After months of “wait & seeing”, I finally saw an Orthopaedic doc who specializes in shoulder injuries to have him look at the MRI of my right shoulder and give some treatment recommendations. He confirmed what I had suspected. Adhesive capsulitis, aka frozen shoulder. I have two options: (1) Wait a couple years to see if it resolves itself [I wonder what my face looked like when he offered this as an option] or (2) Have an arthroscopy with manipulation under anesthesia (MUA) to break up the adhesions by moving my shoulder/arm in ways I currently cannot and then going inside to cleanup the debris (the stuff floating around after the adhesions are broken up). Then I would undergo an intensive 3 days per week physical therapy regimen and home therapy program. I should mention that he didn’t offer cortizone shots since I have diabetes and cortizone raises your blood sugar and wreaks havoc.
An extra layer of intensity will be added to my road to quasi normalcy. Recovery time for shoulder surgery is said to take a long time. A 12-week recovery on top of the 12 month ACDF recovery. ::heavy sigh::
I am busily preparing for more down-down time and a chunk of my week being consumed with physical therapy. Ay yi yi. The nerve block will probably wear off 48 hours after the surgery. I’m curious about the level and type of pain I’ll experience. Can it be worse than what it has been? Time will tell. There is also a chance that it will refreeze. Smh. The doctor says the incisions, approximately 3, will all together be way less obnoxious than my ACDF incision/scar. I can live with that.
17 days and counting. Let the defrosting begin!
