Jason Pardikes. He said maybe I should make my stroke deeper, to about 4-5mm. It was already at 3mm, which I felt like was pretty deep, but I gave it a shot. It's pretty crazy; like writing in quicksand. I'm sort of getting used to it, but I think I changed it while I was already having problems with the right hand, and I'm not sure if it's making it worse or not. I haven't resorted to putting it back to 3mm to see if that fixes it yet, but I probably should.
I ordered one of the new "Gen O" IEs, so we'll see how that goes, hopefully in November, although that's just an early estimate. Supposedly you don't have to use the software to calibrate it after you make physical changes on the machine anymore, so that will remove one barrier to experimenting with different depths.
Infinity Ergo Adjustment
I've had my Infinity Ergo for about a month now. It wasn't quite as magical as I was expecting. I had a *lot* of pain in both of my arms before I got it to a good height/position in general. Trying to move the pods apart right away seemed like a good idea, but it wasn't. I wound up needing to have them closer together, and move them gradually. I found out that you can't make a bunch of big changes all at once. You have to start more where you're used to, and change things slowly over time.
I have the pods about 4" apart now. I picked up a couple of wrist braces to see if they would help. I can't write with the left one at all; it makes the pain in my left arm much worse. I don't know if wearing the right one helps or not, but I can write with it, so that's what I've been doing. It makes it feel like it's hard to "reach" keys with my pinky, though, so I have the right pod of the IE titled so the right side is up higher than the left.
I didn't have to do as much adjusting of the "sensors" as I thought I would. I had some intial problems with the software and calibrating things, and as a result of that, I think I wound up setting it to be more sensitive than I should have. I dialed back a few of the keys, but I'm probably still getting dragged keys that I could avoid if I just turned all the keys up higher. Some of them do need to be low though, I think, so I'm leaving it as-is for now.
It was pretty easy to adjust to pressing keys again, but it still feels like it's taking a lot of effort. I can make the stroke shallower than it is now, but I have it set for the least amount of tension, and I felt like when I made it more shallow, it required more tension. So there is a small bit of depth to the stroke.
I wasn't really able to hit -DZ at all on the LS for some reason, and it's much easier on the IE. Some other keys are easier, too, like -PBLG. I'm getting a lot of weird problems with it still, though. And I don't ever feel like I can just write freely; I still have to very closely monitor what I'm doing at all times.
I did mange to do a lot of really weird things with the pod that made my hands hurt a lot. I think they're back to normal now, but it's still uncomfortable to write in general. I think I had better endurance on the LS. It's tough to tell, because I'm doing more captioning now, where I write for 10 minutes, stop, write for 2, stop, as opposed to being stuck in a class for two hours straight.
The asterisk seems really far away and hard to hit. I emailed the owner and asked him if there's anything I or he could do to bring it a little closer, because the T/D and S/Z are super close together, but he never answered me. I had that problem before I bought the IE, too. I sent two or three emails that never got answered before I wound up just calling to order it. I'll try again after the weekend.
It seems like I have to have a really wide stance with the IE, or else my legs get in the way of the machine and I can't bring it close enough. The software isn't quite as useful as the LS'. With the LS, you can import a file you've written into the software, and it will show you exactly how hard you pressed the key, if at all, which is really helpful with adjusting the sensors. With the IE, all you can do is press the key and see the gauge in realtime, but you can't look at something you've already written that didn't come out right and see exactly what went wrong.
My back pain still seems to be getting worse, although it doesn't bother me much when I sleep. I've been experimenting with different pieces of foam and towels strapped to the back of my chair, but they don't seem to be helping.
My right hand really doesn't like using the mouse. I don't think it's steno-related, but it goes numb and stays painful for hours afterward. I'm going to try a touchpad this weekend.
I have the pods about 4" apart now. I picked up a couple of wrist braces to see if they would help. I can't write with the left one at all; it makes the pain in my left arm much worse. I don't know if wearing the right one helps or not, but I can write with it, so that's what I've been doing. It makes it feel like it's hard to "reach" keys with my pinky, though, so I have the right pod of the IE titled so the right side is up higher than the left.
I didn't have to do as much adjusting of the "sensors" as I thought I would. I had some intial problems with the software and calibrating things, and as a result of that, I think I wound up setting it to be more sensitive than I should have. I dialed back a few of the keys, but I'm probably still getting dragged keys that I could avoid if I just turned all the keys up higher. Some of them do need to be low though, I think, so I'm leaving it as-is for now.
It was pretty easy to adjust to pressing keys again, but it still feels like it's taking a lot of effort. I can make the stroke shallower than it is now, but I have it set for the least amount of tension, and I felt like when I made it more shallow, it required more tension. So there is a small bit of depth to the stroke.
I wasn't really able to hit -DZ at all on the LS for some reason, and it's much easier on the IE. Some other keys are easier, too, like -PBLG. I'm getting a lot of weird problems with it still, though. And I don't ever feel like I can just write freely; I still have to very closely monitor what I'm doing at all times.
I did mange to do a lot of really weird things with the pod that made my hands hurt a lot. I think they're back to normal now, but it's still uncomfortable to write in general. I think I had better endurance on the LS. It's tough to tell, because I'm doing more captioning now, where I write for 10 minutes, stop, write for 2, stop, as opposed to being stuck in a class for two hours straight.
The asterisk seems really far away and hard to hit. I emailed the owner and asked him if there's anything I or he could do to bring it a little closer, because the T/D and S/Z are super close together, but he never answered me. I had that problem before I bought the IE, too. I sent two or three emails that never got answered before I wound up just calling to order it. I'll try again after the weekend.
It seems like I have to have a really wide stance with the IE, or else my legs get in the way of the machine and I can't bring it close enough. The software isn't quite as useful as the LS'. With the LS, you can import a file you've written into the software, and it will show you exactly how hard you pressed the key, if at all, which is really helpful with adjusting the sensors. With the IE, all you can do is press the key and see the gauge in realtime, but you can't look at something you've already written that didn't come out right and see exactly what went wrong.
My back pain still seems to be getting worse, although it doesn't bother me much when I sleep. I've been experimenting with different pieces of foam and towels strapped to the back of my chair, but they don't seem to be helping.
My right hand really doesn't like using the mouse. I don't think it's steno-related, but it goes numb and stays painful for hours afterward. I'm going to try a touchpad this weekend.
Dead Ends
I only waited one month to update instead of three this time, so that's an improvement! I wish I could say I'm seeing improvement in my pain level. I started having problems with my right arm in Feburary, and that isn't getting any better, either. It's not so bad generally, but my right hand/wrist has really been acting up lately. I think it's because of where I put the steno machine to make it more comfortable for my left arm. It seems like my left arm works better if I bring the machine in close to my body and angle the top left corner away from me. Unfortunately, when I do that, I can immediately feel pain in my right hand/wrist, which seems to be more comfortable if I have the machine farther away and angled with the top right corner away from me, which brings the top left corner closer to me.
I think an Infinity Ergo might be the solution to that particular problem. I've been thinking I should probably get one for a long time, but I didn't want to spend the money and take the time out to learn how to write on one. A lot of tweaking of key sensitivity would need to happen, just like when I got the LS, and that's a scary prospect. It's also tough to find one. I checked with the owner of the company, and they don't have any sales representatives in my area. He said he would check with customers in the area. That was a couple days ago, and I haven't heard anything back yet. I figure I'll give it about a week and then start posting on groups/forums and try to see if there's anyone around that would let me try theirs.
Even if I do decide to buy one, I think it takes 2-4 months before you actually get it.
I went to the pain clinic, and the doctor there suggested taking Lyrica and a ton of other mediciations. He said I could talk to my PCP about those. I don't want to try any more medication. It would just be masking the symptoms, and I don't like the idea of potential side effects. The pain isn't so bad that I physically *can't* write at this point, so I'd rather just deal with it than take medication. He also suggested a process of coming back for six sessions where he would numb different nerves in my arm to see if that stopped the pain, and try to hone in on which nerve is affected.
