Ouch, Ow
The orthopedist gave me exercises to do in order to regain a range of motion for my shoulder that has been strapped in an immobilizer for three weeks.
These are well-thought out exercises, and they all share a common basis which is: I do not move my injured right arm by itself. My injured right arm leans on my good left arm, and my good left arm moves my right arm.
The first exercise is called Circles. I take my injured right arm by the wrist with my left hand, and I gently move my left arm in circles, and the right arm follows. The idea is that the circles can get wider and wider.
I am amazed at both how well my right arm can move and how little it can. But by itself, of its own volition, the right arm cannot move the way it can when the left hand pulls it. By itself, the right arm is a lifeless thing that hangs on my side.
The second exercise is called the Piston. Again, my good left arm moves the right arm front and back.
The third exercise is called the Cane. I take a broom handle actually, put both hands on it in the middle, and again the left arm moves my right arm around with it. As I progress, both hands will be farther apart on the broom stick and, therefore, have a wider motion.
The fourth exercise is called the Pulley. From a hook on a beam, Nurse Lauren hung a rope. My left hand holds one side of the rope, and the right hand the other, and again, the left hand pulls my right hand up and down and from different angles.
Hopefully, each day, the range of motion will increase.
Now the doctor suggested I take two Tylenol before I practice. I refuse to. I don't like drugs. I also think it builds character not to take them. There is pain in this stretching, but I'm the one who says how far I go and how much pain. Doing the exercises hasn't been bad at all.
However, my arm hurt like the dickens during the night the past two nights since I started exercising. The arm throbs and has sharp pains and deep aching, and I hear myself in my sleep saying ow, ouch, OW, OUCH. The pain wakes me up every half hour or so. I finally gave in and took two Ibuprofen, and now I'm typing this blog. So much for my character.
The doctor said that it is very unlikely that my arm will regain the range of motion it used to have. Probably it will go out as far as shoulder height and no further. He said, "You don't need more motion than that anyway." But, of course, I want the whole range back.
Afterwards, Lauren and I were talking, and I emphasized that I wanted the whole range of motion back. I said to Lauren: "What if I'm taking a class and I want to raise my hand?"
In her practical way, she said, "You'd raise your left hand."
And then she wisely said: "But if you were in a bank, and there were bandits holding up the bank, and the gunmen told you to put your hands up, it would be better if you put both hands up so you don't get shot!"
That Lauren has a great sense of humor!
Comments
Lauren indeed has a point. So go for the whole range and take the drugs. Your character was built long ago and isn't about to change much now.
Your friend and coach,
Jacqueline
Oh, so you're my coach -- like a personal trainer, are you? Come over and watch me do my arm exercises and tell me how well I'm doing, okay? Keep me motivated. You only have to come over three times a day. :)
I fell on my left shoulder a few years ago, my musle as torn and Icould not move my arm at all. The dokter send me to a physio and he gve me some exersizs and I would have to go twice a week and $30 each visit. The dofter also said my movement would be restricted and it would take at least 18 month for the pain to be away and movement back as far as it would go. A good friend of mine took me on and he massaged it once a week and in 4 month no pain and full movement. so be assured it will get fully better. Be Possitive and sweet Lauren will do the rest. God might have a helping hand as well. IF YOU ASK GOD. Love you and get better quickly. Jack
Gloria Angel,
I'm with you doing exercises and I share your not taking drugs !! I too have some, right at hand but I prefer to leave them alone.
I hope the nights will improve asap dear !! I'm doing hot and cold shower on the foot to improve blood circulation (finishing with cold water) and it helps me. It takes patience and continious exercise, but I feel the body has it's own timing and it is good to respect it. It's great for I really love my foot and I cuddle him and thank him....
Lauren is wonderful dear !!
Wishing you sweet nights in God loving arms !
Love you so much dear.
Beloved Berit, I caved in and am gratefully taking the Ibuprofen. You are braver than I am, dear. Alas, now I can't do even one of the exercises without numbing the pain. I admire you!
Angel, there's much difference in the movement of an ankle and the shoulder, the ankle does not need much movement even if I must do exercises having a hard time. The shoulder is involved in all you do and more difficult for sleeping also. I'm not brave at all dear!
