Nerves

This must have something to do with me head injury!  At least that's my go-to when things go wrong physically.  I've come to realize, however, that I am just getting old.

My left arm has hurt for some time and I attributed it to a pinched nerve in my spine.  I only know that because some time ago I had the same kind of pain but it was excruciating.  The only relief I got was holding my arm out straight to the side, shoulder height.  I saw a spine doctor who sent me for an emergency M.R.I. and operated within a couple days.  That time it was to repair a herniated disc.

This time, the pain is tolerable but began to grate on me so I went to the orthopedic doc who has operated on me several times.  He had repaired my rotator cuff so I was hoping, in some sense anyway, that I had an issue there.  He poked and prodded and came up with, "It's not your shoulder, go see a spine guy."  I told myself I would continue to tolerate my pain because I thought the only other option was another operation.

I dealt with the pain as best I could but finally decided I'd see my spine doc.  His bedside manner is not great but I care more about his surgical abilities which have served me well.  After he poked and prodded he said, "It's your shoulder."

"But Dr. E. sent me to you!"  I informed him.  Quickly he told me it was common to confuse the cause of pain in that area.  Then he said that a shot of cortisone would take my pain away immediately if my rotator cuff was torn again.  Poke, ouch, burn but my pain remained so he sent me to an 'electric' guy.

Today I saw that guy and the first thing he relayed to me (from the spine doctor's notes) was that my neck was a mess.  That made me feel great, of course, but before I could process that he began the test. First, he attached an acupuncture-like needle on various arm parts and jolted me to find out how my nerves were working.  Again, poke, zap, twitch, jerk and he determined that, yes, the nerve in C7 was not right.  "Your other doctor will probably try the cortisone again but in your spine," Doctor Electric told me.

Doesn't that sound great?  It creeps me out but if my pain is eliminated it'll be worth it.  And what is one more medical procedure? I understand that because of the trauma this body endured, it will age faster.  I don't have the reserves people with a complete, non compromised brain have and I will begin to break down sooner and that appears to have started.

I try not to dwell on this fact but it is becoming difficult not too.  My mind set has been, "I've done a lot in my life," and I don't feel cheated but now I realize 'pain' may be part of my life equation.  That's the hard part.  My T.B.I. dumped lots of physical issues on me but I spent many years without pain. People have said my tolerance for pain is high. But age seems to be dragging it down.