How is your recovery going Nightcrawler?

[Next_Gen_Cowboy]

That's very good in general, and just the kind of optimism that you needed.

I am glad that the doctor lived up to expectations, and I can have faith in sports medicine =p

[Nightcrawler]

I thought I'd update on the medical saga with the new doctor. I had gone for blood work and Arthrogram MRIs on both elbows. Arthorgrams suck. Minor surgical procedure. They inject contrast into your joint for a high contrast MRI afterwards. Made my arms worse again for a week or so.

Anyway, blood work came back good. No problems there. After the Arthrograms the doctor's best guess is I have a plica (inflamed joint covering tissue that gets trapped inside) in both elbows causing the pain. He strongly believes this is so in my left arm, but not so sure on the right, but has no other guess there.

I have to make another appointment to go back and get another injection directly in the joints that will attempt to shrink this tissue if this is indeed my problem. There is a surgery for this, but the doctor is not sure this is definitely the cause. Hopefully the injection will make some difference and help determine if it is or is not the cause.

That's the best he's got. He doesn't see anything else that should be causing the problems I'm having. The current course of treatment is the only thing he can offer.


My condition has not worsened. I'm doing better than most of last year, but still suffering daily. The surgery brought me from severe pain to only moderate daily pain on my right arm and my left has recovered to some degree from where it was on it's own.

I'm happy I'm no worse, but unhappy I may have to live like this the rest of my life.

[ultpaladin]

I guess the best thing you can do is keep researching and keep an eye out for innovations in the medical field that may help you.  They're probably rare but its likely there are a handful of people that have experienced something similar to what you are going through so perhaps one of them has written about his or her experiences and may provide a better solution to your medical issue.