Frog-scapes and the Brachial Plexus

Bullfrog in Wetland
Nikon D800, Sigma 15mm Fisheye lens
ISO 400, f16 @ 1/200 sec.

This post is intended to be a cautionary note on photographing from canoes. My frog-scape imagery is always created from a seated position within my canoe, while I lean over the edge of the canoe’s gunwale. I have done this thousands of times however, on the day of August 27th while doing so my left hand went to sleep. I shook it off and was good to go. Later that evening my left shoulder began to ache. By the next morning the pain was worsening and by the following day my left hand began going numb. I figured a visit to the emergency ward of my local hospital was in order. I was told I had a swollen rotator cuff and that I would be all better in one week. This was not to be and in fact my left arm is still sore and my left thumb, left index finger are still numb, and my tricep muscle will not flex. After 5 weeks I do believe I finally have an accurate diagnosis as to what happened. While leaning over the edge of the canoe, I was leaning in such a way that my underarm was directly over the gunwale putting too much pressure on the brachial plexus, which is the network of nerves that control the shoulder, arm, and hand. The resulting pressure has bruised or damaged my brachial plexus and now I require a referral to a neurologist for a nerve conduction test and to determine the extent of the injury. Hopefully there will be a full recovery but it will take a very long time as nerves regenerate at a very slow pace. Fortunately I do have full movement of my arm with the discomfort subsiding to a very tolerable level however, the arm is weak due to the inactive tricep muscle and the thumb and index finger numbness is rather annoying at times…time will tell if these issues will resolve themselves. Here are some of my most recent frog-scape images that I created prior to this injury.

Bullfrog in Wetland
Nikon D800, Laowa 15mm f4 1:1 Macro Lens
ISO 1000, f16 @ 1/30 sec.

 

Bullfrog in Wetland
Nikon D800, Laowa 15mm f4 1:1 Macro Lens
ISO 800, f16 @ 1/100 sec.