There are some who call me...Tim

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2011-01-27 � 7:22 a.m.

Healing

It is times like these, times of adversity, pain, and - hell inconvenience - that force one do some assessment and appreciate the freedoms that we sometimes take for granted. As I sit here, I have a mending broken shoulder from a spill I took on a Saturday morning in December at my apartment in Spokane, Washington. The outside of the ball, (or greater tuberosity), broke off, and when the rest of the bone dislocated, it broke of the bottom 30% or so off of my socket.

The socket reconstruction required surgery, as one might imagine, and I had this surgery done right before Christmas, to the tune of about $2700. That was just over a month ago, and I�m still nowhere near healed. I can�t even start physical therapy until next week, which is going to suck like cold brussel sprouts, but I can't wait.

Why I�m looking forward to this torture is not because of some sadistic desire to feel the pain. I know that the pain is going to be considerable, but seeing my muscles atrophy to the point that they have is a little disconcerting. The muscles of my upper arm, shoulder, lats, etc., just�left. It�s actually a little comical to see the extent of the imbalance. It's like a cartoon body only half-drawn. The old clich� �if you don�t use it, you lose it� is particularly relevant about now. The physical therapy will allow me to slowly rebuild the muscles, as well as get my movement back and by degrees un-cripple myself.

As it is, I can�t really move my shoulder under its own power, and rotation of the joint still causes me acute little jabs of pain intense and sharp enough to make me stop that motion reflexively. Of course, sometimes the reflex is jerky enough to make it hurt in another spot or intensify the pain, but it usually subsides quickly.

I have a sling which I tote my arm around in most of the time since � like any broken bone � I need to keep it as immobile as possible so the bone parts could reattach themselves. Starting next week I should only have to wear the sling while I�m sleeping. As it is now, I�m just able to sleep on my side again without waking up from the pain. No, not the broken side, silly. Up until now I�ve only been able to sleep on my back, and that�s not my favorite position at all.

Before the break, I was on assignment in Washington, and when I�m on the road for any length of time, I bring my guitar with me. When I�m home it�s generally the drums. Both of these were impossible to play, obviously, but I�m working on them both bit by bit. For the drums, I just need to keep my left hand on the snare. As long as I don�t reach out to the other drums it�s not too uncomfortable. Up and down motion at the elbow joint isn�t too bad. As far as the guitar goes�well, I can�t rotate out my hand too far from my body, so the absolute limit is a song with a capo at the third fret. The fourth is much more comfortable though. I can usually get through about 3-4 minutes, but that�s it. And the F bar chord is still a painful (and pathetic) attempt at making pleasing tones.

I have a lot of time on my hands too, since I can�t work with this injury. Fortunately I have lots of books, movies and World of Warcraft to occupy my time. Although much of what I do at work is writing, I still have a considerable amount of field work to do as well, and the fact is I cannot do my job one-handed. Fortunately I have a temporary disability benefit for 3 months. It�s only 60% of my normal salary, but it�s better than a poke in the eye. So, the first week of March is when it runs out, but that�s still 5 weeks away and I�ll be ready to return to work by then. I�m going to need every minute of the disability benefit, but I (hopefully) won�t need any more than that. It�ll likely be light duty at first, but I should make a full recovery.

Although I have no evidence to support it, I think I�ll have a weather forecasting joint, like so many arthritis sufferers do. So when I�m sitting in my rocking chair on the wooden porch of my home in the swamp, I�ll be able to pull out my pipe, point at you with the stem of it, and say: �There�s a storm a-comin�. You mark my words. It�s gonna be a big�un.�


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Last Five Entries

Goin' back to Cali - 2011-05-10
Healing - 2011-01-27
What if I hadn't done that? - 2010-11-10
Cousin Dave - 2010-09-13
Back to Spokane - 2010-08-25


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