Update to the Shoulder Update

I'm tired.  I'm really REALLY tired.  Every afternoon I start falling asleep at my desk.  I'm having trouble concentrating.  The reason that I'm so tired?  I haven't had an uninterrupted night's sleep since JULY.  Every night I wake up multiple times because of shoulder pain.

I'm tired of being tired.

I'm tired enough that I don't care any more how much this is going to cost.  I want to get my shoulder diagnosed and fixed.

Tuesday, I'm going to have a MR-Arthrogram done.  It's a two-step procedure.  The first involved needles.  If you're squeamish about such things, stop reading now.

As I said, the first step involves needles.  Big needles.  Long needles.  They use one needle to inject a local anesthetic into my shoulder.  Then they use a fluoroscope (basically, a live-view x-ray) to guide another larger-bore and much longer needle into my shoulder joint.  They then fill my shoulder joint with a "contrast medium" and remove the big, long needle.

After I move my shoulder in about every possible direction to make sure that the contrast medium is fully distributed everywhere in my shoulder joint, they will use Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to get a detailed look at my shoulder so that they can find out exactly what is going on in there.

I'm also tired of not knowing what is going on.  MR-Arthrography is used to locate problems with the glenoid labrum (the cartilage ring around the shoulder socket) or tears in the rotator cuff.  Either of these might cause the type of pain that I am experiencing.

The anti-inflammatory meds don't seem to have done much, but I'm still going to be taking them--just in case nothing is found.

After the MR-Arthrogram, I get to wait.  And wait.  And wait until my Orthopaedic Surgeon has an opening.  Right now, it doesn't look like I'll get in to see him until the 26th of September or so.

I don't care what happens next if it leads to me being able to sleep through the night again.