smorg

For the last several weeks, I have been in this horrible pain. It started with some pain in my left arm…specifically in my wrist. If I moved my hand or fingers, a sharp pain would rush through my arm, into my shoulder and neck. It sucked. I honestly thought I was developing an RSI after almost fifteen years of computer use and another 7 of repetitive motions in my previous career as a restaurateur.

So I finally broke down and made an appointment with my doctor. Of course, all they did was give me a referral to a real doctor.

When I went to the specialist (an orthopedic doctor), he did some strength tests (me pushing against his arms, things like that) and indicated that it was likely not my arm causing the problem, but possibly a pinched nerve or something in my neck. He put me on some medication to reduce inflammation and asked me back in two weeks. He also gave me some pain medication…I’m not big on pain meds really, but it was nice to have some relief.

When I went back, the Doctor seemed to think there was still some inflammation. More pills. Yay. We did do a weird standup xray/mri thing hough, and it appeared that there might be some calcification in my upper neck area, but again, it might have been the inflammation. So we rescheduled for another couple of weeks.

This time, he was concerned that the pain had not abated and that my range of motion in my arms and neck had not improved. So he scheduled a full MRI.

So last week I went in for that. What should have taken 15-30 minutes took over an hour, as evidently I kept moving during the procedure. I mean, I was totally concentrating on not moving, but I guess the pain pills I had taken earlier that day plus the melodic clanking sounds of the machine were making me drowsy and I was twitching. I was focusing hard, but the tech said it could have also been involuntary spasms.

Regardless, it was incredibly freaking painful. Lying there all that time, with my shoulder blades touching the table, caused more pain that I had experienced during the whole ordeal so far. I went home, ate a quick dinner, took 3 Darvocets and a glass of wine and slept for the next 10 hours.
Since then, the pain has been constant…all day Friday and today I have been miserable. Which of course makes fun. My coworkers took the brunt yesterday as I played the tinpot dictator role and issued dictum’s left and right about my departments role. I was truly an asshole yesterday I guess…Monday should be fun.

And today was spent curled up in a chair, with only a brief respite to go to Eckerds to refill my pain meds. Then a 4 hour nap. Hooray for wasted days and nights.

Anyway, no news from the docs yet. Hopefully this nothing major…I’m 36, and most days I feel 18, but I have to admit that my once healthy body is no longer immune to the trials and tribulations of age.

Getting old sucks.