pain and preparing for bad news

So yesterday a little patch on the side of the knuckle of my right ring finger started detecting all sensations as pain. It's called allodynia. It doesn't go away with the tramadol. I can work through it, though, because putting pressure on the front of the knuckle doesn't set it off, just touching the side.

I'm hoping this is temporary, but I'm giving myself a few days to get used to this before I check the posting boards. I want to be as mentally prepared to deal with the bad news as I can be before I have to potentially hear it.

EDIT TO ADD: As of 10/19/2015 the painful sensation when the skin is stroked over has gradually gone down over the last 24 hours and may be going to go away entirely, one hopes?
*crosses all the fingers*

EDIT TO ADD: As of 10/21/15 the pain went away entirely. *is relieved*