copper bracelet

I'm wearing my mother's copper bracelet today. It's a bangle about an inch wide, covered with decorations that look like the carvings on a totem pole. She's had the bracelet for as long as I can remember.

I'm wearing it to see whether it helps with a recurring pain that has developed in my left hand. I noticed it this past fall, and during the last recurrence in early December it was painful enough that I whined about it a little bit. I thought it might be the first twinges of arthritis, so the whining had as much to do with my inner protest that I was too young to have arthritis as it did with the actual pain. In response to my whining, my mom told me she had been told that copper mysteriously helps such pain, and she offered to bring me her copper bracelet when I saw her at Christmas.

This morning at the gym I noticed that my hand was getting sore. The pain tends to start in the outside of my left palm and if it gets bad, it spreads up into my pinky and ring fingers. I put the bracelet on, and darnitall, the pain hasn't gotten any worse. Perhaps I'll wear it to bed tonight as well.

In other news, tonight the Pacific Chorale starts up rehearsals again after the long winter break. Let's see how rusty I am after three months of only singing at church.