Them bones ...

I visited with my UPMC Sports Medicine Therapist this week and got my MRI results back for my shoulder. I have a tear in the cartilage between the head of the arm bone and the shoulder blade. Not that big of a deal. I sort of expected this from all of the digging and lifting I did last year (landscaping) and this is what is mostly causing me pain. I could possibly use surgery but they want to look at other things first. I have to get another MRI of my cervical spine done tomorrow to hopefully shed some light on the other pain I am experiencing in my neck, left arm and shoulder blade area. Again, not that big of a deal, I've had a spinal MRI done in the past with the dye injection and all and I know this needs looked at. I'm also getting an EMG Nerve Conduction Test done in March to figure out why my left arm and sometimes hand keeps falling asleep. Okay ... this I've never had done before but I'll go along with it.

... but the kicker is that the Shoulder MRI picked up something they were not looking for ... an Incidental Bone Lesion was found in my left upper arm bone and now the doctors are more concerned with this and want this prioritized.

I basically went in for shoulder pain and I came out with a possible bone tumor! Wait what? Am I in the right place?

I had blood work done right away yesterday to look for any abnormalities caused by this Bone Lesion and the doctor called me last night to tell me that my blood work came back normal. That is a relief.

I'm seeing an orthopedic bone specialist first thing Monday morning to get a better diagnosis of this Lesion thing. Worse case is that they want to do a biopsy after my visit on Monday and then we'll go from there. Best case is that the Bone Lesion is only a bruise. It's all a little bit unsettling but I don't have any finite results yet so I'm trying not to let it bother me too much.

Score!

Nice. Just got me an Eat n Park gift card given to me by my elderly neighbor for shoveling her steps and driveway and cleaning her car off all winter. Now I just have to find me an Eat n Park since I haven't been to one since highschool.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

I had my very first MRI done yesterday afternoon. Seems I hurt my left shoulder last summer working on the landscaping in my back yard. Probably a result from the hundreds of pounds of dirt and rocks I shoveled and moved during the process. Anyway ... the more I exercise now, the worse my shoulder is getting. Time to finally get it checked out.

It was a long, tiresome day. Before the visit, I spent over an hour and half sitting in the waiting room in my backless gown, watching Days of Our Lives and Judge Judy with a bunch of elderly, sick people. Sort of depressing. The MRI itself wasn't too bad (not claustraphobic). It was very painful because of the way they had to have me lay in the machine with a cast contraption around my shoulder. Actually, I experienced a horrible new pain that I have never felt before because they had me lay in a way that I would never lay on my own ... and then, as proceedure, I had to hold still in that position, motionless, for 25 minutes ... ugh. Not fun. But I did my best to ignore it and I did almost fall asleep.

Oh, and to make the appointment even more special, there was some sort of field trip of med students coming through during my visit and they used me as the 'example' for the class. Four young, pre-med females all standing there watching me wince my way through the MRI while my butt is hanging out of my gown.

Awesome.

Next step is for me to meet up with some UPMC Sports Medicine people so they can have a further look at what might be wrong with my shoulder. That isn't until a few weeks from now. Until then, the docs got me on Vicoden, when needed, to ease the pain.

Planning Ahead and Getting Things in Order

I went out to the Shadow Lounge last night to support my friend's new Open Stage / Acoustic Music night called Netrock.

I got to hear some pretty amazing local artists last night, including Autumn Ayers and Paul Tabachneck. The crowd was pretty good for a wednesday night. I'm hoping to see more heads show up as this night builds.

While I was at the S'Lounge I was able to sit down with the owner and go over some of the upcoming events that I am promoting. We sat down with our calendars and figured out what's happening for the next couple of months.

First up @ the S'Lounge, Friday March 7th, I will be promoting/hosting the next Official Unblurred Gallery Crawl After Party featuring the music of the afro-electronique band Mifune. Mifune always draws a great crowd ... this coupled with the fact that the last Gallery Crawl After Party I helped throw drew in a packed house ... I'm hoping that this event will be off the hook.

Second up @ the S'Lounge, Friday, April 4th, I will be throwing another After Party for the Gallery Crawl but at the same time I will be teaming up with the people over at Justharvest.org, a local nonprofit anti-hunger / economic justice organization, to help them raise some money (and awarerness) for their group. All proceeds from the door will be donated to them. We'll also have voter registration available all night long. As for the entertainment, it's a ways off but we're thinking Spoken Word performances followed by the usual Northern Funk and Soul and Old School Hip Hop DJs.