Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Encouraging

As I pause my typing to reach for my cup o' tea, it hits me just how long and how bad this shoulder problem went when my reaction is surprise that it doesn't hurt to reach for or lift the cup.

The cortisone shot did wonders for the pain in my shoulder. It still feels a little funky, but it no longer hurts.

My doctor said that's a really good sign. He said I am limited to "normal" activities only (normal for regular people, not normal for triathletes) for at least a couple of weeks - and he specifically forbade swimming and lifting.

In a couple of weeks if there has been no recurrence of the pain I can ease into swimming. If easing into swimming doesn't cause a recurrence I can gradually work back up to distance. If it causes a recurrence of the pain I have to stop swimming again and he'll refer me to a physical therapist.

He did say (to my relief) the cortisone shot was a one-time thing and not a long-term solution. It also seems (also to my relief) he is trying to do everything possible before considering a surgical consult.

I am banned from lifting weights indefinitely, which is frustrating (not that I've been a demon in the weight room or anything lately, but I did want to get back into it soon.) My biggest concern right now is yoga - can't do much with overhead arm lifting, putting weight on them, etc. After my two week enforced ban I'm going to try class just skipping anything that uses my arms and ease back into it from there.

He said I can still run, so if I can get rid of this migraine I'm hoping to get in a little LSD today.

4 comments:

Lisa said...

I'm glad that the shot is working so well for you! I'm having all the phantom pains that come with taper time. Ohmygosh my race is five days away!

Veeg said...

GREAT news!

You'll be back into the water in no time. :)

Lisa said...

I leave Friday morning. My cold has pretty much disappeared, although not much sleep the last two nights (stupid inventory at the store) means that congestion is hinting it might show up again.

It's supposed to snow here over the weekend (yay!), but I'm hoping that the 70 degree temps they're having this week stick around for at least a few more days. I can do without them on Sunday, but Monday would be the perfect day to lounge poolside all day. :)

I'm slightly in panic mode at this point. (Was I crazy? Why did I sign up for this?!?!) Side note, my last two comments have had identical word verification words... strange.

LBTEPA said...

that's good news :)