Thinking back, I think I first noticed it in mid-September and probably attributed it to getting old, and muscle pain and it'll probably go away if I ignored it. Unfortunately, over the successive couple of months, it hasn't improved, and even might be getting worse. Just before leaving on the Central European Adventure, I decided to do some self diagnosis, with the help of the Internet. After searching through sites with my symptom descriptions, and eliminating the ever-present Cancer! self diagnosis, I arrived at a torn rotator cuff.
Huh.
I scheduled a visit to an orthopedist and off I went to Europe. Sure enough, pain and mobility issues never abated the entire time, despite liberal application of analgesic malted beverages to my internal digestive system. The day after I returned, I went to the ortho, and after X-Rays, he told me my shoulder looked good - no arthritis and no issues with the skeletal structure. After moving it about a bit, he also eliminated "frozen shoulder" and determined the likely culprit as (drum roll) a torn rotator cuff. He explained that the only, ONLY, fix for this was surgical. There is no schedule of PT that will fix it. Once torn, a repair is needed.
Swell.
He scheduled an MRI to confirm. I've had that (on this past Saturday) and am now in limbo waiting to see the doctor to review the MRI. My appointment is next Monday; I think the Thanksgiving holidays delayed it a bit, since they like to do the follow up within a few days. I'm not terribly optimistic about the diagnosis, and I must confess it's putting a bit of a damper on my festivities -- such as they are anyway. Seems I'm either destined for surgery and 4-6 weeks of sling-wearing plus 4-6 months of rehab, or what? I don't know what other option there is.
Just thinking about trying to dress myself and tie my shoes with one hand for a month or more... Ugh.
I think I'll drink.