Monthly Report

 I see upon glancing at my blog that I have not kept up with reports of my health disorders. I'm sure no one has missed these, but who knows, I might need to look back at some point to keep track of them myself should a doctor want to know when I had this or that. So the last one I wrote about was actually kind of two in one - -a problem with eczema occurring in concert with the flu. Well, I've moved on from that. Always moving forward, as far as poor health is concerned. 

After the flu, or rather on the tail end of the flu, I developed a serious case of gastroesophageal reflux. I've had this before, most notably back in 2019, as I recall. After that time I had little flare-ups now and then, but this latest case was a doozy. I finally seem to have gotten on top of it, although I am still following a very bland diet and taking omeprazole twice a day. 

Therefore, with nothing better to do, I decided to reinjure my shoulder. Apparently this happened when I was raising my arm above my head, as the orthopedist had told me to do. Listening to him as it turns out was not a good idea. What happened was that I irritated my acromioclavicular joint. This is the space between your shoulder blade and your arm. Of course, I did not know specifically what had happened, all I knew is that it hurt like hell over the entire shoulder and down into my chest and back. 

So after suffering for a week or so, I decided I had best go to the doctor, especially considering that I will be headed to Japan later in the month and I did not like the idea of sitting for 8 hours or so on a plane while having an insanely painful shoulder. But, you know, the tickets had already been purchased. 

I had an x-ray at the doctor's office and was informed that, thankfully, there was no damage done to the recent surgery site. Nothing out of place, nothing broken. That was my great fear - - that I would end up in the hospital again with another hospital bill, on top of the expense of the Japan trip. Ruination! 

But no, the doctor explained that this unimpressive little space between bones was responsible for all that impressive pain I was having. I am surprised that no one has ever mentioned this little particular to me before, either in previous physical therapy or after the shoulder surgery. In my case, this space has become extremely narrow due to arthritis and degeneration of cartilage between the bones. 

So now I am taking muscle relaxers, pain medication, and learning exercises designed to decrease pain and keep the joint as stable as possible. 

And I'm not lifting my arm above my head. 

Ever. 

Again. 

Apart from all of this trouble, I have purchased all four books of Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend series. I am currently reading book 2 in Indonesian, which for some reason was not available here in English. Go figure. I'm not really sure why I'm so fond of these novels. Maybe it is because of the excellence of the female viewpoint communicated by Ferrante. For a male reader, it's kind of like continually saying to oneself, Oh, I see, so that's what they are thinking! I dunno, it's just a very engaging story filled with interesting characters, both female and male.