I send you all my love and infinite waves of golden light and kisses. May God hold you more than ever in His infinite Love sweetest Angel.
Gloria,
I came across this in the archives...God's got a sense of humor!!
"When you have the idea to do something that stretches you, you can be sure I gave you the idea."
Heavenletter # 1798
Confidence Is a Decision
http://www.heavenletters.org/confidence-is-a-decision.html
None of this sounds like much fun, but at least today's post sounds better than yesterday's. To me, being able to move even if it hurts beats being immobilized from moving at all. As to the ibuprofen, go as long as you can without taking them but hitting yourself in the head with a hammer is not known to build character, or at least not the kind that you probably want.
And when you do take them, there is nothing that says you can't take just one or even half a one if it works, or aspirin for that matter. Just don't mix Tyenol or the equivalent in there, that's a no no. Either all Tyenol or none.
And there's nothing that says you can't temporarily cut back a little on the exercise if it's causing too much pain while working up to full recovery. It's entirely possible that you could be as smart as your doctor or even smarter.
I nominate Lauren for the Medal of Honor!
Thank you all!
Bonnie, that quotation made me laugh so much, my arm shook! I am going to show that arm who's boss now!
So many of the things God has said in Heavenletters later seem to become literally true!
Dearest Gloria ... are you using hot and cold packs? If not, this could help. The best hot packs we found is simply a tube sock filled with white rice (since we no longer eat white rice, this is a great use for it!). Microwave it for about 2 minutes. Wrap around affected area. Frozen peas or corn make a great cold wrap. We also have a cold pack filled with some kind of blue goo that never freezes hard. We keep it in the fridge. Generally, it's 10-15 minutes cold, 10-15 minutes hot. The cold pack gets rid of inflammation and does help with pain. The hot pack (my favorite) relaxes the muscles and eases pain.
Hopefully you won't need the ibuprofen for long, and it is important to control pain.
Lauren certainly found the key to keeping thrush away. That's a nasty business and you sure don't want to contend with it with your other problems.
Prayers and love, of course, always helps and you sure do have a lot of loving people praying for you right now!
HUGS--Pam
Despite my ramblings -- I do have a blog entry to write every day and have to think of something -- I am doing extremely well. But how interesting is that?!!!
No prayers needed, dear ones. Love, yes!
Dearest Gloria,
You are indeed getting lots of "medical" advice – all well meaning, I'm sure. But it is a good example of belief systems at work; you can see all the contradictory information people have been given over the years, and from one culture to the next, etc...
Listen to your body.
Pain is a signal that healing is happening. There is no rush. If left to its own devices, the body knows how to heal. If you need to use drugs to silence natural signals from your body in order to do something, practical wisdom would suggest that it isn't time to do that thing yet. All bodies are different; so you might want to heed your own body's signals and timetable rather than the well-meaning advice from someone following a recipe.
There is a difference between soreness and PAIN. It is completely natural to be a little sore after working; you've experienced this throughout your life. But, if you are hurting yourself, consider the fact that you might be ignoring a signal God is sending you by way of your body – perhaps the same signal you were being sent with the initial injury: “Relax! Give it a ‘break!’" Pain is a “Stop” signal that should not be muted or ignored; to do so is tantamount to disabling the warning lights on your car’s dashboard so you can drive-on without being reminded of an impending overheated engine or empty fuel tank.
If you can't sleep without pain moderation, then do what it takes to get the healing REST your body needs. But taking pain moderators to tolerate working an injury is one of the most foolish things I've ever heard of. That is the kind of thing that has ended the career of many World Class athletes by allowing them to override the body's innate guidance and limiting systems so they can do more than the body wants them to do – or is physically capable of doing at that time. Pain moderators do not give you more strength; they simply allow you to ignore signals from your body – creating a potential for even greater injuries to an already compromised body part.
Jennifer is a sports therapist, a clinical massage therapist, and a certified sports trainer, among many other related things; and has worked with Olympic and Pan Am athletes for over 13-years now. Her opinion, though coming from a much more "clinical" and "physical" perspective than mine, is pretty much the same: Unless you are getting ready for a competition, REST, HYDRATION, and LIGHT massage are all you really need to do – with REST being the primary thing. The body is perfect and will heal itself in time.