I think that's a good idea. It will require me not taking any jobs for the rest of the day, though; he said my arm might not work properly for up to 12 hours after being numbed. And of course there's the scary prospect that the arm would be permanently paralyzed, but hopefully that won't happen. I had that appointment over a week ago, and he said they would get it approved by my insurance and then call me to set up an appointment. I haven't heard anything back yet. I should probably call and follow up, but it's kind of not something I really want to do, so that's why I haven't yet.
I'm still trying to just get in different positions and see if something will fix it. I started rolling up a towel and putting it behind my back vertically when I sit. The physical therapist suggested doing something like that. It might help a little with the back pain; I'm not really sure. It does feel like it adds some support when I write, at least.
I tried leaning back into the chair and writing with the machine on my lap yesterday, and that was a disaster. My back was comfortable, but both of my hands/wrists hurt a lot. Right now I'm trying out tilting the machine towards me (I just tried tilting it away, too, and as usual, that makes it hurt worse) and having it a little farther away than usual. And I'm focusing on sitting up really straight, and keeping my neck straight/head high/chin tilted down. I have a tendency to scrunch down and forward when I write. I think it's just comfortable. But it might not be the best thing to do.
My neck hurt a lot for a few days. I'm not sure what was up with that. It was probably related to some posture thing I was trying to do, who knows what. It seems to more or less be back to normal now, though. I noticed for some reason when I try to relax my shoulders/arms, I feel a lot of strain in my neck. I'm not sure how to avoid it, but I'm definitely looking out for it now.
This really should be so simple! You sit and you "type" on a machine. It shouldn't be stressful on the body at all! I still want to get an ergonomic specialist in to watch me write and tell me what I'm doing wrong, but that's not as easy to make happen as I thought it was going to be. The doctor at the pain clinic didn't know of anyone who could help, so I emailed the physical therapist, but she didn't know, either. She said she would check with their work injury specialist and let me know, but that was a week ago and I haven't heard anything, so I guess that's not going to happen.
I got a little elastic wrist compression brace to try out. I tried it on both wrists when I wrote, but it either made it worse or didn't seem to help. I tried it during data entry/regular computer work on the right hand with the same result. I also just tried putting some padding in it and using it just as a padded wrist rest, without any compression, and I didn't like that, either.
I think an Infinity Ergo might be the solution to that particular problem. I've been thinking I should probably get one for a long time, but I didn't want to spend the money and take the time out to learn how to write on one. A lot of tweaking of key sensitivity would need to happen, just like when I got the LS, and that's a scary prospect. It's also tough to find one. I checked with the owner of the company, and they don't have any sales representatives in my area. He said he would check with customers in the area. That was a couple days ago, and I haven't heard anything back yet. I figure I'll give it about a week and then start posting on groups/forums and try to see if there's anyone around that would let me try theirs.
Even if I do decide to buy one, I think it takes 2-4 months before you actually get it.
I went to the pain clinic, and the doctor there suggested taking Lyrica and a ton of other mediciations. He said I could talk to my PCP about those. I don't want to try any more medication. It would just be masking the symptoms, and I don't like the idea of potential side effects. The pain isn't so bad that I physically *can't* write at this point, so I'd rather just deal with it than take medication. He also suggested a process of coming back for six sessions where he would numb different nerves in my arm to see if that stopped the pain, and try to hone in on which nerve is affected.
I think that's a good idea. It will require me not taking any jobs for the rest of the day, though; he said my arm might not work properly for up to 12 hours after being numbed. And of course there's the scary prospect that the arm would be permanently paralyzed, but hopefully that won't happen. I had that appointment over a week ago, and he said they would get it approved by my insurance and then call me to set up an appointment. I haven't heard anything back yet. I should probably call and follow up, but it's kind of not something I really want to do, so that's why I haven't yet.
I'm still trying to just get in different positions and see if something will fix it. I started rolling up a towel and putting it behind my back vertically when I sit. The physical therapist suggested doing something like that. It might help a little with the back pain; I'm not really sure. It does feel like it adds some support when I write, at least.
I tried leaning back into the chair and writing with the machine on my lap yesterday, and that was a disaster. My back was comfortable, but both of my hands/wrists hurt a lot. Right now I'm trying out tilting the machine towards me (I just tried tilting it away, too, and as usual, that makes it hurt worse) and having it a little farther away than usual. And I'm focusing on sitting up really straight, and keeping my neck straight/head high/chin tilted down. I have a tendency to scrunch down and forward when I write. I think it's just comfortable. But it might not be the best thing to do.
My neck hurt a lot for a few days. I'm not sure what was up with that. It was probably related to some posture thing I was trying to do, who knows what. It seems to more or less be back to normal now, though. I noticed for some reason when I try to relax my shoulders/arms, I feel a lot of strain in my neck. I'm not sure how to avoid it, but I'm definitely looking out for it now.
This really should be so simple! You sit and you "type" on a machine. It shouldn't be stressful on the body at all! I still want to get an ergonomic specialist in to watch me write and tell me what I'm doing wrong, but that's not as easy to make happen as I thought it was going to be. The doctor at the pain clinic didn't know of anyone who could help, so I emailed the physical therapist, but she didn't know, either. She said she would check with their work injury specialist and let me know, but that was a week ago and I haven't heard anything, so I guess that's not going to happen.
I got a little elastic wrist compression brace to try out. I tried it on both wrists when I wrote, but it either made it worse or didn't seem to help. I tried it during data entry/regular computer work on the right hand with the same result. I also just tried putting some padding in it and using it just as a padded wrist rest, without any compression, and I didn't like that, either.
MRI: Check
It's been approximately forever since I updated, but I've been pretty busy so far this semester. When I went back to the rehabilitation specialist on December 17th, he thought the problem with my arm could be a squished nerve from sleeping with my arm over my boyfriend sometimes. He decided to do an MRI of my brachial plexus, where the thoracic outlet problem could be, and also an MRI neurogram of my arm to see if there's anything going on there.
That was a lot of work to get done. My insurance approved it pretty much right away, but the specialist's office was pretty disorganized, and I didn't get the MRI until February 11th. It's taken from then all the way right up until today for the doctor to finally look at the report and call me. The MRIs didn't find anything, so the doctor doesn't have any other suggestions. He thinks I should go back to the vascular surgeon and have her tell me if she thinks it would be worthwhile to have surgery or not.
Since none of the TOS treatments helped, I don't think treating the TOS by having surgery is a good idea. Surgery is super risky, and I don't think it would do any good. The doctor said he would refer me to a pain clinic, so maybe they can do something to help. I kind of have my doubts about that, though. It seems like a pain clinic would just be treating the symptom (the pain) instead of what's causing it.
I've been trying to work on my posture and get in a position that's better for my back, and relax my arms/shoulders. It makes it harder to write, and I'm not really sure it's helping anything, but I have to try something. I still feel like I'm typing on someone else's keyboard whenever I try to write, and it really slows me down. It's so frustrating.
I stuck it out through all four weeks of the chiropractor, but that didn't help at all. It seemed to make my back way worse than it's ever been, though. I have pretty much constant pain whenever I try to stand or walk now, so that's annoying. I tried not using the mattress topper and it didn't seem to help, so I have no idea what's causing the pain.
That was a lot of work to get done. My insurance approved it pretty much right away, but the specialist's office was pretty disorganized, and I didn't get the MRI until February 11th. It's taken from then all the way right up until today for the doctor to finally look at the report and call me. The MRIs didn't find anything, so the doctor doesn't have any other suggestions. He thinks I should go back to the vascular surgeon and have her tell me if she thinks it would be worthwhile to have surgery or not.
