I just got back from the orthopedic surgeon's office and it turns out there's a reason for my repeated shoulder dislocations besides the occasional spastic movements of my lanky limbs.
Quoted from the internet:
"A Bankart lesion is a specific injury to a part of the shoulder joint called the labrum. The shoulder joint is a ball and socket joint, similar to the hip; however, the socket of the shoulder joint is extremely shallow, and thus inherently unstable.
To compensate for the shallow socket, the shoulder joint has a cuff of cartilage called a labrum that forms a cup for the end of the arm bone (humerus) to move within. This cuff of cartilage makes the shoulder joint much more stable, yet allows for a very wide range of movements (in fact, the range of movements your shoulder can make far exceeds any other joint in the body).
When the labrum of the shoulder joint is torn, the stability of the shoulder joint is compromised.
A specific type of labral tear is called a Bankart lesion. A Bankart lesion occurs when an individual sustains a shoulder dislocation. As the shoulder pops out of joint, it often tears the labrum, especially in younger patients. The tear is to part of the labrum called the inferior glenohumeral ligament. When the inferior glenohumeral ligament is torn, this is called a Bankart lesion."
Guess who has a Bankart lesion? This guy.
One of the frustrating things about this (there are a few I'll go over) is that this is my second fucking avulsion. Remember that injury I had at the end of my junior year of high school that ended my track career forever? That was an ischial avulsion, pictured below:
Note that piece of hip bone that the hamstring broke off and pulled into the thigh like a total douchebag.
So now I basically have that again but in my shoulder. And I'll keep dislocating my shoulder and chipping away little bits of my bone unless they suture that little fragment back where it's supposed to go. Fucking lame, right?
...Which brings me to another frustrating thing: surgery. A month in a sling. No athletic activity for 6 months. Physical therapy for 5 months. What the fuck? Looks like my IM volleyball days are over. Oh, and I have to take two more PE credits before I graduate. How? Good question. You don't need your arms for step aerobics, do you?
On the plus side, getting an MRI is kind of cool (for you nonscience people [all the bros and most of the hos (besides Erinrose last week)], an MRI provides the top pic). I got to slide into this sleek looking tube and lie there for 30 minutes listening to Dave Matthews and G Love. It rocked. To prep, the doctors injected some dye directly into my joint, which is uncomfortable, but I got to watch it happening on, like, a live video X-ray thing. I could actually see the needle approaching the joint. When I moved my arm a little bit, I could see the bones moving around. Now I know what I will look like as a skeleton. It was surprisingly cool. And I hear the dude who basically told me to sit still and moved the machine over me is raking in $650,000 a year. Noted. Maybe I'll change my medical focus to radiology.
But I digress.
The point is, this sucks. I think the actual surgery will happen right after Thanksgiving. Also, no one posted on the brog for over 24 hours so I decided to fill it up with my whining.
On an unrelated note: what are people doing for July 4th? I kind of want to go to NYC. Will anyone be there? Can I crash on a floor? Does anyone else want to come if the previous question is enthusiastically responded to?
Xoxo
