About 6 months ago, I went ziplining on my birthday. I
decided I wanted to do something fun and adventurous, and I have always wanted
to go ziplining. My mom went with me and we had a fabulous time. Now, that fun
has come back to bite me.
On our first zipline, I injured my right shoulder. I reached
back to brake and squeezed too hard, and my arm was jerked backwards. I didn’t
pay much attention to it because I was having so much fun getting my Indiana
Jones on (no seriously – there were rope bridges y’all; I was one zipline away
from asking Short Round a.k.a. Mom to call me Dr. Jones). And, because it was
my BIRTHDAY and this was AWESOME and we were on an ADVENTURE. But after we left
and the few days that followed, I realized I had done something to my shoulder.
It was really more of an annoyance than anything else. As long as I didn’t move
it just so, it was fine. So I spent the next 5 months not being able to reach
things in the backseat, throwing football with Sam with my left hand, and not
being able to do push ups. Okay fine,
I can’t ‘do’ push ups anyway but now I couldn’t even pretend to try. I didn’t
really worry about it, because I was really too busy to think about it.
Then a few weeks ago I suddenly couldn’t move it in any
direction without pain, and the pain was real pain and not so much an
annoyance. Crap. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Now I was having trouble
washing my hair, sleeping, and picking up my 10lb cat. I made an appointment
with an orthopedist and tried to make it through the holidays without the full
use of my arm. Meanwhile, I’ve been trying to use that arm as little as
possible. This fact in itself is quite laughable. I am extremely right-handed,
right-armed, right-sided, you name it. I can’t even brush my hair with my left
hand; actually, my left hand is pretty much only good for keeping my watch from
falling off my arm. And symmetry. That too.
I found out today that I do have an interstitial tear, but
no surgery is needed. This is good news, because as you know, ain’t nobody got
time for that. A steroid injection and some physical therapy should get me back
to normal in a couple of months. The steroid injection I got today – whew, that
was an interesting type of pain. Between that injection and the pain I’ve had
the last couple of days, this arm is useless right now. On the bright side, the
resident was pretty cute. And I’m sure it was super smooth of me to ask for
help untying my gown because I couldn’t move my right arm AT ALL after the
injection. Oh yeah. I got skills.
Moral of this 6 month story – this year I’m staying home on my
birthday. Apparently trying to be as adventurous as your childhood hero is more
suited for your 20s.
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