From my perspective, the other thing we have a tendency to do is speak in terms of, "Good and Bad." Both of your arms are GOOD; and one of them is trying to heal itself right now. Pain is part of that process; it signals the brain to send more resources to the affected area, and to limit the work you do while healing is taking place. In other words, IF YOU'RE FEELING IT, IT'S HEALING. Whenever I feel any pain or other symptoms, I am aware that it is some aspect of my immune system and healing responses at work; and my affirmation is: "ALL I'M FEELING IS HEALING!"
Those things we give attention to are increased; so, "Declare a Thing and It Will Be So." Declare your health and wellness daily; and greet the signals from your arm with a blessing, thanks, and an affirmation that, "All you're feeling is healing." Because that is indeed the truth; as soon as the injury occurs, the healing process begins. Some would even say that the injury itself is part of a "Cosmic Healing Process;" and I am inclined to agree. Besides rest, one of the best things we can do for ourselves is reflect on "our part" in this creation -- and on what "gift" it may have brought us.
An ancient saying tells us, "The physician dresses the wound; the patient heals." Once the initial injury is treated and stabilized, there is truly nothing else a doctor can do for you. From that point on, it is up to your body; and, if you listen, your body will tell you what to do and when to do it. Rest is best.
Blessings of Love and Healing!
Pete
www.ExploreExpandEvolve.com
Dear Pete,
I am really listening to you. I go along thinking I'm self-reliant, and then an accident happens, and I totally turn myself over to the establishment. My stretching and doing the exercises and creating pain in my right arm is fear-based. "If I don't, I will have an arm that won't move."
Included in the fear is the idea that if I have to go to a physical therapist, it's going to hurt worse.
There is a recently-written Heavenletter (not out yet) that says: "Fear is your #1 Enemy." You would think that I don't read Heavenletters.
It's not so easy not to do what a professional tells you to do.
Keep posting.
You mention staying hydrated. It seems to be so hard for me to drink water. I resist it.
You are not alone, Gloria! Fear is the reason most people do most of what they do -- especially when it comes to health issues in the Western world (this is, of course, by design).
You'd be surprised at how many common medical conditions are actually the result of chronic dehydration -- but are blamed on aging, or mysterious germs that randomly victimize us. Even the visible signs of aging (spots, skin turgor, stiff joints and muscles, aches and pains, and even brittle bones, etc...) are usually the results of chronic dehydration. And, trust me, in my clinical experience, I've found that most people have the idea that drinking any liquid is the same as drinking water. Seriously, most people turn the "drink 8-glasses of water a day..." thing into, "drink 8-glasses of your favorite beverage..." without thinking twice about it. If you used some random fluid in the gas tank of your car -- or in the oil system -- the results would be similar; but they'd happen almost immediately, so there would be no way to logically blame the subsequent breakdown on the age of the car, or on how you were driving it. Your car operates longer, better, and smoother when PROPERLY hydrated; so does your body -- and your joints.
Imagine demolishing a building and rebuilding it on the same site -- without carting away the debris from the first building. The "new construction" project would operate smoothly; and the "construction crews" would have trouble getting adequate "building materials" to the construction site... In the case of your arm, WATER is the clean-up crew, the dump-trucks that carry away the old debris, and the bulk of the new building materials. You might just be surprised at how quickly, and how well, your arm heals with adequate hydration and rest.
Check out the book, "Your Body's Many Cries for Water" by Dr. Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, M.D. And remember, the word, "professional," simply means a person gets money for what they do; we too often equate that word with Wisdom! Your body contains all the healing wisdom you'll ever need! All too often, though, we hide that light of Wisdom under a bushel of "Knowledge" and convince ourselves that we are weak and fragile, or that things are worse than they really are and we need outside help for an inside job that is already being done.
You are perfect and capable of miracles beyond your wildest imaginings. An injury of any kind is a small matter for a creature such as you!
Instead of declaring your resistance to water, try affirming your love for water, "I love and accept that which I am made of..." or something like that... And consider clearing (with prayer, eft, etc...) any fears you may have of water in general...