Since none of the TOS treatments helped, I don't think treating the TOS by having surgery is a good idea. Surgery is super risky, and I don't think it would do any good. The doctor said he would refer me to a pain clinic, so maybe they can do something to help. I kind of have my doubts about that, though. It seems like a pain clinic would just be treating the symptom (the pain) instead of what's causing it.
I've been trying to work on my posture and get in a position that's better for my back, and relax my arms/shoulders. It makes it harder to write, and I'm not really sure it's helping anything, but I have to try something. I still feel like I'm typing on someone else's keyboard whenever I try to write, and it really slows me down. It's so frustrating.
I stuck it out through all four weeks of the chiropractor, but that didn't help at all. It seemed to make my back way worse than it's ever been, though. I have pretty much constant pain whenever I try to stand or walk now, so that's annoying. I tried not using the mattress topper and it didn't seem to help, so I have no idea what's causing the pain.
Lack of Pain Resolution
I found out the wrist brace wasn't actually helping my hand when it started going numb despite the brace, so I stopped wearing it, but I haven't been having problems with major numbness in either hand for a while.
I didn't actually wind up seeing a vascular surgeon. It turned out the appointment was with her PA, who spent about two minutes with me and then told me she'd ask the surgeon what we should do. What a total waste of time and money. The vascular surgeon referred me to a rehabilitation specialist. He thinks a muscle in my neck might be too tight and is restricting blood flow in my arm. He did the EMG test on my neck and there was a little activity, so he decided to do a numbing injection. When he did the EMG again to see where exactly to do the injection, there wasn't any activity anymore.
I don't think the muscle in my neck is really the problem, especially since the numbing injection did absolutely nothing for my arm pain. He prescribed lidocaine patches or cream. The patches were way too expensive, so I tried the cream a couple times a day for a week, and then four times a day for another week.
It seemed like my arm might be getting a little better, but it wasn't exactly a controlled study because I also stopped practicing sentences with hard words. For some reason, that's when my arm always hurt the most, so I figured maybe I was doing something during that time to make it worse and I might as well stop and see what happened. As a further experiment, I stopped using the cream, since it was kind of a hassle to put on four times a day and it made my neck itch (probably from my hair sticking to my neck all the time). My arm didn't get any worse at all, so either the cream did help and the positive effects haven't been reversed by not using it for the past two weeks, or it didn't help.
I told the doctor that the shot didn't do anything, but he still wants me to try having a Botox injection to see if that helps, so my appointment for that is on 11/1. I tend to sleep with both of my arms under my head/pillow, so I've been focusing for a few weeks on trying to sleep over my shoulder less, and off of my arms more.
Sometimes when I'm writing I can get into a pretty good spot where my arm almost doesn't seem to be a problem. But I think that's always been the case, so it's not really improvement. It doesn't hurt much during the course of daily activities, but it never has. Showering is still the worst. My arm feels pretty bad after I do that, and if I try to write right out of the shower, it's a disaster. It's like I don't have any strength in my arm at all. Doctors always do strength tests, and they don't find any weakness on the left side, but it really feels weak/like I can't hold it up/use it at all when I try to write.
My hand doesn't go as numb when I do serratus punches and another weighted exercise, so I think that's a good sign. But I haven't been doing a lot of writing lately, really. I do maybe an hour a day of hard stuff, and that's pretty much it. I don't do any realtime on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Most of the time, I still feel like it's a pretty big hindrance to my ability to work.
I didn't actually wind up seeing a vascular surgeon. It turned out the appointment was with her PA, who spent about two minutes with me and then told me she'd ask the surgeon what we should do. What a total waste of time and money. The vascular surgeon referred me to a rehabilitation specialist. He thinks a muscle in my neck might be too tight and is restricting blood flow in my arm. He did the EMG test on my neck and there was a little activity, so he decided to do a numbing injection. When he did the EMG again to see where exactly to do the injection, there wasn't any activity anymore.
I don't think the muscle in my neck is really the problem, especially since the numbing injection did absolutely nothing for my arm pain. He prescribed lidocaine patches or cream. The patches were way too expensive, so I tried the cream a couple times a day for a week, and then four times a day for another week.
It seemed like my arm might be getting a little better, but it wasn't exactly a controlled study because I also stopped practicing sentences with hard words. For some reason, that's when my arm always hurt the most, so I figured maybe I was doing something during that time to make it worse and I might as well stop and see what happened. As a further experiment, I stopped using the cream, since it was kind of a hassle to put on four times a day and it made my neck itch (probably from my hair sticking to my neck all the time). My arm didn't get any worse at all, so either the cream did help and the positive effects haven't been reversed by not using it for the past two weeks, or it didn't help.
I told the doctor that the shot didn't do anything, but he still wants me to try having a Botox injection to see if that helps, so my appointment for that is on 11/1. I tend to sleep with both of my arms under my head/pillow, so I've been focusing for a few weeks on trying to sleep over my shoulder less, and off of my arms more.
Sometimes when I'm writing I can get into a pretty good spot where my arm almost doesn't seem to be a problem. But I think that's always been the case, so it's not really improvement. It doesn't hurt much during the course of daily activities, but it never has. Showering is still the worst. My arm feels pretty bad after I do that, and if I try to write right out of the shower, it's a disaster. It's like I don't have any strength in my arm at all. Doctors always do strength tests, and they don't find any weakness on the left side, but it really feels weak/like I can't hold it up/use it at all when I try to write.
My hand doesn't go as numb when I do serratus punches and another weighted exercise, so I think that's a good sign. But I haven't been doing a lot of writing lately, really. I do maybe an hour a day of hard stuff, and that's pretty much it. I don't do any realtime on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Most of the time, I still feel like it's a pretty big hindrance to my ability to work.
Soma Split Seat Chair
I finally got my chair. It was going to come in fairly quickly, but then it was delayed because there was an unexpected back order on seat shells. It does have a lot of adjustments. You can move the arms up/down, in/out, and do a 360-degree rotation on the arm pads, which comes in handy. I can't actually lower the arms enough to get close to my keyboard tray, so that's pretty annoying.
The seat of course goes up and down, but it doesn't actually go down as far as I need it to. The fancy "dynamic ergokinetic split seat" seems to add a lot of height to the seat. I can slide the seat backwards and forwards, which is cool, but doesn't actually seem to affect anything. The back rest also goes up and down, and tilts forward/back. The problem is that because the seat is so high, so far away from the base of the vertical bar for the back rest, the actual back rest itself is way too low, and even raised to its full hight, it's too short.
The seat itself also tilts. You can have it in free-rocking position (a feature that comes standard on most chairs but cost $55 for this one), or you can lock it at a certain tilt. It's supposed to be some fancy "SomaComfort" seat, but it's really pretty uncomfortable. I have no idea why anyone would find it comfortable.
The only good thing about it besides the flexibility of the arms is that because of the split seat, I can actually use my tripod with it and get my machine as close to my body as I want to. It's really nice not having my machine sliding away from me all the time.
I called the Soma rep as soon as I got the chair. I figured it would be a pretty easy fix to send down a back rest with a longer bar. For some reason he wanted me to wait practically an entire month so he could bring the part here himself, so now I've got to wait until September 18th to find out if the taller back rest actually helps or not.
I don't feel like it's a chair that's worth $800, but it would also cost $300 to send it back, so there's that to consider. It doesn't make my back hurt any more than my other chairs, and it's nice not having to swap out chairs depending on what activity I'm doing. But I definitely feel like my body took a beating at the end of the day, especially my "seat."
The seat of course goes up and down, but it doesn't actually go down as far as I need it to. The fancy "dynamic ergokinetic split seat" seems to add a lot of height to the seat. I can slide the seat backwards and forwards, which is cool, but doesn't actually seem to affect anything. The back rest also goes up and down, and tilts forward/back. The problem is that because the seat is so high, so far away from the base of the vertical bar for the back rest, the actual back rest itself is way too low, and even raised to its full hight, it's too short.
