The newest man in my life is Mike..he has great hands..he can massage my shoulder and find all the painful bursa..he gave me ultrasound treatments and a new fangled pain patch..that has batteries in it but it only lasts for about twenty four hours..something about Ions and healing and blocking the pain.. I also got a huge turquoise rubber-band and have exercises to do two or three times a day. What we are trying to do with the exercise and therapy is to increase the space between the head of my humerus and the muscley rotator cuff..and to make the rotator cuff more pliable. Right now it is like an old piece of leather..a cranky one. My supraspinatus tendon is the one giving me fits, it is in front of your shoulder and runs around to the back. I am not suppose to do anything that makes my shoulder hurt..I immediately said "Well cooking is totally out of the picture then." Seriously.... anything that involves reaching above my head or behind my back causes pain that will bring tears to my eyes. I have the worst time with my hair..I brush it all with my left arm..I am thinking of shaving my head so Far Guy and I match. I am somewhat ambidextrous..I can throw the ball with my left arm..not with much accuracy..but Chance is forgiving. I also have a hard time getting dressed..and sometimes I get all tangled up in my bra.. Far Guy is patient and when I have a bra emergency he comes running. Mike the guy with the hands..says quote "Flu shots often get too close to your bursa and cause inflammation.. you are not the first one to complain about a badly placed Flu Shot. " He also said it may take another cortisone injection and three or four months to make a difference. Not the news I was hoping for..I never realized how many people slug me in the shoulder..and how much hugs hurt..and how freaking miserable I can be...but now that we FINALLY have a plan..it should get better a little at a time.
The lesson..I will never ever get a flu shot in my arm again. If they won't give it to me in my butt or my leg..then I will refuse it. We still haven't gotten the H1N1 Flu Shot..it has just recently reached Minnesota. Maybe we will just skip it. Getting older sometimes really sucks:)
Oh no, poor you Connie!
ReplyDeleteHope you can avoid further entanglements with bras... especially other people's! ;-)
Oh this sounds so very painful. I am sure that giggling makes it hurt also. So no jokes from me.
ReplyDeleteI am sympathizing with you, having had encountered it in my elbow, ouch, in your shoulder. That's bad.
Heal fast, and enjoy not having to cook.
Jen
Hi Connie, I am sorry it is going to be such a long process of possibly more injections and lots of physical therapy. I do hope you are able to avoid surgery. I agree with this "getting older" stuff...no fun at all! I hope the massage and ultrasound will give you some relief and that you can begin to sleep better. Praying for you both.
ReplyDeleteHow can you pain funny? I agree, getting old sucks. Fear of getting hurt becomes your first thought. I've been so afraid of falling this winter and no one would know I was outside. I hope Mike gets you all better soon.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry about your shoulder.....getting old is the pits. But....if you consider the only other option, I guess we will go with getting old. Not trying to tell you what to do, bur please research that H1N1 flu shot REALLY WELL before you get it. I did and ended up not getting it. Why did I research it so much? Because my daughter's doctor adamantly refused to give her or her kids that shot....and he's an excellent doctor. Feel better soon...sounds like you're in good hands!
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry to hear about your shoulder. I can relate. When my kids were 5 and 2, I broke my shoulder at a kid's birthday skating party. I was skating along and a little kid cut in front of me and I grabbed onto a partition and "crack" broke my shoulder and then fell. No cake and ice cream for me. And it was in December. Christmas shopping with one arm. The girls both had long hair and I couldn't even brush it and put it in a ponytail. I feel your pain.
ReplyDeleteSounds horrible and terribly painful. My husband has dealt with deteriorating arthritis in both shoulders and he has very limited range of motion in either arm anymore. I know the pain he has, so I can can sure sympathize with you for what you have been through. We take for granted how easy moving is until we don't have it any longer.. then we really appreciate the simple things. I hope you are 'mended' real soon'.
ReplyDeleteI know your pain, or rather hubby does. He has a rotar cuff tear and has alot of pain with anything over his shoulder. Well, too think of it, he avoids doing anything over his shoulder.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to finally validate that the flu shot caused some of the problem. I get frustrated when doctors do not listen. They may be the professionls but its your body and you should know what and when.
Good luck, maybe Magic Hands Mike will do magic.
I contracted a pain disorder following a fall (down the stairs with my knitting basket!) and the subsequent two surgerys in one day to repair wrist and elbow. The syndrome is called CRPS and is hard to diagnose. But if your pain does not subside with all the meds that you are taking and the use of the TENS system on your shoulder, you might speak to your dr. of this syndrome. Just to see what he/she thinks. I am in remission now and have been for about a year. Thank goodness that I had a doctor who diagnosed this condition very soon after my surgeries. And yes, the flu shot aggravates this condition, too.
