As most of you know, I've had problems with my left shoulder ever since 2003. It got dislocated in an MVA, and since then has dislocated totally 3 times and partially so many times I've lost count. It bothers me every now and then, and despite my repeated visits to my family doctor nothing was ever suggested (apart from a sling and rest) as a remedy.
Yesterday I was mopping the kitchen floor. I was barefoot - as I usually am in the summer - and I was quite happy swabbing away with my pine-sol and Vileda mop.
Then Gracie came bounding in. I didn't want puppy prints all over my nice clean floor, so I tried to shoo her out. Grace being the typical stubborn Boxer-dawg that she is, took my shooing her as an invitation to play and started bouncing all over the place. As I stepped towards her, I lost my footing on the wet tile and fell, stretching my left arm out to try and break my fall.
As soon as my hand hit the ground I felt a crunch and pain in my shoulder, and when I sat up and took my weight off my arm I felt even more crunching and pain. I got up and sat down at the table, trying to feel if I'd done any damage that would warrant a trip to the ER. I really hate military ER's, yanno. They're full of people who aren't really emergent cases but who couldn't get into see their doctor and didn't want to wait until the next day's acute appointments to open up. There's usually a 3 hour wait and all they do is patch you up and tell you to go see your own physician the next day.
My dislike of military emergency rooms won out, and I decided that I'd be okay.
But I wasn't. Twisting or raising my arm in any way resulted in a sharp pain where the anterior deltoid meets the humerus. It ached even when I wasn't moving it, and it didn't get any better as the day wore on. Dave asked me if I needed to go to the ER last night because I was wincing and yelping so much (remember now, I'm on 75mcg fentanyl an hour for my back and leg pain, and this pain was making me cry out despite that), and I was my usual pig-headed stubborn self and refused to go.
Overnight the pain didn't subside, so this morning I called and got an appointment with one of the docs at the hospital. I'd never seen this particular doctor before, and was expecting to be treated like an addict because I'm already on pain meds but was presenting complaining of even more pain.
He didn't treat me like that at all. He listened and was gentle when he examined me, and was very understanding of my situation. He got an X-ray, and after seeing the results told me that he was going to get me in to see the orthopedic surgeon on base because he wanted me evaluated and soon. He also ordered an MRI to give us a clearer picture of the soft tissue injury I obviously had.
I asked him if he thought I'd messed up my rotator cuff, and he said yes, he DID think that's what was going on.....but he's also concerned at the number of dislocations I've had and at the amount of crepitation that's audible when I move my shoulder. I've got a loose, unstable shoulder and probably a partially torn rotator cuff that may need surgical repair.
So, I see the ortho surgeon on the 19th, and if he thinks surgery might be an option, I'm going to tell him to schedule it. I should have taken the first opportunity I was given to have surgery on my back, but I was scared and wanted to wait....and look what happened there. I've got permanent neuropathy because I waited. I'm not going to repeat that mistake. If surgery is even an option, I'm taking it. Having a shoulder that is unreliable and painful like this really limits me - I can't swim, I can't do yoga, I can't bellydance and I can't ride my bike without being in pain, and everyday household stuff like carrying laundry baskets and pushing a vacuum cleaner become painful tasks. It was hard enough to come to terms with the limits my back surgery puts on me without being even MORE limited. So, if surgery is even a option, I'm going to take it and try to get it done before my husband deploys again. I don't want him to have to come home from deployments twice in a row because I need to have another surgery.
*sigh* Another surgeon to see, another broken part. This is getting to be a drag......