Finally Home

We are finally home. I am so tired I think my eyes are crossed. This doctor was really good and very sharp. He is a surgeon and works in trauma places. He said…after looking at the scans and x-raying my shoulder several times that I have massive inflammation in my shoulder and surrounding area. He also said it looks like I have torn the rotator cuff, twisted the bone so that it is gaping when it should not be and that it was one of the worst strained/sprained/ whatever shoulders he had seen before.

Now, came the big discussions. He feels I am not a candidate for surgery because of my lung disease. Same reason I wear  a leg brace. So, first thing he wants to so is get me out of some of this pain. I can not sleep because of it, I can not raise my arm, can not reach up and rub my shoulder with my hand. And the amazing thing was…I pulled my arm so badly that the shoulder is down lower than the other shoulder by a couple of inches or so. I noticed that this morning when I was getting dressed and he said he could see it without my shirt off..it was that bad. So, right now he is working on easing some of the pain and after that he will work on ways to help me cope and regain strength from the injury without going through the major surgery. We will just have to see what comes next as .

I was sitting there when the nurse came in with a syringe with a four-inch needle. I said “oh no no..do not show me that”. He said it was going to hurt and he was really sorry but that the inflammation was so bad that he needed to get some cortisone in there right away. And he did not lie. He worked it around until he got the needle between the two bones and I could feel the cortisone going in and the pressure building up. He kept patting me the whole time saying “I am sorry. I know it hurts. I am sorry”…and finally he got it all in.

I am not to do anything for the next couple of weeks to allow the medicine to work and to keep from aggravating the damage already done. That does not mean I can not go to my doctor appointments…just no lifting, not a lot of arm movement, etc. Then I go back and depending on how I am doing as to whether he injects again. He is going to get the PT people to come to the house to do therapy because it is so hard for me to go out. I react every time to cortisone injections with it affecting my breathing and getting very hot but they were prepared.

After we left there, we went to the wheelchair place to get my roll in shower wheelchair ordered…which can take two to three weeks and to talk about my old power chair. She gave me lots of good info and had the papers filled out for the shower chair. Son also had them put on new rubber tips on my crutches and boy do they make a difference.

After we finished all the running around, we stopped for a quick sandwich and headed home. I found myself falling asleep riding I was so exhausted. And now I am on my bed ready for a nap. At least now I know that all the pain I have been having has been for a reason. I could see the differences in my arm from their x-rays and he told me that my shoulder, arm down to elbow and the muscles pulling from chest and back had taken a really bad beating so to speak. I am just thankful they know now.

Love and hugs to all. Thank you to those that helped us with our gas for we would not have made it otherwise.

love

Deb, son and of course wonder dog.