I've mentioned my elbow, but I haven't written about it much because I keep hoping it will go away. It hasn't. It's gotten worse even. So I've had to take action because the ignoring thing is hard when you wake up at night yelling from the pain.
I fell while running last April. Not April 2013, April 2012. I landed on my elbow and did something to it at that time internally. It was a fine elbow before that, but afterwards it was inflamed for about two months and had a nasty thunk/clunk when I put it under tension fully extended (like when doing push ups, for instance).
It wasn't painful after the initial healing, but it didn't get much better. About three months ago I went to a yoga class with my neighbor and something changed. The clunk disappeared, but to there was pain. Lots of pain. It was strange, because I didn't fall or have any sudden change that I noticed in that one hour class, but something gave way or something.
Since that time it's gotten worse and I finally decided I'd had enough and I went to see an orthopedic surgeon. She called for an MR Arthrogram (an MRI with contrast) to see if it was a tendon, ligament or cartilage issue. She said I most likely also had tennis elbow and gave me a brace for that, as well as a prescription for an anti-inflammatory.
Yesterday, I went back for the MR Arthrogram results. The surgeon told me it looked like I had possibly torn a ligament, but that it had mostly healed. There was no visible cartilage floating around and other than some degenerative issues, he couldn't see anything definitive causing the problem. But he agreed the clunking issue and sudden change could be something he was missing on the scan.
Step one (and we're hoping the only step) was to give me a cortisone injection in the elbow and see if it will heal on its own. This happens many times and symptoms go away completely. If it doesn't improve and I'm still in significant pain, they would do exploratory arthroscopic surgery to see if some of the concerning areas are more damaged than they appear.
He gave me the injection and I left the office hopeful. I was preparing to go for a run when an hour-and-a-half later my elbow and entire arm was radiating in awful pain. I was shaking all over as the local anesthesia wore off and the pain ramped up. It was bizarre. I drove back to the office and asked if there was something wrong or if this was to be expected, because the doctor didn't mention anything about agonizing pain.
The technician came out in a few minutes and said it was an uncommon side-effect of trigger-point pain and that it should go away in hopefully a day. A DAY? I wasn't sure I was going to make that. Thankfully I had some left-over pain medication from my recent tooth issues. I went home, took one and an hour later took a second one. About six hours later the pain was mostly gone.
Today, I'm hoping the cortisone injection will solver the problem. I'll know in a few weeks.
The Big Boy Update: Scissors. My son wanted a Christmas present opened tonight and I was having a difficult time getting through the plastic. I mentioned I might need scissors and didn't notice he disappeared. The next thing I see, he's handing me scissors...from upstairs...from the knife block. I said at that point (because I am a genius) that the scissors might not work and I might need a knife. My husband watched my son go back upstairs, grab a knife and try to bring it downstairs. He's never gone near the knife block before and he knows they're not available to him, but he knew they were something I could use and I guess he wanted that present opened very badly.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: "That's Eleanor. That's Eleanor. With the running." She said this to me today when I got a Gatorade from the refrigerator in the garage. The only time we get Gatorade out of that refrigerator is when we're done running, and my neighbor, Eleanor, and I are getting one out together. I didn't know she had been paying attention.
Fitness Update: Seven miles. It's been a long time. It was nice to run.
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