Frozen shoulders and no ice

So, I've been going to physio now for probably 4 months...4 looong and excruciatingly painful months, for something called a FROZEN SHOULDER.



What is a frozen shoulder, you ask? No, it didn't just get cold and stayed that way, although that might be preferable to what I've been going through. Frozen shoulder is a term used by the medical profession to state, "We don't know what's wrong with you, but we know it apparently hurts a lot, and you lose the ability to move your arm (hence the term "frozen"). All I know is, it has something to do with a shoulder capsule that shrinks. No one seems to know why this happens, but it does, and to me, it's happening again.



I actually had a frozen shoulder 4 years ago in my right shoulder, and endured a few months of physio and some cortisone shots. It all got better relatively quickly, with the wonderful help of my physiotherapist, Allen.



I knew something not-so-great was going on with my left shoulder early this year. Twinges of pain, discomfort and grinding. But I ignored it, thinking it's just my body, it's always falling apart, and hurting, and I am, after all, getting OLDER (my kids tend to remind me of this last fact daily). But then, in late spring, I noticed the pain had changed: from something that I could deal with and manage with pain meds (thank the lord for Tylenol!), to mind-numbing pain that would catch me totally off-guard and make me pass out. Yes, that's right. I would pass out from the pain. It really really hurt.



So, I went back to Allen, my physiotherapist god, for help. He is the best shoulder-fixer-upper I've ever met, and he's cute to boot.



I've been going for physio now since the summer, and in the meantime, I've also gone to a doctor for some cortisone shots. Yesterday's visit to the doctor ended up with him telling me I need to go in for some minor invasive procedure, whereby they inflate my shoulder joint with saline, inject some cortisone to boot, and that is supposed to "help things along". Yikes. I, of course, asked if it hurt. The doctor didn't say no. He just said, "There will be lots of freezing." Great. We all know what that really means. Now I just wait patiently for the appointment, which apparently can take quite a while. That's okay with me.



I guess I shouldn't complain though, really. In the grand scheme of things, this is nothing. I could be having an endoscopy. Wait, oh yeah, I'm supposed to have one of those as well...

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