Inch by Inch

My father-in-law has a favorite saying; “Inch by inch life’s a cinch” and I always thought this saying was cute. It also taught me to look at life a bit differently. It’s become especially important to me to view life this way when dealing with chronic illness and pain. I was reminded of this again very recently.

Nine days ago I was sleeping on my right side (good shoulder) when it collapsed making a loud popping noise. I immediately felt pain so I rolled onto my back, breathed slowly and went back to sleep. It was sore after that but I pushed forward for two days until the pain became too intense. Afterward my arm was useless. Anyone who’s dealt with floxing will know what I’m talking about. I had to once again rely on my husband to help me dress, cut up my food for me and more. I pulled out my redox gel, homeopathic pain relief cream, and frankincense and ginger essential oils to apply to my shoulder. I began icing several times a day, and eating anti inflammatory foods. I was fortunate to have an appointment with my physiatrist (sports medicine doctor) who did an ultrasound, and x-rays but the only thing she found was some fluid on the bursa. That same day I went to my chiropractor who found that my arm wasn’t situated in my shoulder socket properly which he corrected. What followed was days of relying on my husband to care for me once again. Like MacGyver he rigged my walker with a strap so I could use it with one hand and the other side would push against my hip and we put my arm in a sling to take the weight off my shoulder.

Feeling very discouraged I thought of the saying; inch by inch life’s a cinch. I’ll admit I had thoughts of; “oh no not again” as I spent most of last year dealing with a frozen left shoulder. Also I’d had a day where I’d made myself smoothies, washed dishes, cut up a large pineapple, emptied the dishwasher, started a batch of bone broth chicken soup, run two loads of laundry and finished the soup to feed my family for dinner all while taking care of a sick child just days before this setback. It had been a long time since I’d accomplished that much in a day and now here I was requiring help to get dressed. Every time I thought “how long will this last?” I pushed it out of my mind and instead told myself “inch by inch”. Each day I woke up I took inventory of my pain which had me in tears a few times and focused on every improvement I could find. As my husband asked me if I wanted to see the shoulder specialist I went to last year I replied let’s give it some time. I kept up with my natural remedies for pain, adapted my daily regimen by having my husband make me my smoothies before he left for work, and focused on improvements.

Yesterday I was able to take my arm out of the sling and today I was able to dress myself. I still have pain and limited range of motion but I’m making progress and recovering faster than I thought I would. Why is my recovery going so well? It’s not any one thing I’m doing but rather a combination of dietary changes which include switching to various organic fruit/veggie smoothie combinations for a nutrient dense meals. A supplement "tweek" which involved increasing the amount of L lysine (an essential amino acid necessary for collagen repair, a CNS anti-inflammatory and anti-viral) I take daily from 500 mgs to 2,000 to 3,000 mgs, natural remedies to decrease the pain and inflammation, and patience.

Inch by inch…

~Betsy

Note: I wrote this post on April 28th, 2016 for my Facebook page; Betsy's Message and I'm happy to report that it's now 3 weeks later and my shoulder is 90% recovered. It's amazing to me as the pain was worse this time than previously but what I'm doing is working.