The seat itself also tilts. You can have it in free-rocking position (a feature that comes standard on most chairs but cost $55 for this one), or you can lock it at a certain tilt. It's supposed to be some fancy "SomaComfort" seat, but it's really pretty uncomfortable. I have no idea why anyone would find it comfortable.
The only good thing about it besides the flexibility of the arms is that because of the split seat, I can actually use my tripod with it and get my machine as close to my body as I want to. It's really nice not having my machine sliding away from me all the time.
I called the Soma rep as soon as I got the chair. I figured it would be a pretty easy fix to send down a back rest with a longer bar. For some reason he wanted me to wait practically an entire month so he could bring the part here himself, so now I've got to wait until September 18th to find out if the taller back rest actually helps or not.
I don't feel like it's a chair that's worth $800, but it would also cost $300 to send it back, so there's that to consider. It doesn't make my back hurt any more than my other chairs, and it's nice not having to swap out chairs depending on what activity I'm doing. But I definitely feel like my body took a beating at the end of the day, especially my "seat."
Pain Update
I finished out all four weeks of my PT, and there wasn't any improvement. The physical therapist suggested I try a vascular surgeon next, but they required an ultrasound first, so I made an appointment with my PCP to see what she suggested. She was totally useless and just said I should do whatever the physical therapist said.
So, I had an ultrasound, and the technician said there seemed to be a little bit of restricted blood flow when I held my left arm straight up, but it wasn't really a big deal. My PCP thinks I should go see the vascular surgeon anyway, so I've got an appointment to do that on Monday. I don't feel like that's really the problem, though.
I have this weird spot on the front of my chest that hurts a lot sometimes. It started hurting after the not-my-usual physical therapist did some stuff with my arm. It's really bothersome, and it just started hurting on the right side in the same spot yesterday. Maybe it has something to do with the new way I sit when I write.
It's all really frustrating. I just started my first semester of classes, and I have a lot. Luckily a lot of them haven't actually needed CART for the first few days. I still get paid, but the student hasn't been there, or they've had technical difficulties, or whatever. One of my classes is super slow. My average for a 2-hour class is only 140 wpm. I love that class. I can even lean back and rest my arms on the arm rests when I write that one, and it doesn't hurt my arm at all.
I haven't been so lucky in any of the other classes, though, and it hurts a lot to write them. I know my writing would be better if I weren't favoring my left arm/hand, too. I'm not getting paid as much as I could be, and I feel like I don't want to start branching out until I get my arm fixed, but it feels like it's never going to happen at this point. It should be fixable. It should be something the doctors can figure out. It's a real thing, so why can't they determine the cause?
I wore my wrist brace for three weeks, at the suggestion of the neurologist. It didn't help my arm at all, so I stopped wearing it for about a week. Then my hand went numb for a whole day, so I decided to try the wrist brace again, and it's been feeling much better. I guess buying the brace wasn't such a waste after all.
So, I had an ultrasound, and the technician said there seemed to be a little bit of restricted blood flow when I held my left arm straight up, but it wasn't really a big deal. My PCP thinks I should go see the vascular surgeon anyway, so I've got an appointment to do that on Monday. I don't feel like that's really the problem, though.
I have this weird spot on the front of my chest that hurts a lot sometimes. It started hurting after the not-my-usual physical therapist did some stuff with my arm. It's really bothersome, and it just started hurting on the right side in the same spot yesterday. Maybe it has something to do with the new way I sit when I write.
It's all really frustrating. I just started my first semester of classes, and I have a lot. Luckily a lot of them haven't actually needed CART for the first few days. I still get paid, but the student hasn't been there, or they've had technical difficulties, or whatever. One of my classes is super slow. My average for a 2-hour class is only 140 wpm. I love that class. I can even lean back and rest my arms on the arm rests when I write that one, and it doesn't hurt my arm at all.
I haven't been so lucky in any of the other classes, though, and it hurts a lot to write them. I know my writing would be better if I weren't favoring my left arm/hand, too. I'm not getting paid as much as I could be, and I feel like I don't want to start branching out until I get my arm fixed, but it feels like it's never going to happen at this point. It should be fixable. It should be something the doctors can figure out. It's a real thing, so why can't they determine the cause?
I wore my wrist brace for three weeks, at the suggestion of the neurologist. It didn't help my arm at all, so I stopped wearing it for about a week. Then my hand went numb for a whole day, so I decided to try the wrist brace again, and it's been feeling much better. I guess buying the brace wasn't such a waste after all.
PT: So Far So Not So Good
I decided not to try the Topamax. I don't really want to mess with any more meds, especially if it's not likely they're going to help, anyway. The physical therapist recommended some posture changes (don't arch my back so much; put my shoulders back more; tilt my head down) and some exercises to do to relax my neck and chest muscles, and strengthen my upper back muscles. She did some muscle work on my neck for a couple sessions, but she said I "wasn't responding like a normal case," since that wound up not helping at all. Last time I went I saw a different practitioner, and she said I have thoracic output problems, which is making my arm go numb.
She did some stuff that made my shoulder hurt, and suggested I do nerve flossing twice a day. That was a couple days ago, and my shoulder still hurts. So, so far, all I've managed to do is add an additional problem. Go physical therapy. But I'll keep going and see how it pans out.
It's kind of tough to adjust to my new writing posture. I have good days and bad days. I have lots of weird misstrokes. I was looking at my averages for my last 5 rounds of 8 shows, though, starting back on 4/24, and it goes 98.28, 98.31, 98.40, 98.6, 98.61. So that's got to signify some kind of improvement. I've been trying to slow down and really go for accuracy, and I felt like it might be leading to more paraphrasing, or leaving out an unimportant sentence here or there, but I'm actually writing 400+ more words per show than I used to, which just seems crazy.
When I stroked out RAOE/YOE/DAI/JE/NAIR/ROE the other day, I was pretty surprised to find that it translated perfectly. Guess I've written it that way before. It's nice when things like that happen. I used to not be able to remember to write "aide" at all. It would always come out aid, without thinking. But I'm actually writing "aide" now, so that's cool.
One thing that's not so cool is I've developed a problem with coming back for -G for -ing. At least once or twice a practice session, I hit -D instead of -G. I guess it's just easier, but it really messes with the transcript. I add that word to my "words to practice" list every time I catch it, though, so hopefully that will reinforce the -G.
I also tend to write "OFT T" (of the the) a lot. I've started defining phrases that way whenever I misstroke them like that, so I decided to be proactive, and I'm going through my dictionary, finding any "the" phrases, and defining them appropriately so there won't be a double "the" if I stroke it after the phrase.
She did some stuff that made my shoulder hurt, and suggested I do nerve flossing twice a day. That was a couple days ago, and my shoulder still hurts. So, so far, all I've managed to do is add an additional problem. Go physical therapy. But I'll keep going and see how it pans out.
It's kind of tough to adjust to my new writing posture. I have good days and bad days. I have lots of weird misstrokes. I was looking at my averages for my last 5 rounds of 8 shows, though, starting back on 4/24, and it goes 98.28, 98.31, 98.40, 98.6, 98.61. So that's got to signify some kind of improvement. I've been trying to slow down and really go for accuracy, and I felt like it might be leading to more paraphrasing, or leaving out an unimportant sentence here or there, but I'm actually writing 400+ more words per show than I used to, which just seems crazy.
When I stroked out RAOE/YOE/DAI/JE/NAIR/ROE the other day, I was pretty surprised to find that it translated perfectly. Guess I've written it that way before. It's nice when things like that happen. I used to not be able to remember to write "aide" at all. It would always come out aid, without thinking. But I'm actually writing "aide" now, so that's cool.
