What does not kill us...

Been a long week back at the office. Suffering from post Christmas withdrawals, lack of holiday treats, and a general grumpy attitude. Not only do you have to rehash everyone’s holidays stories, I am having to relive my shoulder saga multiple times as I have to explain why I am sporting a stylish sling. Somehow, falling while running is just not sexy enough for people. Others have resorted to making up a more compelling story as to how I injured myself. Supposedly, I was ogling some girl/hot babe when I got distracted & tripped (if only). Actually, I was on the last 500 meters of my run when I was passing a work crew working on replacing some traffic lights. As I passed the crew, I noted the traffic light on the ground and, for a moment, I flashed back to my college days and thought “man, that light would look cool in my garage” when, BAM! reality smacks me in the face (or shoulder).

You gotta love modern science. Years ago, when you hurt yourself, you would have been subjected to all forms of "treatment" that could now be classified as torture or inhuman. Today, we have technology to assist us with diagnosis and treatment.


I have more mobility, but it is very sore and I lack the upper strength to life my arm above shoulder level. Still aches, but I am getting better. I went back to the hospital today to get an MRI for my shoulder. Very interesting (& expensive) procedure. First you remove all metal objects, then they strap you onto a narrow table, lay on a targeting device (a brace on my shoulder) and then and slide you in a giant tube about three feet in diameter. If you have ever crawled into a pipe, that is pretty much the size of it. You then have to sit there perfectly still while they run the scan (can take from 30-45 minutes). Can make one very claustrophobic. My son had it done years ago for a seizure, so I was familiar with the process/equipment, just never been on the receiving end. The process involves a large machine that takes magnetic pictures of the targeted area (Star Trekish). The machine, however, is not very quiet. While you are stuck in the tube, all you hear is the banging & clashing of the magnetic imaging process. Picture being stuck inside a 55 gallon and someone beating on the outside with a baseball bat. If you move, they have to run the process all over. I thought I might be nervous, but actually almost fell asleep. Cool pictures. They produce a full view of the targeted area that shows bone, muscle, tendons. I would post a scan of the MRI pictures, but they do not copy well. Next week I go back to the doc to have him tell me what kind of therapy I need. BTW - for those interested, an MRI normally runs ~$4k+. Today, I am thankful for insurance.