ReplyDeleteHope you feel better soon...nothing like an injury to appreciate all that we normally take for granted in our bodies, right?
ReplyDeleteSometimes ya just know what ya know and no one will listen. I'm so glad that someone finally confirmed the fact that you already knew.
ReplyDeleteI have battled with tendinitis and can control it with yoga, now the rotor is a whole other animal. I've been blessed not to have that problem but have friends that have.
Take care sweet gal and you'll be in my prayers!
Your blog sounds like me writing it! Only it's my left shoulder. And,Connie, I've got the market cornered on being a klutz. I've broken my left hand and torn the tendon (taking bone with it) on my right pinky and my shoulder is like yours! Oh to scream in pain when it's moved in just the wrong spot. I'm glad you said something about the flu shots..I've got to get the seasonal flu and the H1N1 soon. I pray you're feeling better soon and you're not tortured too much with your therapy.
ReplyDeleteBerte
Sounds like you are on the road I was on with the physical therapy and band exercises for my shoulder. However, yours sounds more painful. I laughed when they told me not to do anything that aggravates it. Sure wish health insurance would then pay for someone to come clean my stalls and empty and fill water buckets... I hope you get better and can avoid the surgery.
ReplyDeleteOh Connie, I hope your not in too much pain now..and Mike will work his magic hands and make it better.Take care.♥
ReplyDeleteOh, dear! I went through some of this (although not to the same degree) last spring. Once I finished the physical therapy, it felt much better. Here's hoping for a similarly positive outcome for you!
ReplyDelete(And aren't you glad to have your flu shot/pain correlation validated? Doctors think they know everything.)
Oh, I have learned so many times that doctors just don't pay attention enough when patients have suggestions about what is causing their problems...and I'm a nurse! I hope you do well with your exercises, and thank goodness for physical therapists! I've had a few opportunities with them, and they seem to know what they're doing! Best of luck...and always remember...if it hurts, ice it!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you found a doctor who acknowledges flu shots can cause problems. I had a reaction to a mercury filling once and my dentist refuses to believe me! It's so frustrating...they think we're idiots.
ReplyDeleteI hope you find relief soon. I'm recovering from a broken rib....that happened Thanksgiving....I had a fight with a ladder and the ladder won. It's nearly healed now.
Oh, one more thing....don't shave your head. ;D
And to think you were taking pictures :) Take care - and get well fast!
ReplyDeleteOh no that sounds so painful!! Do what the dr says and hopefully you won't have to have surgery. No cooking for you or cleaning!!
ReplyDeleteYou get better and give that shoulder a break! No more falling. I am only 44 and I can tell I am not 20 anymore. I found that out the last time I fell off my horse last year!
ReplyDeleteThe flu shot hurt my shoulder, too. I have fibro myalgia and I can REALLY empathize with the pain you get from people hitting you. I have a dear friend who just pokes me with her finger. Ouch!
ReplyDeleteThat rotator cuff injury worries me! Hope your therapist helps you through that. My husband had to have surgery, and the recovery time was long. I had to help him dress for quite a while. ( ... we were in our thirties at the time.)
Yikes!! I dislike being immobile and I hate pain even worse.
ReplyDeletei am so sorry for your pain, and i am also so glad that Mike verified what you already knew about the flu shot. i hate it when doctors are patronizing and scoff at things patients say. patients know their bodies.
ReplyDeleterest and heal. get cortisone. let your hair go wild.
Sorry to hear about your shoulder. Sometimes I think (not knowing for a fact) that shoulders are the hardest things to bear and the hardest to heal. You use your arms all the time. Try to take it easy. And aren't you GLAD that someone verified what you claimed? I am allergic (mentally) to shots, so don't take flu shots but you have given me another reason to NOT take them. Stay warm!!! It may be warming up, some, but it's gonna get cold again ... I feel it in my bones.
ReplyDeleteHope your shoulder feels better soon- and thank you for the Christmas and New Year's greetings. I have been away from my computer a bit. Sadly my father-in-law passed away unexpectedly shortly before Christmas, so things have been a little different around here. Feel better soon and thanks for your good wishes-happy New Year to you and your family too!
ReplyDeleteI got to the bottom of the post all sympathetic like and then read that you want your next flu shots in your butt! Don't do it, i actually ended up with bursitis in my hind end, we called it buttsitis, so I am sure you can get a flu shot to close to the bursa in your butt as well as your shoulder and trust me, you do not want buttsitis, I know, there were times I begged for a migraine instead! Hope your shoulder is better by now, I'll keep reading and find out.
ReplyDelete