One thing that's not so cool is I've developed a problem with coming back for -G for -ing. At least once or twice a practice session, I hit -D instead of -G. I guess it's just easier, but it really messes with the transcript. I add that word to my "words to practice" list every time I catch it, though, so hopefully that will reinforce the -G.
I also tend to write "OFT T" (of the the) a lot. I've started defining phrases that way whenever I misstroke them like that, so I decided to be proactive, and I'm going through my dictionary, finding any "the" phrases, and defining them appropriately so there won't be a double "the" if I stroke it after the phrase.
Back in the Saddle
It was really weird coming back to steno after not doing it for two
weeks. I haven't taken a break that long..probably since I started, four
and a half years ago. I didn't hate it as much anymore. I felt grateful
to be able to even do it again. It's still really hard to get my
positioning right. I never really feel like my hands are in the right
spot. It's kind of like when you type on someone else's QWERTY keyboard.
Your fingers aren't quite sure where to go for a while. Except when I
do steno, I never seem to find my groove. So frustrating.
And yet my translation rate is still pretty solid. I've practiced to six news shows so far since I came back, and my average is 98.2%. It's not where I'd like it to be, but it's not bad. I seem to be doing really well at correcting my mistakes appropriately, for some reason. I think maybe I care a little less about it, so it doesn't freak me out so much when I make a mistake. I'm able to stay calm, keep listening to what's being said, and fix the mistake without losing content.
It's hard to get back into the groove of fingerspelling. It's hard enough not to just freeze up when I hear a name, or glaze over it like it wasn't even said. I have to force myself to even phonetically write what I heard. But that's not helpful; then a bunch of weird stuff just comes out. I need to focus on fingerspelling those words. I'm trying, but it's definitely a work in progress. I think there's about a 50/50 chance right now that I'll fingerspell it.
It's just so hard to write anything right now. It's like pulling teeth. I feel like my max speed is about 130 wpm. I'm still hitting 250 when I practice though, so there are moments when it's not so bad. Overall, I think it was good for me to take a break. I didn't like it; I felt like a slacker. But it's good to just let things set and jell, and be away from it for a while.
And yet my translation rate is still pretty solid. I've practiced to six news shows so far since I came back, and my average is 98.2%. It's not where I'd like it to be, but it's not bad. I seem to be doing really well at correcting my mistakes appropriately, for some reason. I think maybe I care a little less about it, so it doesn't freak me out so much when I make a mistake. I'm able to stay calm, keep listening to what's being said, and fix the mistake without losing content.
It's hard to get back into the groove of fingerspelling. It's hard enough not to just freeze up when I hear a name, or glaze over it like it wasn't even said. I have to force myself to even phonetically write what I heard. But that's not helpful; then a bunch of weird stuff just comes out. I need to focus on fingerspelling those words. I'm trying, but it's definitely a work in progress. I think there's about a 50/50 chance right now that I'll fingerspell it.
It's just so hard to write anything right now. It's like pulling teeth. I feel like my max speed is about 130 wpm. I'm still hitting 250 when I practice though, so there are moments when it's not so bad. Overall, I think it was good for me to take a break. I didn't like it; I felt like a slacker. But it's good to just let things set and jell, and be away from it for a while.
Chair Saga
I'm starting to use the Goodwill for the first time, really. For a
while I was sitting without using the back rest at all, and that's made
my back hurt, so I'm trying something different. Whenever I try to sit
with my back against the back of a chair, I can't seem to "reach" the
steno keyboard properly, even just putting the LS on my lap. But this
chair is pretty adjustable, so I tilted the back all the way forward. I
had to take the LS off the tripod, but I've written with it that way a
couple of times, and it seems to be working okay. I don't know if it's
making my back feel any better, and it definitely feels weird to write
that way, but at least I am resting my back on something.
I wanted to get a fancy ergonomic chair, something that would be really good. I thought about an Aeron chair, but I've seen a lot of people not liking those. They're also insanely expensive, and it might not fit, and if it breaks it's expensive to repair. I went to a showroom and tried out some Lifeform chairs. They're also anywhere from $1-3k. They were pretty comfy, but they didn't do anything to make my arm feel better, so I decided they weren't worth it.
I think it must've been an NCRA newsletter where I saw the Soma Court Reporter Chair listed; or maybe someone on depoman posted a link to the newsletter. Either way, I remembered it, and looked into it. I figured it would be the best chair, since I could use my tripod with it. After a couple weeks of thinking about it, I decided to get it. I called the two Soma dealers in my state, and after a couple more weeks of going back and forth with them, basically came to the conclusion that neither one of them could help me out.
So I called Soma directly, and talked to a really nice guy who got all the different components picked out for me. He said if I picked up the chair at one of the dealers, they could adjust it to fit me there, and I'd be able to swap out a backrest or something if it wasn't right. That sounded pretty awesome, so he emailed them. Two weeks went by and I didn't hear anything, so I called him back, and he called them, and they called me. They sent out a "proposal" for the chair, but it was missing the cutout. So I called the local place, and they said they'd check with the Soma guy.
A week later, I called the local place again. The representative said she emailed Soma twice, but they must be on vacation. Right. So I called Soma myself, and he said I don't need the court reporter cutout because I'm getting a split seat, and there's a space for the tripod. I went along with it and called the local place back, and officially placed my order. I think the standard wait time is about 5-6 weeks.
I'm a little concerned about the lack of a cutout, though. I wasn't sure the cutout was going to be deep enough to begin with, because I like my steno machine really close. Looking at pictures, it seems like the split is even more shallow. I don't know what the point of getting an $800 chair was if it's not even going to have the cutout. But hopefully all the adjustments, and the fact that it was under $1k, will make it worth it. It's got to be better than the two chairs I'm using right now.
I wanted to get a fancy ergonomic chair, something that would be really good. I thought about an Aeron chair, but I've seen a lot of people not liking those. They're also insanely expensive, and it might not fit, and if it breaks it's expensive to repair. I went to a showroom and tried out some Lifeform chairs. They're also anywhere from $1-3k. They were pretty comfy, but they didn't do anything to make my arm feel better, so I decided they weren't worth it.
I think it must've been an NCRA newsletter where I saw the Soma Court Reporter Chair listed; or maybe someone on depoman posted a link to the newsletter. Either way, I remembered it, and looked into it. I figured it would be the best chair, since I could use my tripod with it. After a couple weeks of thinking about it, I decided to get it. I called the two Soma dealers in my state, and after a couple more weeks of going back and forth with them, basically came to the conclusion that neither one of them could help me out.
So I called Soma directly, and talked to a really nice guy who got all the different components picked out for me. He said if I picked up the chair at one of the dealers, they could adjust it to fit me there, and I'd be able to swap out a backrest or something if it wasn't right. That sounded pretty awesome, so he emailed them. Two weeks went by and I didn't hear anything, so I called him back, and he called them, and they called me. They sent out a "proposal" for the chair, but it was missing the cutout. So I called the local place, and they said they'd check with the Soma guy.
A week later, I called the local place again. The representative said she emailed Soma twice, but they must be on vacation. Right. So I called Soma myself, and he said I don't need the court reporter cutout because I'm getting a split seat, and there's a space for the tripod. I went along with it and called the local place back, and officially placed my order. I think the standard wait time is about 5-6 weeks.
I'm a little concerned about the lack of a cutout, though. I wasn't sure the cutout was going to be deep enough to begin with, because I like my steno machine really close. Looking at pictures, it seems like the split is even more shallow. I don't know what the point of getting an $800 chair was if it's not even going to have the cutout. But hopefully all the adjustments, and the fact that it was under $1k, will make it worth it. It's got to be better than the two chairs I'm using right now.
Struggle
I wound up doing a lot of CART/captioning work for the first three weeks. I got to cover a lot of the floor sessions for a state House of Representatives, so that was really cool. Now that it's summer, though, there's basically nothing. I also learned that writing for hours at a time sucks. Even just going for an hour, I couldn't find a comfortable position.
