Only just recovering from Tara's shock hospitalisation, I barely had a few days to regain my composure. Tara was on a very strictly monitored diet and had to have routine scans to make sure she suffered no internal damage. It was tense times, but I was Tara’s Warrior Mum all over again. Tara was also incredibly obedient and probably scared to death by her experience. Suddenly I had to be cooking a lot more and be more creative as well, to be able to produce the diet required by Tara's doctor. With two poorly functioning painful shoulders.
I saw a doctor in November 2019 to seek relief for my shoulder pain. He said I was depressed and needed anti depressants which he would be happy to prescribe. I was crying in his office because I was in acute long term pain, and I mistakenly thought I had a safe space to share my pain. As soon as tears rolled down my face, he labelled me depressed. I left his office in disgust, but not before telling the receptionist what I thought.
December 2019 went downhill as I was very unwell with a strange illness. But as the year was plummeting, something inside me was saying, It’s time, Seize the day! When I called the doctor’s office for an appointment in December, the receptionist booked me in to see this new lady doctor who took genuine interest in my suffering and went about systematically ordering blood tests and scans. She helped me, as I recovered from whatever nasty bug I had, and then went on to discuss my frozen shoulder with me on a very human level.
Both my shoulders were not as bad as before, but the left side had flared up again. The doctor felt that a cortisone injection was the best way forward. I agreed immediately and in early 2020 went to the hospital and got one injection on my left bicep. I was a bit confused about the location of the shot as the main area of pain was the top of the shoulder. Still, they could stick me with injections anywhere and I would be grateful. The pain of the dreaded cortisone shot was nothing.
The doctor administering the cortisone had a very hysterical and anxious trainee with her, who I suspect made the doctor a bit uncomfortable too. I on the other hand, was so battered by my life in general, that a hysterical side kick was mildly entertaining and did nothing to upset my mental balance. I lay there calmly while the doctor explained she would inject only one area today. The trainee was writhing in what seemed to be extreme anxiety,
The second injection was to be scheduled if I responded well to the first. As luck might have it, I responded very well to the first injection, and was almost eagerly looking forward to my second one which was more complicated as it had to be injected into the shoulder cavity via ultrasound guidance in an operation theatre. But Luck wasn’t done yet. The pandemic and lockdown started in March 2020. The cortisone shot would have to wait for another whole year.
I made gains that year. With some loss of pain, came great clarity of thought. Covid19 came, and with it came opportunity. Carpe Diem had a new friend called Strike-while-the- iron- is-hot. I did.
All workplaces and Schools were on lockdown. The Home was my domain. Over the next few months, The Husband and Tara were officially residents in my domain 24X7. Which way would this go? I was a wounded lioness with a renewed sense of power and self, zero hopes and expectations from anyone, and one cortisone shot. Let the games begin.
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