Tendon, shmendon

If you look under "clumsy" in the dictionary, you just might find my picture.  Last July, I went on a teacup-like ride at the Porter County Fair with Lottie and Dallas.  I was holding Dallas with my left hand and twisting the disc in the center of the ride with my right hand.  When I woke up the next morning, I could barely move my right arm.  Serious pain.  I got on a regimen of anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxants, and the pain seemed to dissipate.  Fast forward to January which finds me falling down the back staircase of our house.  Yes, the inside staircase; I can't even blame the ice and snow.  I threw out my right hand to break my fall, and the shoulder pain returned.  I tried the medicine route again, and nothing made a dent in the pain.  I tried acupuncture, and although I found it relaxing, the pain simply wasn't going away.  My doctor finally ordered an MRI of my shoulder.  Drum roll...I have a "significant tear" in one of the tendons.  Yeah, duh.

I have been doing physical therapy for the last few weeks to try to strengthen the muscles of my right shoulder blade in hopes that it will support the tendon better.  I also got a cortisone shot Monday morning, and so far, that seems to be helping.  I still have seeing-stars-gasp-out-loud pain sometimes, but I think it's getting better.  If it's not significantly better in the next four weeks, the orthopedist wants to talk about scoping the shoulder.  Um, no.  No surgery.  I can't be in a sling for six weeks.  I can't be in a sling for six minutes!  The only way I could have the surgery is if we built a HUGE room in the house that would be completely padded, walls and ceiling.  We could put a small hole in the door where I could slide in trays of food - just like prison.  If the kids were in this room day and night throughout my recovery period, I might be able to make a go at it.