Nothing to say

Odd to start a blog with saying that I don’t have anything to say. I have lots to say, I’ve just said it all before and don’t want to say it again.

I’m having another shoulder surgery. There, I said it.

As it turns out, there is space around the base plate of my socket on my right shoulder, and is likely moving, causing me pain. The good news, is that there is a source of my pain and it is mechanical, therefore – theoretically - fixable. I’m a bit a cynic when it comes to my expected surgical outcomes. Surgery hasn’t always gone according to plan.

Nerve damage. Inability to move my arm. Infection. Failed surgery. Increased pain. Loss of range of motion. Just to name a few.

They will take bone from my hip and move it into my shoulder to build up the bone stock. And then put me back together. A few surgeries back I had bone removed from my right hip. The pain from my hip was almost as bad as the shoulder, and quite memorable in the intensity and duration. Post-op I had a cane and a sling.  I was quite the sight and it was a really rough recovery.

In weighing out the risks versus benefits of tackling another surgery, the counterbalance is pain. I can’t continue to live with the pain that I have right now. I’m not interested in this level of pain for an indefinite period of time. My shoulder will not magically get better on it’s own – I know that for sure. That leave my choices at pain or surgery.

I’m picking surgery because I still have hope. I still believe there is a better shoulder out there for me, hopefully one that lasts more than 2.5 years. I thought I’d found it in 2015, but it seems there is another fork in my road, and I have another surgery to go. I’m only 42. I can’t give up yet, and – more importantly – it’s not in my nature to give up. I can be quite tenacious and headstrong, and with my RA, this seems to be serving me well.

A fragment of a lyric was stuck in my head, and I managed to work it out the song and the band. My taste in music is quite diverse, and it include some a fantastic punk bands called Green Day. Before you don’t follow the link as you are not interested in having your ears blown out, this is one of their more mellow tracks – Good Riddance. I’m at another fork in my road and hopefully I’ll find a better path ahead.