Movement at the Station

In case you have never heard me in person, I love Aussie slang almost as much as my husband. But as he grew up in a weird and remote place further east than I, past a town called Trafalgar, his Aussie vernacular is well above my mediocre range.

Just this morning he said to me, 'when did that Jerry with you?' and I was completely stumped by that.

Turns out 'Jerry' (to understand, to be wise to, to cotton on to) derives from US slang and adopted by the Aussies back in 1894. Of course.

I digress.

Movement at the Station is a line I use on occasion, which is lifted straight from AB 'Banjo' Patterson's poem, The Man from Snowy River. Here is the intro verse:

There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around
That the colt from old Regret had got away
And had joined the wild bush horses - he was worth a thousand pound,
So all the cracks had gathered to the fray.
All the tried and noted riders from the stations near and far
Had mustered at the homestead overnight,
For the bushmen love hard riding where the wild bush horses are,
And the stock-horse snuffs the battle with delight.

No I am not referencing this to make far flung connections that I might be the horse that got away. I have no such value, although joining the wild bush horses does have a certain appeal to it.

Plus as a kid my brother used to call me a horse (because I ate like one and had a mane like one, apparantly) and I have had a strong aversion to such connections ever since.

My reference is far more literal.

I have movement at the station!

Since May 30 I have been unable to raise my right arm above my head. No big deal, as for the first 8.5 weeks I was confined to a sling. But I then developed frozen shoulder, which is common in people who:

*are over the age of 50
*have had some serious trauma to their shoulder
*are diabetic

The more technical term is Adhesive Capsulitis of the Shoulder.

I also have a family history of frozen shoulder: my father and two of his siblings have also gone through the process.

For the usual case of frozen shoulder (ie for cases that occur in people around the age of 50), you typically get the symptoms of pain (pain, called the freezing stage) followed lack of movement (frozenness, and called the frozen stage). The pain eventually subsides, but the lack of movement continues on a bit longer (called the slow-arsed thawing stage). If you happen to hit something or push the shoulder into realms of super pain, the shoulder actually goes into a period of intense pain and cramping. Try bumping your shoulder when ducking under a football field fence. Roll-on-the-ground agony ensues for 2-3 mins, with the dog looking perplexed at you, before finally, it subsides.

Then after months of all these dramas, it all fades away (both pain and frozenness) and you wonder what the hell happened. Full recovery is expected, but the process usually takes 12months to 2 years.

The usual timelines are altered in people who have experienced trauma, as well as people who have diabetes.

For those who have had trauma, the process can often be shortened. I don't know how much by. Patients usually see a full recovery. Best case scenario is five months.

For those who have diabetes, the process is typically lengthened. I'm talking 2-3 years. And the recovery is not guaranteed. In fact the recovery is not usually a full one.

I guess at this stage you must be thinking what I am thinking: thank god I am not 50.

Frozen shoulder is a big mystery to the shoulder medicos. They document the cycle of the condition, but don't really understand what causes it. They do know that the cycle must be completed. There are some ways to fast forward the cycle, but in the end you still have to suffer through a whack of uncomfort, pain and frustration.

Things that can bring forward, or speed up, the frozen shoulder cycle are:

*movement - not too much, not too little. You don't want to flare up the inflamation too much, but you still need to get the shoulder moving.
*hydrodilatation - injection of fluid (saline and cortisone) into the shoulder joint, to blow out the stiffness in the joint and to relieve the inflammation. This can be F***King painful, but does allow some movement back in the weeks following. I had this on September 15.
*MUA - Manipulation Under Anesthesia- where they knock you out, perform a hydrodilatation and then wrench the shoulder around to break it out of the confined stiffness while you cannot scream from the pain. I had this on November 2.
* Surgery - performed via keyhole, the aim is to remove the build up of scar tissue. Called a capsula release.

So I had a General Anesthetic last Monday and a specialist shoulder surgeon yanked the shoulder round. Apart from the normal spewing that results after anesthetic, I recovered well.

My shoulder is now also moving more than it ever has since the crash. Check this out:

Believe me, this is exciting footage!

It still hurts like hell, and my instructions are to put up with the pain and suffer through it. I am willing to do this because I can see the results of the stretching. It can even make me smile.

A funny thing has happened since all this intense and painful stretching. My back has started to get super sore again. Really really sore. Right in the bits that were broken.

I think it is simply from the fact that I haven't been able to fully stretch out since the crash, and all the muscles in the shoulder often connect right into the thoracic area that I damaged.

I guess I am more bemused than anything that it has taken this long to be able to get onto full rehab of all my injuries. I continue to be amazed at how they are connected and inter-depend on each other. Kinda worrisome, but at the same time, also happy to now have the opportunity to stretch out these muscles that are clearly seeking it.

There certainly is movement at the station.