Over the past 2 months, what began as a BB-size bump turned into a pea-size sort of squishy bubble on my right thumb between the nailbed and knuckle.

I'm about the age my mom was when she started getting arthritic in some of her fingers. She used to massage her swollen knuckles with Vicks Mentholatum b/c the analgesic provided a soft but soothing burn. Sometimes she would minimize the swelling, even getting rid of the calcifying deposits.

I didn't use Vicks but I did spend waking idle moments massaging the bump on all sides. It would throb on occasion but taking Aleve helped the inflammation.

Not certain what it was yet concerned that it was growing, I made an appt w/a doctor. Upon examination and questioning, she determined that it wasn't a calcium deposit attached to the bone. Because of its swollen nature and movability, she said it wasn't a tendon issue either. She ordered xrays and a referral to an orthopedist.

So today, the orthopedist said that it looked and felt like a ganglion cyst. Think of it as a water balloon. The xrays revealed a tiny bone spur that caused leakage in the bursa, the fluid pillow between the bone and tendon. The leakage creates a water balloon of sorts.

By massaging the cyst, I forced the water into surrounding tissues, minimizing the size considerably. But he also said that over time, as long as the bone spur exists, there will continue to be leakage and eventual swelling.

He asked whether it got in the way of my daily usage of the thumb or caused discomfort. A remedy would be minor outpatient surgery, where I'd be under anesthesia while the fluid is drawn out, a tiny incision is made to extract the tiny bone spur, and that's it.

He also said that this is often a precursor to the onset of arthritis for people who have such family history. Genetically predisposed, I guess I'm in for a lot of disease. Father had BP problems and died of lung cancer. Mother has BP + cholesterol issues.

Dr gave me a website (www.assh.org) to get better informed about this condition. I just Googled "ganglion cyst" and several links came up. This is one of the definitions:

A ganglion cyst is a tumor or swelling on top of a joint or the covering of a tendon (tissue that connects muscle to bone). It looks like a sac of liquid (cyst). Inside the cyst is a thick, clear, colorless, jellylike material. Depending on the size, cysts may feel firm or spongy.

* One large cyst or many smaller ones may develop. Multiple small cysts can give the appearance of more than one cyst, but a common stalk within the deeper tissue usually connects them. This type of cyst is not harmful and accounts for about half of all soft tissue tumors of the hand.

* Ganglion cysts, also known as Bible cysts, are more common in women, and 70% occur in people between the ages of 20-40. Rarely, ganglion cysts can occur in children younger than 10 years.

* Ganglion cysts most commonly occur on the back of the hand (60-70%), at the wrist joint and can also develop on the palm side of the wrist. When found on the back of the wrist, they become more prominent when the wrist is flexed forward. Other sites, although less common, include these:

-The base of the fingers on the palm, where they appear as small pea-sized bumps

-The fingertip, just below the cuticle, where they are called mucous cysts

-The outside of the knee and ankle

-The top of the foot

Guess I'll just wait and see.