MRI Results
I had an MRI this morning and got the results this evening. Mike read the whole report to me over the phone and I can't remember all of the terminology. But the main problems causing pain, inflammation and impingement are a small spur and a glenoid labrum tear (which is a joint tear, not a tendon tear). I also have some tendinitis and arthritis in my shoulder. I will have to see an orthopedic surgeon to confirm the radiologist's conclusions and know for sure, but it sounds like I will need arthroscopic surgery to fix this.
I am so used to thinking of myself as a baby when it comes to pain that I was almost certain the MRI would indicate nothing more than tendinitis. I told John the good news is that perhaps I'm not such a big baby after all because something is really wrong with my shoulder (more than inflammation). Of course, the bad news is ... there's something really wrong with my shoulder.
I am so used to thinking of myself as a baby when it comes to pain that I was almost certain the MRI would indicate nothing more than tendinitis. I told John the good news is that perhaps I'm not such a big baby after all because something is really wrong with my shoulder (more than inflammation). Of course, the bad news is ... there's something really wrong with my shoulder.
Comments
I don't know if I think I'm a baby or if I think everyone else thinks I'm a baby (when it comes to pain). I know I have been teased a lot over the years and maybe I have just bought into it.
I will never forget the time I was in PT for my other shoulder and they had that electrical stimulus maching on me. It didn't seem like it should be hurting so much, but I did not complain or say anything to the therapist. I just endured it because I kept thinking that this wasn't supposed to be painful and I must be the only patient who ever had a problem with it. When the timer went off and she took it off my shoulder, she said, "Wasn't this hurting you?" I said, "Yes, it hurt a lot but I knew it wasn't suppoed to and I didn't want to say anything because I thought maybe I just had an extremely low pain tolerance. I didn't want you to think I was being a baby." She said, "It was turned up too high and it burned through your skin. I wish you would have told me you were in pain because I would have turned it down. It is not supposed to hurt you. You are not a baby. That had to have been very painful." And I said, "Yes, it was. But I thought maybe it wouldn't be to the average patient."
One thing this does illuminate is my need for affirmation and approval. I really shouldn't care if anybody thinks I'm being a baby if I know I'm in a lot of pain.
Last night I assured my doctor that I was not taking many pain pills. (He gave me 20 in early September and I still have 10 left.) He said I need to be taking them. : )