nemo2342

Life just gets better and better. I finished my physical therapy, and though my arm is much stronger than it was before, and the numbness is much rarer, it still hurts. So I went back to the orthopedic doctor, and he gave me a cortisone shot. That worked for about 2 weeks, before the pain returned. So next Thursday I get to have an MRI done on my shoulder, to see what kind of damage I've done, and if there is anything else wrong with my arm that might be causing this tendinitis. Provided that nothing else is found, the only options the doctor has offered me are 1)Continue on and hope things get better, but I'll be in pain the entire time or 2)Operate and have the tendon tacked into the groove where it belongs, then sever it from the shoulder so that it can't be pulled out again.

Neither option is very appealing, as you might can guess. If I do nothing it *might* get better, but then again it might just start to hurt me even more. Pain killers don't seem to help at all in this case, and the doctor says that he can't give me another cortisone shot for fear of weakening the tendon further. On the other hand, if I have surgery the pain may go away, but my ability to work will be impaired while I heal. I don't have the supplemental disability insurance, so I think I'll only get %50-%70 of my normal pay if I go on disability. If I instead go back to work on "light duty" I'll have my pay cut, so I lose out either way. I'll still have to wait a month or more before I can schedule the surgery (should I decide to have it) since all of the managers are cramming their vacations into June, and there's no way they'll get by without me during that time.

I've already started to teach myself how to use the mouse left-handed, just in case.