Wednesday, April 01, 2009

I'm on 'roids.

Seriously, I got my first steroid injection yesterday, even though I hate needles. Of course it wasn't the kind of steroids that make you all buff, it was for a shoulder injury. I developed it a month or so ago and it's gotten progressively worse. Saw the orthopedist a couple weeks ago, he took x-rays but couldn't find anything bad like a fracture or anything so he said it was probably something called "impingement syndrome", which is pretty much like bursitis or tendinitis. He prescribed Motrin to reduce swelling in the area but it kept getting worse and when I saw him again yesterday he decided to try a steroid shot. The shot numbs the area (lydocaine) and reduces the swelling and it worked right away. The only problem was that I felt a bit of the numbness all the way down in my pinkie which is not supposed to happen. Because of this, he mentioned that it might be an indication of a secondary problem, perhaps even a torn rotator cuff. Of course they don't have an MRI machine here so if it comes to that, I'll have to either go on the economy or go all the way up to Landstuhl in Germany. Hopefully the shot will work and it won't come to that...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rik, I thought we talked about this 20 years ago...you really need to get off the steroids. They are so bad for you. I am really concerned about you and some of the decisions you are making. Hey, if you go to Landstuhl, let me know. Talk to you later.
Steve-O

Anonymous said...

go with the Tommy John surgery, it'll add 8 mph to your fastball.
gino