3 June 2015 C7

I started having pains in my left arm. After 30 years of a serious illness, I've developed a high tolerance of pain. This was new and different. Shooting pains and numbness had me worried that something might be wrong with my heart. I managed to stay in denial and suck up the pain for a month before finally surrendering and seeing my doctor. After a few minutes of them testing and determining my heart wasn't failing, my doctor decided I had tennis elbow. Hmmmm, this made no sense. I'm a safety professional with a good knowledge of how repetitive injuries like tennis elbow develop. I had no activities to support the diagnosis, but agreed to wear a brace and undertake a series of exercises.

It was quickly apparent this was not going to help. The brace actually sat on a tumor on my arm and drove me crazy with pain. I made it through two weeks before finally calling my doctor and telling him the pain was worse than ever. He responded by sending me to physical therapy. Ten minutes into my first session the physical therapist said I had a bulging C7 disk causing my pain. Meds for the pain, fours hours a week of physical therapy, and countless hours of work on my own hasn't given me much relief, but I am hopeful. In the meantime I spend time I don't have hoping the world will get better. I'm training myself to manage this pain and hope to one day see it leave.