shoulder update

Well, I know I haven’t made a post in WAY too long but… in the immortal words of my man Blueprint, “people always askin, yo print, where da album at? Gotta take my time widit do, ain’t about to put no garbage out! Feel me?” Er… something along those lines. It’s been a while since I rocked the soul position. Anywho…

I remember last time this year, sitting at home with a debilitating injury, not being able to walk, hearing about lots of friends being exactly where they want to be, climbing on real rock and sending climbs I’m dreaming of… I hope this doesn’t become a yearly tradition for me! On the bright side though, my shoulder is feeling slightly more normal everyday. I can tell that even pulling on jugs, even hanging on a pull-up bar is still a long ways off for me, which is a really weird feeling. I get depressed when I think about climbing because of this feeling, sometimes. And other times I get super-psyched and stay home in front of the TV and computer for hours watching climbing movies and looking at peoples blogs and looking at pics, fantasizing about the moment when I’ll be able to feel rock under my fingertips again, to move freely without any fear… this might be awhile, but hey, I’m a lifer! As far as the staying inside a lot lately, in my defense, it’s been raining like every day for the last week! It’s pretty rad actually. Even with all this rain, which seems like way more rain than Ive ever seen in SF, probably because I don’t normally spend this much time in SF, we’re still catching up on our yearly average… or so I hear. Coulda fooled me!

Here is a copy of the Email that Roger Rogalski Sent me after reviewing my MR with his radiology expert:

Ethan,
There was a small irregularity we all saw in the long head of your biceps which would be consistent with a tear.  The biceps anchor is at the glenoid labrum and when the labrum pulls away from the glenoid that’s commonly referred to as a SLAP lesion.  If the labrum pulls away from the glenoid lower down it usually is more consistent with something called a Bankart lesion and indicative of anterior/inferior instability, either acute or chronic.  I wouldn’t rush to any surgical decision at this point.  Your MR findings are pretty subtle and there was a little bit of diagnostic disagreement.   Reasonably, I think you should give yourself more time and rest before venturing off to the surgical suite.  You’re not burning any bridges by giving nature a little time: the surgery’s no more difficult later and any delay won’t necessarily impair the end result.  You’re young, fit and have tremendous healing potential. The pendulum for treatment of first time dislocations/subluxations has swung back and forth a number of times in my career.  For now it’s in the the non-operative deadpoint.  Also, not all mild SLAPs are symptomatic. The corollary to the adage no hold’s to big to fall from is there’s no problem so bad we can’t make it worse with surgery.  Your decision should be based on your symptoms, not subtle MR findings.  I know you’re anxious but it’s always better to not make a decision in that state.  I don’t mind if you paste this to your blog but you have to remember that I’m only looking at a MRI.  You need to be examined and as part of the Kaiser system start having an honest, communicative relationship with your doctor there as well.  Let me know how things progress.  Go to NZ.  You’ll have more fun there then stressing about whether to have early surgery or not.  I’ve seen extraordinary climbers, pitchers, quarterbacks, etc.with shoulders a thousand times worse.  I’d bet $ you’ll be back to your former level.

Well, pretty… er, decent news huh! So the bottom line is that I should just wait to see what my shoulder feels like after some rehab before making any big decisions… I was under the impression that if I were to wait that it would be harder to repair the tear later if I did decie to go under the knife, but apparently that’s not the case. In an earlier E-mail Roger said he usually gives the time frame of 4-6 weeks to heal a “mild SLAP tear”, which would put me right at the date of my ticket to NZ 6 weeks after the injury… well, I’m still not completely writing it off of course, but the way I think about it is, if I can get a credit for my ticket, I can always make my trip to NZ next year. Even though I’ve been wanting to climb at castle hill and the gramps for years, they’re not going anywhere, and neither am I. I know some people will say that this is the wrong attitude to have, but I kind of don’t want to travel almost as far across the globe as you can get from California, to a place I’ve dreamt about visiting and climbing amazing highballs and surfing, to not surf at all, maybe climb V5s if I’m really lucky, and risking the chance of getting over-excited and re-injuring myself… right now, the time just doesn’t seem right to go. But who knows! A lot can happen in 3 weeks so like I said, I’m not ruling it out yet! I’d like to thanks Dr. Rogalski and his Radiology tech for looking at my MRI and giving me such great advice! For now I’m just gonna take it one step at a time, one day at a time, eventually one move at a time.

I had a visit to a body work/trainer/expert guy up on bernal heights today. I gave him the history of the shoulder problems, he gave me and exam, did some passive stretches, and showed me some good exercises and stretches to do. He was the second person to tell me that the center of pain or sensitivity in my shoulder was my supra-spinatus, first person to tell me, you know whoyou are- thanks and keep up the good work! For my shoulder, tomorrow will be a rest day (for the most part, I don’t know if I can stay off of Brian’s fixe!), so we’re going to see a matinee of the watchmen- I’m so psyched!!!

So for all of those like me who need a little extra motivation and want to fuel their dreams of untouched, featured granite boulders in paradise, get a load of these puppies my friend sent me a link to…

Well, Since multiple winners already found the treasure, I guess there’s really no point in telling you, But I guess you can still win to be entered into the raffle or ust follow it for fun! I think it was a rad experiment, and I was payched to be a part of it. I think next time all the clues should be released and published at the same time so it’ll be more like a race!

What else is new… Hmmm. Well, tomorrow the 6th is my moms 39th birthday (jk… that would be really young to have kids actually)! I was blessed with the greatest mom in the whole world, even though sometimes she doesn’t ask me o wlk the dog until like 11pm! Mompiece, you are the best! Thanks for spawning me! Yesterday I accompanied my parents to sleep train where I made the mistake of walking directly over to the the temperpedic beds and flopping down on the first one I saw.. long story short, my parents ended up walking out of there with a next day delivery of the top-notch, california king-sized matress which coasted… more than I willing to say right now, but it was not pocket change for most people. But screw it! You only live twice, why not make the golden years as enjoyable as your youth, since your supposed to spend a third of your life asleep anyway (obviously not true for me, typing this at 1:52am…) why not invest in a matress that’ll allow you to make the time spent getting Zzz, as quality as possible (and for my mom, that’s a lot of time!)

In parting I leave you with this gut-busting hialrious vid:

Oh shit on a shingle! I almost forgot! I’m hosting a two part advanced lead climbing clinic at mission cliffs (sans demonstrations this time) this Sunday and the next, the 8th and 15. So if you want me to give you that unsolicited advice I’ve always been itching to dish out, come down and take my clinic. The main purpse of the clinic is to learn how to climb staying more relaxed, especially when going for it on moves at your limit above the bolt! We’ll also cover stuff like propper belay, clipping and falling techniques and as much one on one counseling as we can fit into four hours. At less than $20 an hour for members, I think it’s a bargain compared to most coaching programs.

Aieet, it’s way past my bed time. Earlier bedtimes start tomorrow, as well as core training (as if), running 10 miles everyday (W/E) and no eating sugar (yeah right)! And no more facebook…