Well I finally went to the doctor about my shoulder. 3 1/2 weeks after hurting it in the first place.
Turns out that I have done some damage to my rotator cuff. Oh great so nothing that I’ll need right? I wish. It’s more like the most used joint in my upper body…ish. So I get to go have fun with the physical therapy wizards and take lots of anti-inflammatory drugs. Ooh aah.
Unfortunately, now it’s spring and I live in Montana. Been cooped up the whole winter and now I want to get outside and start getting some things done. I’ve got old fruit from the trees to clear out, leaves to remove from flower beds, trees to trim, fences to paint and a garage to fix. Then there’s the inside. I can open the windows and let the air in without freezing so I want to paint! I want to tear out my living room carpet and get some hardwood floor action going on.
But guess what, I can’t. I’m stuck doing nothing. I tried to make some pull apart bread today using frozen bread loaves because I knew that they kneading of homemade dough would be too much for my shoulder, but even just rolling little chunks of dough around in butter then cinnamon and sugar was enough to kill my shoulder and it wasn’t even that much work! My shoulder is on fire even after icing it for an hour!
This isn’t fair!!
Why is that we always seem to be the most ambitious when we are injured?
I think that it comes from our deep seated need to be free to make choices and the need to prove that we are superior. Or perhaps it just our contrary nature.
Kind of like when people are being suppressed by a government they tend to rebel in every way they can imagine. Or when a child is told not to do something they immediately do it. How about when you see a sign that says “Do not push”, what is the first thing you want to do? Push it!
So if I’m told that I need to not use my shoulder for strenuous work then what do I want to do? Everything I can find to prove that I’m not broken are the first things that I put on my to do list. I don’t know if that make us the dumbest species on the planet or the most indomitable. Either way, I wish that I could just bottle my ambition and store it until I’m fully healed and ready to get back to working hard.
adriana pridemore 