I think there's definitely something wrong with my left arm. I've been trying all kinds of stuff, and it's driving me crazy. I can barely write it hurts so much. I went to a Relax the Back store and checked out some chairs. They were nice chairs, but they didn't help with the pain at all. I was able to pivot the armrests to pretty much anywhere I wanted, and using one just made it worse. So a good chair isn't going to solve the problem.
I found a nice adjustable chair for $13 at Goodwill, and it beats the folding chair with pillows I was using before, even though it's not terribly comfortable. The seat is actually short enough that I can use my tripod with it, so I've been trying that out. It's nice to be able to vary the height of the machine so easily, although it doesn't seem to be helping much with the pain.
I always feel like I'm really struggling when I write these days, and so many errors could be avoided if I could just get comfortable. I'm still practicing to the news, and I'm always surprised that my accuracy is still above 98%.
The whole thing is frustrating though, because it's really holding me back. I'm not ready to apply for more places until I have it figured out, and I'm so close to being able to make a living with this! I got a taste of it, and it was great, and now it sucks going back to low-paying ways of making money.
I've been working on "sub-" words, trying to get myself to remember that I want to write them as S*UB. My instinct is to put the asterisk in the attached word, but that usually doesn't work out very well. I actually wrote "subculture" properly during a job because of it, so that was a good moment.
I found out that "loon" wasn't in my dictionary at all. Crazy (no pun intended). I've been making good progress with the dictionary maintenance. 227 -ma entries corrected to MA*, 404 -ler as L*ER, 319 -gy which I guess I just needed to enter even though I haven't changed the way I write it, and the same for 2512 -ation. That last one was a project for a while.
I think there's definitely something wrong with my left arm. I've been trying all kinds of stuff, and it's driving me crazy. I can barely write it hurts so much. I went to a Relax the Back store and checked out some chairs. They were nice chairs, but they didn't help with the pain at all. I was able to pivot the armrests to pretty much anywhere I wanted, and using one just made it worse. So a good chair isn't going to solve the problem.
I found a nice adjustable chair for $13 at Goodwill, and it beats the folding chair with pillows I was using before, even though it's not terribly comfortable. The seat is actually short enough that I can use my tripod with it, so I've been trying that out. It's nice to be able to vary the height of the machine so easily, although it doesn't seem to be helping much with the pain.
I always feel like I'm really struggling when I write these days, and so many errors could be avoided if I could just get comfortable. I'm still practicing to the news, and I'm always surprised that my accuracy is still above 98%.
The whole thing is frustrating though, because it's really holding me back. I'm not ready to apply for more places until I have it figured out, and I'm so close to being able to make a living with this! I got a taste of it, and it was great, and now it sucks going back to low-paying ways of making money.
I've been working on "sub-" words, trying to get myself to remember that I want to write them as S*UB. My instinct is to put the asterisk in the attached word, but that usually doesn't work out very well. I actually wrote "subculture" properly during a job because of it, so that was a good moment.
I found out that "loon" wasn't in my dictionary at all. Crazy (no pun intended). I've been making good progress with the dictionary maintenance. 227 -ma entries corrected to MA*, 404 -ler as L*ER, 319 -gy which I guess I just needed to enter even though I haven't changed the way I write it, and the same for 2512 -ation. That last one was a project for a while.
4.30.13
I finally got to do some CART work. My first day, I wound up covering four events. Two classes, one bidder's meeting that ran short, and one council meeting that I covered the last hour of because it ran long. I wound up working from about 8 in the morning until 11 at night, trying to get all the transcripts out. It was a crazy day.
I was supposed to cover a class the next day, but it got cancelled. I did a couple the day after that, and that was last week. I did another one this morning. I haven't officially checked my accuracy, but it's looking good. I didn't have any drops, and everything made sense. I think the semester's about to end, though. There might not be any classes to cover after this week.
It took me less than the length of the class to edit my transcript today. It probably shouldn't take as long as it does, but I like to go through and global everything, and make the transcript look perfect. It'll take less time the more practice I get.
I'm also trying to focus on practicing for the CBC. That's been going well. The 180 takes are a lot easier this time around than they were in January. I'm just trying to focus on staying calm. Lots of times I've written a take for the first time, and thought I didn't get it, but I did. So that's giving me confidence to just keep focusing, keep going, and know that there's a real possibility that even though it doesn't feel like it, I might pass the take.
I finished -i endings, and I'm working on 1765 for -o now. I don't remember why I wrote down that I need to work on -o. I write it "OE," which hasn't changed. But it doesn't hurt to write a bunch of words; lots of them aren't defined the way I'm writing them.
I found a bizarre dictionary hole. "Pens" wasn't in my dictionary as PENZ, and it translated as "ends." I also discovered, during CBC practice, that I need to take out my glue stroke when I take the test. I have it in as DRA*ES, since I use it before a web address. DRAES is just "address." I wrote DRA*ES in a take without realizing it, and glued the entire rest of the take together! That would've been an instant fail.
I'm still working on positioning. My left arm still isn't cooperating. I can almost never seem to get it in a position that's comfortable. I don't know what the problem is, but I wish I knew what to do about it, because it makes it really hard to write for more than about 10 minutes at a time. It's supposed to be so much better to write on the LS, but it's just not working.
It didn't work on the Stentura, either, so it's not the LS' fault, but I know I would write a lot better if I could ever get the positioning down. It's gotten to the point where I dread having to CART a class because I know it's going to hurt. It shouldn't be that way, but I just don't know how to fix it. It only hurts when I write, so it's got to be something about the way I sit or hold that arm when I write. I don't have any problem at all with the right arm. If only I could figure it out!
I was supposed to cover a class the next day, but it got cancelled. I did a couple the day after that, and that was last week. I did another one this morning. I haven't officially checked my accuracy, but it's looking good. I didn't have any drops, and everything made sense. I think the semester's about to end, though. There might not be any classes to cover after this week.
It took me less than the length of the class to edit my transcript today. It probably shouldn't take as long as it does, but I like to go through and global everything, and make the transcript look perfect. It'll take less time the more practice I get.
I'm also trying to focus on practicing for the CBC. That's been going well. The 180 takes are a lot easier this time around than they were in January. I'm just trying to focus on staying calm. Lots of times I've written a take for the first time, and thought I didn't get it, but I did. So that's giving me confidence to just keep focusing, keep going, and know that there's a real possibility that even though it doesn't feel like it, I might pass the take.
I finished -i endings, and I'm working on 1765 for -o now. I don't remember why I wrote down that I need to work on -o. I write it "OE," which hasn't changed. But it doesn't hurt to write a bunch of words; lots of them aren't defined the way I'm writing them.
I found a bizarre dictionary hole. "Pens" wasn't in my dictionary as PENZ, and it translated as "ends." I also discovered, during CBC practice, that I need to take out my glue stroke when I take the test. I have it in as DRA*ES, since I use it before a web address. DRAES is just "address." I wrote DRA*ES in a take without realizing it, and glued the entire rest of the take together! That would've been an instant fail.
I'm still working on positioning. My left arm still isn't cooperating. I can almost never seem to get it in a position that's comfortable. I don't know what the problem is, but I wish I knew what to do about it, because it makes it really hard to write for more than about 10 minutes at a time. It's supposed to be so much better to write on the LS, but it's just not working.
It didn't work on the Stentura, either, so it's not the LS' fault, but I know I would write a lot better if I could ever get the positioning down. It's gotten to the point where I dread having to CART a class because I know it's going to hurt. It shouldn't be that way, but I just don't know how to fix it. It only hurts when I write, so it's got to be something about the way I sit or hold that arm when I write. I don't have any problem at all with the right arm. If only I could figure it out!
