Many of you know by now of the epic debacle that is my left shoulder. For those that don't, recap:
Towards the end of July, I began having some discomfort with an occasional shooting pain through my left shoulder when I would lift my arm. I honestly didn't give it much thought for a couple weeks since I get hurt doing anything that involves running, jumping, rowing, diving, juggling, bending, and breathing. I assumed it was just another muscle pull or bruise and it would heal up on it's own.
Welllll, after week two I realized this was not going away, but actually getting worse. I took a trip to my family doc and he did the ol', "Does it hurt here?," "Here?," "Hmmmm," "What about....?," "And THIS!?," "What? Lawsuit?? What?." He tells me it's "probably" tendonitis, although it could be a torn rotator cuff.
My reply. "Is there any other test we could do, like an x-ray or something to rule out the whole rotator cuff tear?"
"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure it's tendonitis. Go do physical therapy for 4-6 weeks."
And off I went to physical therapy or P.T. if you like to keep it real.
Well, after 7 weeks (yep, threw in that extra one cause I just didn't feel like I needed that extra $100), I still get a massively strong shooting pain through it if I move it just right. And, I am not bragging at all but I feel like after nearly a handful of kidney stones, I have a pretty good understanding of what hurt feels like.
And this brings us to today. I just back from a return visit to the family doc for the x-ray I requested almost 8 weeks ago. The result??? Nothing...which leaves us with three possibilites:
1) The rotator cuff is torn (found out this cannot be detected with an x-ray, only with an MRI, which doc says is "very expensive").
2) The inflammation is severe enough I need to start doing cortisone injections.
3) (my personal favorite) An injury has thrown off my shoulder gear (I just made that up) enough that my muscle is catching on the bone when I rotate my shoulder in a certain direction. The fix? Shave off a portion of my clavicle.
Sign. Me. Up.
I know I'm still obviously joking around about all this but it is becoming very frustrating. When I was filling out some backround info in the waiting area for the physical therapist, there was a question that asked, 'Is your condition causing depression and do you feel like you need to seek counseling' (or something like that). I laughed when I read it because I'm thinking if you're getting depressed over a sprained ankle, you need real problems.
But, to be honest, this really does get you down. I've had a very difficult time sleeping for nearly 3 months because I'm so restricted to what positions I can sleep in without pain, I get pain every time I take a shirt on or off and I really can't do any type of athletics without causing extreme amounts of pain.
I'm just praying for a simple fix. My checking account can't handle a clavicle shave...and neither can my brain.
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Hey Kevin. It's Leah Seydel. I read your blog and it looks like we have something in common. I have had chronic pain in my tailbone since 2006. Not saying mine's worse than yours or trying to one up you. I just want to extend a hug and an understanding of the frustrating life of unknown cause, undiagnosed, chronic pain. I was actually scheduled for surgery to remove part of my tailbone, as a "this might fix it" idea, and the day before, found that insurance wasn't going to cover it, so I didn't go through with it.
ReplyDeleteIt is Extremely frustrating! I go through seasons of asking for prayer, and then giving up, and seasons of talking about it (probably more like complaining) and just sucking it up.
Where I'm at, and where I've been for the last year probably is knowing God CAN fix me, but He hasn't CHOSEN to, and doesn't HAVE to. He may have even caused it, and certainly knows what's wrong with it.
So. Buddy. This isn't sounding like much of an encouraging note, but just know that I'm thinking of you, feeling for you, and praying for you.