Update on my shoulder injury....

FINALLY I'm beginning to get some improvement in my right arm. It even begins to feel like 'my' arm again...something it hasn't done since the middle of June when I broke the head of my humerus into three parts. There's still some way to go before full movement returns but it's a lot better.

Just before we went away on holiday to South East Asia I had an appointment with a consultant in Aberdeen. I don't really like the idea of having private health care but the NHS left me no option. Because I had returned from France with the injury I wasn't 'in the system'. My doctor refused to refer me for an x-ray, he said I'd had enough of those, and I was told it might take 12 weeks to get an appointment for a specialist opinion in Aberdeen.

The clinic x-rayed my shoulder and the consultant discovered there was very little healing in the break. There was also some damage to the nerves causing the muscles not to be able to lift my arm at all. After a chat with me he advised that I stopped taking any ibuprofen which apparently can be linked to slow healing of bones.

While we were on holiday I began to notice some improvement and by the time we arrived back home I was able to use my arm for some easy household tasks - like turning on the kitchen tap! The consultant has confirmed that the bones are at last showing signs of healing but it is very slow.

I can still only sleep in two positions - either on my back or on my left-side and I often wake myself by trying to move my arm somewhere it doesn't want to go. However, I can now eat, cut food, clean my teeth and just this morning, I managed to touch the top of my head briefly! I'm looking forward to being able to pin my hair up - wearing it down means it often gets caught in a zip, a door-handle or becomes electrically charged by wearing a fleece! I know - I could get a hair-cut but I haven't plucked up the courage to do that - yet.

Walking with a rucksack is now more comfortable - I was beginning to get worried about that. I didn't fancy trying to get everything into a bum-bag. Although carrying anything very heavy might not be possible for a while yet. Because of that I have had to invest in a shopping trolley to use to bring the groceries up the garden.........

I have been doing some simple exercises every morning - the local physio gave me several sheets of these to do. A couple of paracetamol do dull any pain I might have by the end of the day.

So it's not so bad.....