2.19.13
I've developed a couple of new habits recently. Writing the same 10 minutes of a news show has allowed me to more easily identify words that give me trouble. I'm being a lot more "lenient" in terms of admitting that I have trouble with a word, and adding it to my practice list. It also gives me a chance to see lots of sentences where I wrote "an" as AN, even though I'm trying (unsuccessfully at this point) to write A*N.
I keep a record of every setence in which I wrote AN, and gradually add them to my daily practice. I write the whole sentence once, and then the phrase (i.e., "an extraordinary") five times. I'm finding that I never, ever get used to writing "A*N." It just doesn't feel comfortable. But I'm determined to do it. It's important to have a distinction between an, an-, and -en a. Once I'm comfortable with both the sentence and the phrase, I take it off the list and replace it with a new one. I have a mandatory 5-session minimum requirement on all the sentences, too.
It's really fun when names translate properly. I use NAO*EP for a "-ney" suffix, and I was able to write "Rodney" on the fly the other day, and have it come up even though it wasn't in my dictionary.
I finished re-writing/entering all the proper names in my dictionary. There were about 10,000, and it took me almost three months. Hopefully that will help them translate better now, though. I decided, rather than going through the rest of the dictionary, it would be more beneficial to go back to focusing on groups of words that I know I write differently than the way they're defined right now, so that's another thing I have to watch out for when I review the 10-minute takes.
In just 10 minutes of audio, I found issues with -lous, -rous, "yore" sounds (meteor, senior, etc.), and -mic. In fact, I discovered I had no idea how to write -mic. I have Mick, -mic, mic, Mc-, and mechanic, so it's tricky, but I think I'll remember -mic now. There aren't that many words with it, anyway; most words that end in -mic are written with a final IK.
I was able to go through those four sets pretty quickly, rewriting every word in the group to make sure it was defined the way I'm most likely to write it. That will be my first priority next time I find words like that, but until then, I think I'm going to go back to my pass through the theory book. I'll probably hit on some good word groups that way, and it's really beneficial to go back and see what fingering is tripping me up. The only problem is I've been writing with my steno machine on top of my theory book, so I'll have to find another book to write on.
I keep a record of every setence in which I wrote AN, and gradually add them to my daily practice. I write the whole sentence once, and then the phrase (i.e., "an extraordinary") five times. I'm finding that I never, ever get used to writing "A*N." It just doesn't feel comfortable. But I'm determined to do it. It's important to have a distinction between an, an-, and -en a. Once I'm comfortable with both the sentence and the phrase, I take it off the list and replace it with a new one. I have a mandatory 5-session minimum requirement on all the sentences, too.
It's really fun when names translate properly. I use NAO*EP for a "-ney" suffix, and I was able to write "Rodney" on the fly the other day, and have it come up even though it wasn't in my dictionary.
I finished re-writing/entering all the proper names in my dictionary. There were about 10,000, and it took me almost three months. Hopefully that will help them translate better now, though. I decided, rather than going through the rest of the dictionary, it would be more beneficial to go back to focusing on groups of words that I know I write differently than the way they're defined right now, so that's another thing I have to watch out for when I review the 10-minute takes.
In just 10 minutes of audio, I found issues with -lous, -rous, "yore" sounds (meteor, senior, etc.), and -mic. In fact, I discovered I had no idea how to write -mic. I have Mick, -mic, mic, Mc-, and mechanic, so it's tricky, but I think I'll remember -mic now. There aren't that many words with it, anyway; most words that end in -mic are written with a final IK.
I was able to go through those four sets pretty quickly, rewriting every word in the group to make sure it was defined the way I'm most likely to write it. That will be my first priority next time I find words like that, but until then, I think I'm going to go back to my pass through the theory book. I'll probably hit on some good word groups that way, and it's really beneficial to go back and see what fingering is tripping me up. The only problem is I've been writing with my steno machine on top of my theory book, so I'll have to find another book to write on.
Mechanical Developments
It's been four months
since my last update. That's only half as long as it took me to post
last time, so there's that. Somehow, though, I've got way more to talk
about. So much, in fact, that I'm going to have to break this up into
parts.
I gave up on the Report-It quite a while ago, although I think I forgot to mention it in my last update. Recently, I've started writing with my theory book under the steno machine. I think raising it up is helping a bit. I still go through periods where I feel like I can't "reach" or "find" the keys, but I seem to be able to work it out after about 15 minutes of writing the news, if nothing else.
I think I was holding my left arm funny, because it was starting to go numb while I was writing, so I've been trying to focus on making it a bit more comfortable and remembering to stop tensing it up and let it relax. I ditched the BackJoy when my arm started going numb, too, and I don't miss it.
I finally sent my LS in to have the loose USB port fixed. They decided to put in a "new" battery while they were at it. I have no idea why; there was nothing wrong with the old battery. Now, the "new" battery doesn't hold a charge. It's kind of frustrating, really. But I don't want to be without the LS for a week again to send it back. My service contract expires at the end of the month, too. The only reason I renewed it last time was because I thought I would want to upgrade to the LSX, and Stenovations has a nifty trade-in policy.
But now the LSX isn't really in the works anymore. I think the LS v2 looks interesting, but if I get one, I'll want to have it as a backup writer, so I won't be interested in a trade-in. It just doesn't make sense to pay $300 a year for nothing. I don't think anything's going to go wrong with the LS; they seem pretty foolproof. It's a bummer that mine effectively doesn't have a battery anymore, but I've been leaning more toward captioning/remote CART than onsite CART, anyway, so it probably won't matter.
I have the silicone Stenovations keypads on the LS now, and I really like them. They are maybe a bit too slippery, so I'm not going to say I can't imagine using anything else, but they're better than the Depobook leather ones.
I gave up on the Report-It quite a while ago, although I think I forgot to mention it in my last update. Recently, I've started writing with my theory book under the steno machine. I think raising it up is helping a bit. I still go through periods where I feel like I can't "reach" or "find" the keys, but I seem to be able to work it out after about 15 minutes of writing the news, if nothing else.
I think I was holding my left arm funny, because it was starting to go numb while I was writing, so I've been trying to focus on making it a bit more comfortable and remembering to stop tensing it up and let it relax. I ditched the BackJoy when my arm started going numb, too, and I don't miss it.
I finally sent my LS in to have the loose USB port fixed. They decided to put in a "new" battery while they were at it. I have no idea why; there was nothing wrong with the old battery. Now, the "new" battery doesn't hold a charge. It's kind of frustrating, really. But I don't want to be without the LS for a week again to send it back. My service contract expires at the end of the month, too. The only reason I renewed it last time was because I thought I would want to upgrade to the LSX, and Stenovations has a nifty trade-in policy.
But now the LSX isn't really in the works anymore. I think the LS v2 looks interesting, but if I get one, I'll want to have it as a backup writer, so I won't be interested in a trade-in. It just doesn't make sense to pay $300 a year for nothing. I don't think anything's going to go wrong with the LS; they seem pretty foolproof. It's a bummer that mine effectively doesn't have a battery anymore, but I've been leaning more toward captioning/remote CART than onsite CART, anyway, so it probably won't matter.
I have the silicone Stenovations keypads on the LS now, and I really like them. They are maybe a bit too slippery, so I'm not going to say I can't imagine using anything else, but they're better than the Depobook leather ones.
Back
Long time no post, again. I've still been plugging away with my two hours of practice every day. I kept up with my routine of using the actual live news for my speedbuilding practice until June, when I started doing the Caption Masters Series. I didn't exactly test into it, I just signed up for it, figuring I was probably good enough to do it. That's been true in some senses; I don't have any trouble at all keeping up with the homework, but I have yet to pass a test. You have to get 98.5% accuracy first-pass on live broadcasts, and I'm not quite there yet.
