The Saga of my Arm Problems

So a few months ago, my right arm started hurting. At first, I thought that it was just a minor strain, must have lifted something too heavy, or did who knows what. But, then it never went away. Nathan had been urging me to go to a doctor for weeks and I resisted. By that time, I knew that it wasn't just a minor strain, and worried terribly about a rotator cuff tear, as that is where the issues seemed to be coming from. There was a day that I had free to go to the doctor, but mine wasn't in. There was a PA available, and I figured that would be fine.

The PA had me do some range of motion exercises, and then decided that my problem was a bicep strain. No radiographs or MRI, just the range of motion exercises. The physical therapist had me do range of motion exercises, too. And, he decided that it was my bicep and Impingement Syndrome. At least he was closer. I started in on physical therapy, and I never felt like I was getting anywhere with it. I went for 4-5 weeks of it. I was doing BETTER, but I really think that I was just adjusting, not that my arm was improving. They talked about discontinuing the PT. I assumed that it would just continue to get better, then.

Then last Saturday, my arm became so painful that I could not move an inch. It felt like somebody was ripping my arm from my body. I had some Darvocet left over from when Syd was born. That took the edge off, but didn't cure it. The next few days were pretty painful, but tollerable. My father-in-law is the King of Arm Injuries, so I got a sling from him to use. I couldn't sleep, couldn't find a position that was tolerable. I called my doctor on Tuesday, and finally got a referral to an orthopedic specialist.

That night, I had another acute, painful attack. This one was so bad that the Darvocet didn't even touch it. I was in agony, and just wanted somebody to hack my arm off with an ax. I knew that at least the stump would heal. It was intolerable. Nathan ended up taking me to the ER at midnight, while his parents came into town to watch Syd. I told them in ER that I had an appointment with a specialist, I just needed pain meds. They got me some Vicodin, and I downed one in the ER waiting room. I was able to sleep the rest of the night, but didn't like the way that the Vicodin made me feel.

Thursday morning I finally saw a specialist, Jess Prewitt-Emerson, a PA at Orthopedics PC. They took radiographs right away, which were extremely uncomfortable. I went into the waiting room, and soon had a diagnosis. There was an obvious cloudy band around the rotator cuff area, Calcific Tendinitis. I was given a steroid injection into my shoulder, and sent home with oral medications. My arm hasn't felt this good in months. I go back for a recheck in a couple of weeks, and probably another injection. We shall see.

I'm grateful that I am finally on the road to recovery. I'm just annoyed that it took this long. I feel like I missed the whole summer because of it. I didn't go out as much, as it hurt to push Syd's stroller. It even hurt to just walk the dogs.

Hopefully it is all uphill from here.