Physio

Physio is going well and not so well.  My physiotherapist is fairly certain that I have damage to muscles and nerves.  But without the MRI results she is cautious in her treatment plan.  Results should be available sometime this week.  And of course my family dr. is not in town... so she will have to request the MRI from the hospital herself, or wait until October 18th when my family dr. returns.  (I'm a perpetual run-on-thought lately... where was I?)

We are doing nerve flossing and passive motion only.  My shoulder seizes up at times and catches and won't move through the motion she is trying.  It makes progress difficult.  And she finally found my pain.  For the first few visits she could not replicate my pain by moving my shoulder.  Now, finally on Wednesday she found it and it indicates that the labrum is torn by the ball of the humorous - again.  It could have happened because my labrum was already repaired once, or could have torn in a completely new place.  She is not sure.  She also believes I might have a tear in the deltoid muscle.  My radial and my median nerves show signs of damage... And only the supraspinatous muscle in the rotator cuff appears to be working.  It's a complex problem.  But she is trying very hard just to keep me moving.  But pain management and strengthening are out of the question.  My pain is so intermittent that it is hard to manage.  It can be completely gone for hours and then it can suddenly be 8/10.  It is frustrating.  She tried ultrasound and interferential, but neither have offered me any relief unfortunately.

My physio is very happy with my knowledge and acknowledgment of my pain and my explanations of what is going on with my shoulder.  I've been through two shoulder surgeries, I know the terminology.  It helps that I understand what is happening as well.  It's just frustrating that I can't help fix it.

The worst is waking up several times a night in so much pain that I can't even roll over.  The hubby says I have woken him up - I'm whimpering in my sleep.  Yeah, I'm in pain.  But I continue to try and do normal things - cook, dishes, a little shopping, and finally driving.  But by the end of the day, and two or three sets of the physio exercises, I'm done.  My shoulder pain radiates down my entire arm, across my shoulder blade, up my neck and down across my chest.  I can reach forwards, sometimes without pain, but not abduct at all (to the side).  It's agony if I try to reach sideways.  Physio explained that some of the neck and chest pain results from the other muscles compensating for the muscles which are torn.  My pectorals and trapezius are trying to work instead of the rotator cuff muscles.  Wonderful.  I really look forward to those MRI results too... I'm in need of some answers.