So far I've practiced the news and the weather. I can occasionally get a 5-7-minute weather segment at 98.5% accuracy on the first try, which is pretty cool. The teacher suggested we use "smart writing," which involves dropping adjectives and other things that might not be super important if it keeps us from dropping things that are important. It's been pretty effective. On the one hand, it's easier because you don't have to write things verbatim; on the other hand, it's harder because it adds an extra level of things you're thinking about the whole time. "What phrase wasn't important? What don't I have to write? How could I paraphrase that to make it quicker?" Of course, verbatim is always your ultimate goal. But it's more important to convey everything loosely than to convey half of it verbatim. Unfortunately, it's a strategy that's going to work against me whenever I take the CBC exam.
I don't use the tripod anymore. I felt like I couldn't reach the machine, so I went back to putting it on my lap. I just use a little leather portfolio folder to give it about 3/4 of an inch of extra height and keep it flat. That seems to be working out okay. I still feel like I'm a little shaky 75% of the time in terms of "finding" the keys, but I'm doing a lot better in that area than I was before.
I have a ton of free time to do steno stuff now, but I don't do it. I did spend about an hour working on a list of 30 "to-do" items I had come up with in the past few months, though. Here's what I fixed:
-Defined "out-" as "O*UT," yet I still had ~50 words in my dictionary defined like RAED/O*UT.
-Finally went into my pre/suf table and deleted all the StenoMaster stuff I don't actually use - the integrated -able, -en, -ful, -ive, -ize, -ment, -ness, dis-, and -ly. Hopefully that will result in TM suggesting fewer of those, although I've already got so many defined it's kind of a mess.
-Deleted 300 entries I made using "DZ" for "-ing."
-Fixed problematic word endings with -lick, -rat, -line, -rid, -rig, -man/-men, -woman/-women, -ard, -son, and -gan.
-Updated my "ego-" to AOEG.
-Updated "TAIR" to "TA*IR" in 100 words.
-Decided to do LAM/NAIT, etc. and NA*IT for Nate; COMP/KAIT, etc., and KA*IT for Kate
-Finally got around to changing all 113 of my leftover "nk" words from "*NG" to "FRNG"
I came up with a couple more things to fix after I did that. I also just started defining conflicts. I think I've stayed away from them all this time because I didn't want to take the time to sit down and train the AI. But I defined one, and it picked up on it almost immediately, so I thought, what better time to work out the kinks than when no one can see them?
So far I've practiced the news and the weather. I can occasionally get a 5-7-minute weather segment at 98.5% accuracy on the first try, which is pretty cool. The teacher suggested we use "smart writing," which involves dropping adjectives and other things that might not be super important if it keeps us from dropping things that are important. It's been pretty effective. On the one hand, it's easier because you don't have to write things verbatim; on the other hand, it's harder because it adds an extra level of things you're thinking about the whole time. "What phrase wasn't important? What don't I have to write? How could I paraphrase that to make it quicker?" Of course, verbatim is always your ultimate goal. But it's more important to convey everything loosely than to convey half of it verbatim. Unfortunately, it's a strategy that's going to work against me whenever I take the CBC exam.
I don't use the tripod anymore. I felt like I couldn't reach the machine, so I went back to putting it on my lap. I just use a little leather portfolio folder to give it about 3/4 of an inch of extra height and keep it flat. That seems to be working out okay. I still feel like I'm a little shaky 75% of the time in terms of "finding" the keys, but I'm doing a lot better in that area than I was before.
I have a ton of free time to do steno stuff now, but I don't do it. I did spend about an hour working on a list of 30 "to-do" items I had come up with in the past few months, though. Here's what I fixed:
-Defined "out-" as "O*UT," yet I still had ~50 words in my dictionary defined like RAED/O*UT.
-Finally went into my pre/suf table and deleted all the StenoMaster stuff I don't actually use - the integrated -able, -en, -ful, -ive, -ize, -ment, -ness, dis-, and -ly. Hopefully that will result in TM suggesting fewer of those, although I've already got so many defined it's kind of a mess.
-Deleted 300 entries I made using "DZ" for "-ing."
-Fixed problematic word endings with -lick, -rat, -line, -rid, -rig, -man/-men, -woman/-women, -ard, -son, and -gan.
-Updated my "ego-" to AOEG.
-Updated "TAIR" to "TA*IR" in 100 words.
-Decided to do LAM/NAIT, etc. and NA*IT for Nate; COMP/KAIT, etc., and KA*IT for Kate
-Finally got around to changing all 113 of my leftover "nk" words from "*NG" to "FRNG"
I came up with a couple more things to fix after I did that. I also just started defining conflicts. I think I've stayed away from them all this time because I didn't want to take the time to sit down and train the AI. But I defined one, and it picked up on it almost immediately, so I thought, what better time to work out the kinks than when no one can see them?
1.05.12
It's been a while since I updated. I'm still liking the tripod with my LS. I'd like to move away from it and go to a lapdesk at some point, but that's down the road when I've perfected my positioning. I think I'm making progress on that front, but it's definitely not dialed in yet. I've been working on my sitting posture, starting with getting comfortable in the legs and back, and adjusting everything else from there, on a daily basis. The past couple of days it's worked out pretty well.
I got probably about 3 minutes into my last piece, and then I was ready to try out a new strategy I've been planning to start for a while. I completely abandoned the speed "tapes." The VITAC book suggests recording national news and practicing to that, and that seems like a pretty solid strategy. I really need practice writing spontaneously, and it's great for practicing a variety of names and terms instead of the same ones for two months at a time.
The book suggests breaking the episode up into each individual story. First you listen to it in its entirity, and write down/practice any words you think might trip you up. I always come up with an alarming number of them, way more than I feel like I should have at this point. I've tweaked my theory so much though, I just don't have any of it in my muscle memory at all. Which is why I'm also going back through my theory book. That's something I've been trying to do for a long time, but I let myself get sidetracked with dictionary maintenance.
Speaking of which, I got a lot done there. I finished all of my P and B inflected endings, and did 2-3 other things that I don't remember anymore. I have yet more I need to do, but I'm going to try to do that during non-practice time.
After you run through the story without writing anything, you write the introduction alone until you've got it perfect, then the story, then the follow-up. It's awesome not having people blazing along at a constant 250 wpm anymore! I don't pick it up nearly as fast as I should; sometimes it takes me 2-3 hours just to get a 3 minute segment. But hopefully, you can't go wrong practicing at real speeds.
I'm up to at least 130 wpm on all of my Phoenix drills, with an average speed of 150. I've been using the drill book for 30 weeks so far. Only another 30 to go if I keep up at this rate..
For those of you following along, perhaps in your own dictionaries, here are the rest of the possible word-boundary errors I've fixed.
Final word parts:
light, ground, long, box, fish, hound, fight, shot, saw, bag, book, cuff, cap, string, sick, strong, break, sight, knife, pot, sake, proof, seed, spring, hood, cure, night, week, stop, pick, suit, shop, coat, drop, sack, paper, track, bite, lash, pipe, place, berry, play, lance, piece, field, spread, bug, bird, port, pit, beat, wood, weight, word, guard, bed
Instances that only affected one word:
heartthrob, hedgehog, henpeck, hitchhike, hoodwink, inkblot, ironclad, jackhammer, landlord, livestock, mankind, nightclub, paycheck, pinstripe, shoptalk, skyrocket, smokestack, spendthrift, sunroof, wisecrack, carefree, shipshape, sideswipe, switchblade, bedfellow, bellhop, jailbait, kidnap, netherworld, nosebleed, postpaid, postscript, snowplow, stopgap, teacup, wastebasket, watchdog, waterspout, wiretap, shopworn
I discovered that I was writing "fore-" and "fore" the same way (thanks StenEd), but I don't think I'm going to fix it. I also had a lot of problems with words that start with "up" (uphold, uphill, etc) and "air" (aircraft, airstrike, etc).
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