Never Give Up
Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 12:03 pm
I just got back from the Mayo Clinic yesterday. I have been experiencing a ton of pain in my neck/shoulder area on affected side for over 6 months now. Everyday includes some pain. The question every morning is how much pain will I be in at the end of the day? I could tell that my pain was directly related to activity. After getting no answers for pain I was sent to a pain clinic. They tried some trigger point injections which were great to eliminate pain but I also lost function in my arm. After 2 shots the pain clinic said this seems to be a very complex situation and we are not going to do any shots or epidurals. At this point they began treatment with meds.
I would not take this for an answer. I am 28 years old and way to young to just be on meds for the rest of my life. After talking to my BPI family here, I decided to seek help at the Mayo Clinic after all they were starting a study on adult OBPI. I was able to get an appointment at the MAYO clinic. My mother and I took off on the 7.5 hour trip. I think my mom thought I was crazy, but now she understands why it was so important to me to get answers. We meet first with a team of doctors that measured all my roam of motion and muscle strength. I found that from what they could tell I had one of the most severe types of OBPI injuries. Dr. Bishop said if he would have seen me as a child he would never had guessed I would have all the improvement that I show. He almost seem amazed. Of course this made me feel really good....I had over come alot.
I then sat down to talk with Dr. Elhassen. He is by for the most driven doctor I have ever met in terms of find out information and trying to figure out a solution to increase your quality of life. I am a unique case in the sense that most people with OBPI have three muscles that move your shoulder....I have one. My trapazoid muscle is doing all my arm movement. The pain I have experiences for the last month is a completely tight trapazoid muscle doing way to much work but always on standby for more work. My BP nerves are constantly firing to my trapazoid muscle. Dr. Elhanssen will be looking at my case and has me getting an MRI to look all shoulder muscle masses. I left Mayo with an answer to the root of pain, and the hope of a doctor determined to figure out how to eliminate the work load of my trapazoid. For the first time in 28 years I feel like there is hope that my life will not be filled with pain forever. Will he figure something out? I am not sure but at least for now I can have hope. He trying his best to better understand the adult OBPI population and listen to our voices.
So for now I will schedule my MRI of shoudler muscles and I will stay in contanct with the MAYO Clinic and Dr. Elhanssen. For everyone reading this and wanting answers remember this.....We are all unique in our injuries....Make sure you find a doctor(s) that truely understand the anatomy of BPI injuries....Everything happens for a reason....I made a miraculous recovery when I was child....But my body healed in a way that surgeries in my childhood may have made things worse. As adults there is still hope to making things better. So NEVER give up hope! God will provide answers for each of us.....just be patient and do what we BPI's do best....BE DETERMINED!
I would not take this for an answer. I am 28 years old and way to young to just be on meds for the rest of my life. After talking to my BPI family here, I decided to seek help at the Mayo Clinic after all they were starting a study on adult OBPI. I was able to get an appointment at the MAYO clinic. My mother and I took off on the 7.5 hour trip. I think my mom thought I was crazy, but now she understands why it was so important to me to get answers. We meet first with a team of doctors that measured all my roam of motion and muscle strength. I found that from what they could tell I had one of the most severe types of OBPI injuries. Dr. Bishop said if he would have seen me as a child he would never had guessed I would have all the improvement that I show. He almost seem amazed. Of course this made me feel really good....I had over come alot.
I then sat down to talk with Dr. Elhassen. He is by for the most driven doctor I have ever met in terms of find out information and trying to figure out a solution to increase your quality of life. I am a unique case in the sense that most people with OBPI have three muscles that move your shoulder....I have one. My trapazoid muscle is doing all my arm movement. The pain I have experiences for the last month is a completely tight trapazoid muscle doing way to much work but always on standby for more work. My BP nerves are constantly firing to my trapazoid muscle. Dr. Elhanssen will be looking at my case and has me getting an MRI to look all shoulder muscle masses. I left Mayo with an answer to the root of pain, and the hope of a doctor determined to figure out how to eliminate the work load of my trapazoid. For the first time in 28 years I feel like there is hope that my life will not be filled with pain forever. Will he figure something out? I am not sure but at least for now I can have hope. He trying his best to better understand the adult OBPI population and listen to our voices.
So for now I will schedule my MRI of shoudler muscles and I will stay in contanct with the MAYO Clinic and Dr. Elhanssen. For everyone reading this and wanting answers remember this.....We are all unique in our injuries....Make sure you find a doctor(s) that truely understand the anatomy of BPI injuries....Everything happens for a reason....I made a miraculous recovery when I was child....But my body healed in a way that surgeries in my childhood may have made things worse. As adults there is still hope to making things better. So NEVER give up hope! God will provide answers for each of us.....just be patient and do what we BPI's do best....BE DETERMINED!