May Love, Peace, Health, and Wellness Be Yours Always,
Pete
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P.S. -- I recently injured my Left Arm while losing control of something I was lifting that weighed several hundred pounds. The pain was immediate, intense, and the most extreme pain I'd ever felt (and I have crashed motorcycles, broken bones, and had some pretty extreme injuries in my time...). I couldn't move my Left arm; and I could feel and actually SEE the torn bicep (my left bicep looked like two-separate lumps instead of one!), and the Biceps tendon (that connects the lower end of the bicep to the Radius bone in the forearm) was torn and distended -- not at all where it should have been. They do surgery for much less serious injuries!
This actually happened only a few weeks before you broke your arm; but I've not spoken of it to anyone -- "See that no man knoweth..." Jennifer knew I had hurt myself pretty bad because I couldn't move my arm; but I wouldn't let her look at it (though she's a specialist with sports injuries) specifically because she "knows" too much about that kind of injury and it would have freaked her out -- which is what I didn't need, and why ancient healers would tell people to, "Go; and see that no man knoweth." I didn't want her "co-creating" a shared reality; I wanted my body to do what it would have done before "professionals" were around -- and it did.
I listened to my body. I held that joint with my Right hand when I felt like it. I drank lots of water. I rested it. And prayed/visualized, etc... The pain was extreme for several days; and I "dove" into it -- asking for the message, lesson, gift, etc... I don't recommend others do this; because all I have is my faith -- and a person with different beliefs may have very different results. But there was a time when this is the only option any of us had -- a time before doctors and commercials and pharmaceuticals and a health care industry. So I trusted nature. And, I have full use of my arm now. I have only recently began stretching it; and I have not began rebuilding the bicep -- which is somewhat smaller than the other one from lack of use. But I'm in no rush. When I feel like the healing process is complete, I'm sure I'll be inspired to pick up a small weight with my left arm and do a little rebuilding. But, that's not a priority for me -- complete and total healing is. Nor is a particular course of treatment or a particular timetable a priority to me.
I share this with you now because the healing is almost complete; there is no way the shock of another can ripple the water on my pond now. I also share this with you now because I have offered an opinion on your situation and want you to know my opinions do not come from the medical literature (anymore), but from personal experience and observation. I know I did the right thing for me; and I can see it worked. Though this was a "surgical" injury; I sought no outside care -- of course, if I had fractured a bone, I would have had it set (but I would have taken the cast off myself when I felt the time was right...). I don't give people medical advice because I'm quite certain that a person's health care actions must match their own beliefs -- not mine -- in order for those actions to be most effective. But, I can say -- from both personal experience, and clinical observations in my own practice -- that the body does indeed have innate healing wisdom beyond that of any man, or any medical text or literature. Of this there is absolutely no doubt. The only question is where we place our faith; and how well our underlying beliefs align with that decision.
"There is nothing to fear, but fear itself." Fear is indeed the only enemy; and fear is based in thought. Thus, it seems we often think too much for our own good. Because I've witnessed and experienced this personally, I try to only imagine those things I truly want to experience -- especially when it comes to my health and wellness. But I would never encourage anyone to follow a path into the wilderness that I had not first walked and found to be safe. Follow your heart, not your fear. Your heart will choose the right path for you.
Peace,
Pete
Dear Pete, it is 5.30 am for me and I had to get up as I was getting myself into a complete state.I am curently trying to recover from adanced breast cancer. I thought lying here having terrible negative thoughts is no good I will go and sit with my laptop and God with heavenletters and calm myself down.Over the last 2 and half years I have been supported by Ken,who was told 26 years ago he had 6 months to live and no further meical treament available. He has kept me going andhelped me enormously with eft. He has taught me about visualisation and thinking only what we want to experience. I have also recently decided to have no further chemotherapy as it is making me so sick and trust that God and the wisdom of my body knows how to heal me ,in one way it gave me a great sense of relief but sometimes I get scared. I want you to know that finding your post this morning really helped me thankyou
Love Nancy
Beloved Nancy, you inspire me so much. God bless you.