Dealing with tennis elbow....

During the past year, my right elbow has been giving me a pain.  I broke my arm when I was in first grade.  I fell off a swing and  wore a cast for about 6 weeks.  It took a few weeks after the cast came off to get back to my "old self" - read that as wild crazy redheaded tomboy....

So when my elbow started hurting, I assumed it was arthritis.  Once you break a bone, you can expect to have arthritis in your later years in that spot.  And my elbow does have a little knobby spot right there where it hurts.

Once the pain began to interfere with my knitting. When it progressed to the point that I couldn't pick a gallon jug of water I made a doctor's appoint with our family doctor.

He had an X-ray done in his office, and then scheduled an MRI. I have a tremor in my right arm due to my Parkinson's............  and so keeping still for an MRI was impossible.  What was the technician's solution?  Put a sandbag on my hand.  By the time that MRI was over I was in tears!  Damn, that hurt!

A follow-up appointment was  made with our doctor.  He informed me I had a bone spur and probably tendonitis.  So he suggested I take a shot of cortosone in the butt and make an appointment with a specialist.

I hiked up my skirt, got my shot and went to the receptionist to get the required referral appointment scheduled.

Once we'd met with the specialist, he diagnosed me as having a bone spur and tennis elbow.  He had a nice, long medical term for it.  http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/tennis_elbow

He recommended a cortosone shot directly into my elbow.  I agreed.  He instructed me to wear an elbow brace, moderate my behavior (no more knitting all day long), and to come back when it starts hurting again.  That was back in August.

And so, it's been hurting ever since before Christmas.  On the days that it hurt enough I couldn't rest my elbow on the arm of the chair, I'd wear that damn brace.  At first it kept me awake until I could find a comfortable position.  Then it started waking me up.  And now it's hurting too much to knit or even type.

I was back in the specialist's office yesterday.  His diagnosys?  Tennis elbow and a bone spur.  And his recommendation?  Outpatient surgery.  Or another cortosone shot, if I'm not willing o have surgery "yet".  It's another shot for me.

Why am I so reluctant to have minor outpatient surgery?  Because spring is almost here.  I have spring planting to think about.  Surgery will require a soft cast for several weeks, followed by several more weeks of minimal activity lifting, digging, or of course knitting.  Damn... that's inconvenient.  I guess I should have agreed to it now while the spring is ahead. But the last shot helped me for 6 months.  Maybe this one will too...  Or not.

I guess I'll just have to play it by ear.