Friday, November 28, 2008

Searing Pain

I didn't do anything physical today. Except, I put back up a curtain rod in the spare bedroom. There was none up and I had no privacy to dress, since the window faces the street and neighbors. That was not a physical job. I just reached or something. Right afterwards, I drove over to the Christmas parade. But even by the time I got out of my car, my back on the left in my left shoulder blade started in on the burning tearing searing pain. I had to adjust my purse strap so I could use my purse for a sling for my left arm. I also had to come home. I just could not take the pain. It was so bad I even called my doctor's office. It's still extremely painful. The doctor said I should go to urgent care tomorrow, see what's going on. He said he could be a torn muscle or it could be something worse, like I damaged my spine again. I hope not. For gosh sakes.

The original injury was not caused by heavy lifting of any sort. I was whacking at the leaves above me, on the cat yard wire, using a four foot piece of 3/4 PVC like a baseball bat. So, my guess is, and it's just a guess: torn muscle.

I had one before, in my shoulder. That was a horrible actually, with an extremely heavy roof I'd built on the ground for a shed and was trying to hoist atop the frame by myself. It began to slip and I tried to stop it, because I didn't want it to hit the window of the shack where I lived and break it, because I knew the slumlady would have gone berserck. I stopped it all right, at the expense of a muscle in my right shoulder.

The bizarre thing with having a torn muscle in my shoulder was that if I raise my arm turning it slightly, my arm would collapse because that motion had no muscle to do that work. It was kind of funny in a sick sort of way. The doctor then told me some people have surgery to reattach and others don't, and hope some strands are still attached and that it will re-attach over time. So, that's what I did, I waited, and reinjured it a few times. It was six months probably before my right arm and shoulder worked right again.

So when I got this injury three weeks or so ago, I figured it felt kind of like what happened to my right shoulder that time, and that it will heal in the end, but boy, it is a wee bit painful to be honest, in the process, if that is what is wrong. I've had an ice pack on that area for an hour now, so it is numb, without feeling, at least mostly and right now, that's the way it has to be.

I am slightly concerned that maybe my spinal cord protection system is falling apart again, but I'm pushing that concern out of my mind and hoping its a torn muscle instead, even though I know it might be a long process for healing. Hard not to use an arm, when I have all this daily work to do.

Another really bad thing about pain is, you tighten up everywhere, in defense, and sometimes just in shivering agony.

2 comments:

  1. Hey Jody, Sorry you're in pain again. You work too hard. Gotta take it slow sometimes.
    Kay
    P.S. I got your card yesterday, thank you, it was sweet.

    ReplyDelete
  2. please take your docs advice and see someone about that shoulder...my husband injured his shoulder badly fifteenyears ago when he slipped on some ice and fell, slamming down hard on his right shoulder. He didn't do anything about it at the time except swallow some aspirin and vodka....today, he has no "ball socket" left in that shoulder and is a candidate for surgery to replace the ball and socket...conditions like that = when they keep getting aggrevated like his was, just get worse and worse till they wear out everything in the area..

    ReplyDelete

Round Up

Today is cat round up for tomorrow's five spots.  Two more came up from the vet student in Harrisburg late this morning.  Over 60 fixed ...