Puppeteer Develops Carpal Tunnel From 40 Years of Making Puppets Talk, Puppet Forced to Deliver the Diagnosis

Veteran puppeteer Gloria Stitch, 64, has been diagnosed with bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome after 40 years of professional puppet operation, a diagnosis she received from her hand specialist and then, in a moment she describes as 'professionally awkward,' was forced to relay to her family through her puppet, Chester, because 'I've been talking through Chester for so long that serious conversations feel wrong without him.' 'Gloria has severe compression of the median nerve in both wrists,' Chester told Gloria's assembled family members in a sitting room, his felt mouth opening and closing with the careful precision of a medical professional. 'The prognosis is positive with treatment, but she will need to significantly reduce the repetitive hand motions that caused the condition. Yes, that means me. No, I am not happy about it.' The family took the news with the particular composure of people who have spent decades receiving all important information through a puppet. 'Mom told us she was pregnant with my brother through Chester,' said daughter Lydia Stitch. 'She told us Grandma passed through Chester. The carpal tunnel thing is actually one of the less emotional Chester announcements.' Dr. Marcus Tendon, Stitch's hand specialist, had recommended 'complete rest from puppetry for a minimum of eight weeks,' a prescription that Stitch described as 'medically sound but personally devastating.' 'My hand has been inside a puppet for 40 years,' Stitch said, looking at her bare hand as though seeing it for the first time. 'I don't know what to do with it. It just sits there. It doesn't talk. It doesn't express anything. It's just a hand.' Chester has been placed on a shelf during the recovery period. Stitch reports that she speaks to him occasionally. 'He doesn't answer,' she said. 'Obviously. But the silence is louder than you'd think.'