Shoulder, Stunned & Steroids

Following the couple of pushes I had since our return from Australia the SHOULDER really started to niggle, no problems I thought as I have an appointment with my sports masseuse later that week. Friday's appointment ended up being my shortest ever. Jenny asked how my shoulder was following resting up in Oz. I was up front and told her it was worse than ever, short pause, then she said 'I think you have a muscle tear'. OK no worries I think, we will fix it. Then Jenny STUNS me when she says 'There is no way you are going to New York with a muscle tear'.  OH MY GOD!!! Next step was to check Jenny's diagnosis,  trip to the GP and an ultrasound.  With my trip to the GP not possible until Monday morning I have rather a glum weekend.

Come Monday morning I head to my doctor who has a different and better diagnosis,  an 'Impingement Injury' which is treatable by muscle strengthening and a shot of STEROIDS. Yee ha....I'll join Lance Armstrong and his drug cheating mates if I can get to the New York Marathon!  More good news is that I can get an appointment that afternoon following a scheduled trip to Burwood. At the ultrasound they confirm it is not a tear, they also do about a half dozen xrays to really check it out. The next morning my GP rings and confirms that it looks like an impingement injury and 'would you like an ultrasound guided STEROID injection?' You beat if it helps the healing process. 

A few days afterwards I am catching up with Mike Brown to check out his powered hand cycle and the trailer he tows with it. The trip is very fruitful as I get some great ideas for a trailer my new hand bike which was delivered a few days before. As you would expect I also grill Mike about his experience with the New York Maraton in 2014. Along with some info about the course including a heads up about how tough the bridges are to climb he also agrees with my GP's diagnosis for my shoulder telling me about another common symptom of having numb hands in bed. Also he reckons I need to get my masseuse to work on my peks. Picture of my new handbike below, good for some x-training.

This procedure was completed today, see picture below. I now need to go easy for about 10 days and then I can start building into my training again!!