Shoulder: background and current situation
I've had problems with shoulder for a number of years. I've had physiotherapy several times, massages, ultrasound treatment, acupuncture, mobility exercises... Pretty much the whole armoury of physiotherapy has been deployed.
I suppose with hindsight I should have seen a specialist sooner, but honestly it never seemed necessary. Physiotherapy always resolved things after a few sessions, until the next flare up. And it's not as if stiff shoulders/neck is unusual. Easy to be wise with hindsight, isnt it?
In June I went down awkwardly in the arena at Odyssey. It had been quite wet so the ground was slippy, and instead of falling over normally, I lost my footing as I went and my arm bent awkwardly up my back.
I thought I'd torn a muscle or damaged a tendon, and so did medical science. My GP was certain it was rotator cuff related and sent me for an ultrasound which showed damage to one of the tendons. Off I went to physiotherapy, which improved things a lot. However, I couldn't recover the strength in my arm or overhead rotation movements (such as the kind one needs to do front crawl or back stroke, or indeed to get things out of cupboards). The physiotherapist suggested I ought to see a specialist, so I did.
I then entered the cycle of the MRI panic attack and the disappearing specialist, and the second specialist.
The specialist recommended surgery. The plan was to repair the sub-scapularis and 'release' (cut) the bicep tendon. The bicep tendon is because of the amount of pain I have had in the arm, and because this tendon was believed to be badly inflamed etc, and no longer held in place correctly by the sub-scapularis.
This plan did not quite come off.
Once the camera was inside my shoulder, the sub-scapularis was shown to be fine, no repair needed. Presumably it had healed the damage that showed on the ultrasound naturally? The bicep tendon was indeed inflamed etc, so this was 'released' as discussed. However, most problematically, the cartilage in my shoulder was seriously degraded as a result of arthritis. The surgeon derided the cartilage* and did a decompression, which should help relieve things.*
So, where does this leave me?
Not in a sling, which is good, but instead of a simple mechanical fix to an injury, I have a long term and chronic problem with the shoulder. The surgeon hopes that what he's done should relieve symptoms for some time, hopefully years, but I might need a shoulder replacement. Or to put this another way - I will need a shoulder replacement at some point.
What does this mean? I don't know. I haven't processed the implications yet. Nor will I know what impact the surgery has had for a while. I'm a bit up in the air at the moment.
Oh, and the tramadol is making me light headed and bloated.
* Double meanings ahoy, he derided my cartilage, and then he derided it.
** If anyone is interested, I have pictures taken inside my shoulder, and can provide more detailed medical descriptions of the procedures carried out.