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C5-C6 issue affecting my shoulder?

Spine Health | Last Active: Feb 29, 2020 | Replies (42)

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@amywood20

@jenniferhunter I know, one day at a time. I need to figure out how to get out of my head. That's my personality and once I fixate on something it is hard to put it down, so to speak. The spine specialist I will be seeing is not at Mayo since I live nine hours away but if I don't get answers here, I will definitely go to Mayo. My foot is in the door since I had one of their rehab docs look at my imagines and do a few in office tests. She felt an EMG would be the next step since she wasn't able to draw any firm conclusions. Mayo could have done it a few days later but I was flying back home the next day. We'll see what the spine doc wants to do. My fear is that he will think it's the shoulder. The shoulder doc thinks it's the cervical spine so if that were to happen I am left in the middle. I will say the full thickness tear in the other shoulder feels nothing like the other one. I need to get all of this figured out soon since the full tear is starting to give me grief whereas a month ago it was pretty mild. As far as the crutches, that should only be for a few days and I can start walking normally as tolerated. There isn't a tear or anything to repair as it's just cleaning up scar tissue. I've had it done before but can't remember how much I used the crutches. I want to say not much at all. I do have a walker from a hip scope three years ago and could use it, putting the weight on my hands. Probably not much better but maybe some. I need to dig it out and try. I just know if I don't do it now it will be many, many months before I will be able to due to shoulder surgery. I've been dealing with it for a year and a half already. I'm leaving the door open to canceling it but very well may not. At least it would be one thing fixed I could check off. Thanks for the link and all of your responses!

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Replies to "@jenniferhunter I know, one day at a time. I need to figure out how to get..."

@amywood20 I understand the frustration of being caught in the middle when doctors think it is something else. I went through that too. I always had a plan B for the next doctor I would try if things didn't work out. I went through 5 spine surgeons who could all read my MRI, but none would help me because they didn't understand how to connect my symptoms to the imaging. Don't stress, just move on and start over with a new opinion if that happens. Things happen in time, and we can't control when it will work out, or in what order or what other thing could change our plans. What seems right at the beginning, may not be, and a new day could bring a different answer that no one thought about before and a better solution. Sometimes you have to choose your priority.

My two years of searching for and not finding help gave me more time to be with my dad as he was dying, and I was taking care of him and my mom. If I had surgery and was in recovery, I would not have been able to be there, and missed the last time with him. It was the hardest 2 years of my life and I was in a lot of pain because I needed spine surgery. Right after my dad passed, I got the call from Mayo for appointments, and I was able to take care of myself. Remember to breathe, and savor every day even when the days are challenging. There is always a lesson there, if you can quiet your mind and listen.