My Laundry List...

So, summer is pretty well over and I'm faced with having an MRI done on my right shoulder which has been a sonofabitch all summer long. Bone spurs, they say. I was sent to physical therapy for it but that damn near killed me because the pain just kept getting worse. So, hi ho hi ho it's off to the MRI I go!

This summer has been a strange series of what I will refer as My Laundry List of Health Related Crap That I Had to Deal With.

It all started with my right knee. Now, for the past I don't know how many years, I have had pain in my left knee. It stems from a car accident when I was a kid and now I have arthritis in that knee. Plus, the knee cap isn't exactly all there so it aches most of the time and especially if it's going to rain. A couple of Alleve and I'm good. But earlier this summer, my right knee...the good one...started aching and throbbing and swelling up to the point where walking was a bitch! I went to an orthopedic doc and after some x-rays he tells me that I have some arthritis in that knee too but the pain is actually at the opposite side of the knee and is from over compensating for the afflicted side. So, I was sent to water therapy. It worked great! I learned exercises I could do at home and spent a lot of time in a super heated pool strengthening the muscles around my knee and it's perfect now! No pain!

Shortly after that happened, my arm began hurting. At first it was a dull ache which seemed to be mostly in my wrist. I had been treated for carpal tunnel a long time ago and I really thought it had just come back. Gradually the pain increased and was now a stabbing pain in my upper arm. Reaching for anything was painful! And it really did feel like someone was stabbing me! I iced it and took more Alleve and used my wrist brace. Then I went to Sweden for two weeks.

While I was there the pain kept on and it was getting worse. Additionally, while I was there I got an infected toe. A really ugly seriously infected toe. I had a small blister on my toe and made the stupid mistake of walking around my father-in-laws bathroom as I helped clean up some water that was flooding it. Turned out the water was coming from the sewage pipe and my toe was hot, red, swollen and oozing. I was scared I might get blood poisoning. Luckily, we had some disinfectant, antibiotic ointment and alcohol wipes so I just kept cleaning it well, and kept it bandaged. By the time we flew home it was healing nicely but my arm was acting up badly.

Once home, I knew, I had to see the doc. I was sent for x-rays. Bone spurs, they said. I was sent to therapy again. Every time I did my therapy I would not be able to do another single thing all night. I would be in so much pain that I could just sit and ice it and whimper. That night I would be not be able to sleep because any movement would cause the stabbing pain again. At work, I was unable to do much of anything and I work at a desk, for crying out loud! After two weeks, I called the doc again. I begged him to do something else and so...this Saturday...I will have the MRI.

Whatever this is, I will do whatever it takes to not be in this pain. I don't like taking medications so I'm not going to even try pain killers. I want this ordeal to be over with and I want my damn arm back again! All summer long I had health issues to deal with and I'm sick and tired of it. I don't want to head into Autumn with this hanging on! Enough already!