Every Day Life

Not much happens on a day to day basis here in Provo.  The sun shines and the weeds flourish.  I have managed to avoid too much weeding because my arm is a pain on a regular basis.  And I do mean a pain.

One of the interesting aspects of having an x-ray and an MRI has been that I have learned that at some point in my life I had a broken arm.  The bone above the elbow on my right arm shows signs of calcium collecting to heal a break.  Of course, I have no memory of having a broken arm.  As my sister has said though, we seldom went to a doctor or dentist while we were growing up.  In fact she said that probably when I complained about my arm, our parents responded, 'It is just growing pains.'  That could very well be.  Or when my right hand was blown to pieces with my thumb hanging by a tiny fragment of flesh, maybe the arm bone was broken and no one noticed because of all of the trauma to my hand.  I will probably never know.

For the most part, I have become used to the continual ache of my arm.  Only once in a while do I use my arm or turn it in some way that I feel sharp pain.

Following the MRI, I learned that I have a torn rotator cuff and torn tendons and muscle.  I have good mobility despite the tear in the tissue over the shoulder joint so Dr. Richard Jackson suggested that we leave the arm alone and let the muscle and tendons heal themselves.  If the cuff becomes a problem at some later time, we can deal with surgery then.