The Procedure . . .

Well my pain doctor did a procedure on my neck.  That is he administered two shots of Cortisone to my neck in the 5/6 and 6/7 joints.  That is just above sixth cervical joint and the bottom the same joint.  And the problem is predominately on the right side of my neck and effects the right side of the body.  In this case the nerves dealing with the right shoulder, right arm, right hand and the fingers on the right hand.  It weakens the ability to direct the muscles and that means a loss of dexterity in that arm and a concomitant lost of strength.

To top it all off is that many years ago I damaged the right bicep, tore the muscle and of course it has not recovered.  As one Orthopedic Surgeon said he could not fix the muscle.  So I do bicep exercises to keep the strength up on that arm.  Of late I have been restrained from doing pressure exercises (weight lifting) and been doing restrain exercises (pulling bungee cords, etc. which is not near as effective).

I used to do curls with my right arm and was using a 10 pound weight and doing 25 repetitions.  Now I can barely to 10 such repetitions with my right arm.  I have recovered in left arm after left shoulder replacement and can do the 25 repetitions easily.  So I am being impacted by the nerve interruption or pressures on the nerve.  Since the procedure the doctor performed I have been again restrained on what I can do for a while.

The pain doctor said it was so bad that there would be three such procedures before we could really see much recovery.  He said it was tight because the nerves swell  and because the vias are being crushed by lack of disks holding the joint apart.  Think of the disk as an O-ring between joints, it seals up the spinal cord but more importantly allows the nerves unimpeded access to connect up with all the activities of the arm.  Yes, I can move my arm but not as much nor as quickly.  Sometimes have to use the left arm to assist the right arm.

I sense I am using my left arm more when driving because it is stronger and responding better.  I still use the right arm but it is weak sister now.

So far all the Cortisone has raised my blood sugar and not much else.   Numbness is down in the little finger and ring finger.  That is effected by 6/7 joint that before was not a problem.  So it is sort of getting its first treatment, but not much improvement in the 5/6 joint - yet.  Ergo that is why I will get more shots before this is over.

Abd what this says is I am getting old.  Things are breaking down like the disks in my neck.  Could this be arthritis too, yes, but I really do not know that yet.  By the way this is known as Radiculopathy.

Yuck!