maladies & ultimate 26 Jul 2006 02:04 pm
Damn Shoulder Injuries
So, back on June 24th, I played in the Texas Beach Ultimate Festival (TBUF) down in Galveston on the glamorous “Six on the Beach” team. Well, during the second or third game at some point I came down awkwardly on my left shoulder and sort of rolled back on it and it seemed to come out of place briefly. “Uh oh.” But, I’d jammed that shoulder up before and it didn’t stay out of the socket, so I didn’t figure it’d be anything major. However, since it was fairly intense pain, I subbed out (we had one guy sub) and iced it up. Later on in that same game, one of the guys (Eric) busted up his toe to the point where he couldn’t play for the time being. Since my pain was mostly gone and it was only my left shoulder I figured I could play for a few points using only my right arm. That went fairly well and I even dove to catch a few things successfully (albeit foolishly). In fact, it went well enough for me to play regularly in another two or three games.
Then, while playing a consolation game after getting knocked out of the playoffs, I landed awkwardly on my right shoulder … very much in the same way I did with my left. It didn’t hurt as bad, but obviously it put me out of commission for the day. I took some ibuprofen, continued icing both shoulders as much as possible, watched a few more games and then headed back to Houston. And man oh man does driving suck when your shoulders are both injured.
A week later, my shoulders are still hurting, so I call to make an appointment with the doctor. Seeing as how that was the July 4th weekend that weekend the earliest I could get in was July 6th. I went and saw him, and he recommended that I go get some X-rays done. Got those done the following week and then the next week my doctor referred me to a bone and joint specialist, whom I just spent a few hours with this morning.
The good news: my injuries aren’t so bad that surgery is an obvious requirement.
The bad news: I may end up needing surgery if physical therapy doesn’t fix it and physical therapy is freaking expensive.
The “recommended” approach currently is: try physical therapy for 3-4 weeks a few times a week, then see how it is; if it’s not any better or if it’s worse, maybe get an MRI and see if surgery is called for. The problem with that is the place that they referred me to for physical therapy costs $200-250 per session and my deductible is $2000. So, I’d be paying $2000 for something that may result in me having to pay for surgery anyway. I’m not against the approach itself, but I just don’t know if I want to pay $2000 for something that may not help. One of my ultimate teammates said he knows a “good shoulder guy”, so I might have to go and get a second opinion before I start throwing down benjamins. As much as I don’t want to have to have surgery, that’s one thing I know will fix the problem as well as it can be fixed, and at this point I’m almost leaning that way just because of that.
10 Responses to “Damn Shoulder Injuries”
on 27 Jul 2006 at 12:59 am 1.setuid_w00t said …
That is crappy. So are both your shoulders fucked then? If that’s the case, surgery would be double suck because you would either have to go in twice or be totally crippled for a while because you couldn’t use either arm.
on 27 Jul 2006 at 9:39 am 2.Meglet said …
And I’d be the one taking care of the armless wonder. Of course Danny knows I would take care of him no matter what, if I may be so sappy. But damn, that would be a challenge for both of us! I don’t like to see him in pain
on 27 Jul 2006 at 10:39 am 3.MaryT said …
I agree with your take on the “possibly not helpful” approach. You see, as a young person, my orthodontist required that I wear headgear and neck gear to school. In junior high. What he didn’t tell me though is that it “might not be helpful and surgery may still eb required.” Two years and a ridiculous amount of emotional trauma later, guess who had to have painful, expensive jaw surgery anyway? That’s right–maladjusted old me. Not to be all bitter and stuff, but I think you should give your doctor the big number one. Maybe I should just give my ortho the big number one. I do have exceptionally straight teeth these days though. This is a long comment, so in conclusion–may I recommend some sort of football-like shoulder trappings for future Ultimate outings?
on 27 Jul 2006 at 1:11 pm 4.Petie said …
Ouch. I’m sorry - this really does suck. As someone who is also about to meet her out of pocket max (c-section), what is yours? That may make this an obvious decision. You’ll pay the $2,000 with sugery or with physical therapy. How close are you away from the out of pocket max? If it’s close, you might as well give the physical therapy a go. Although I am skeptical of physical therapy, it worked wonders for my friend who lost all capacity to move one leg after trying to deliver her baby. She literally couldn’t walk and has recovered full function now.
So, in summary, I’d personally only do it if your out of pocket max is like $2,500 - $3,000 and so the physical therapy would only cost $500 - $1,000. Does that make sense?
on 27 Jul 2006 at 1:50 pm 5.ddipaolo said …
Yeah, Chris mentioned that to me yesterday and I’m still not 100% sure how it all works and BCBS’s website isn’t helping me much so I’ll have to call them up and ask them how the charges will work.
I’ve done a bit of research on some of the rehab for shoulder injuries like mine and I don’t see a reason why I can’t just try the rehab myself at home for four weeks and if there’s no improvement, have the doctor reassess and determine what needs to be done then.
on 27 Jul 2006 at 2:03 pm 6.Maria said …
Regardless of the deductible ( I know, it’s a lot and I’m not rich either)… I would want to try everything until surgery is the last and only option… There are all kinds of risks when they put you down and cut you open.
What a sucky sitution. I didn’t picture ultimate as such a “dangerous” sport…
on 27 Jul 2006 at 6:18 pm 7.Petie said …
Chris told me he had said the same thing to you AFTER I told him I had posted a comment. That made me chuckle to myself at how we both think alike - financially anyway. I think trying the physical therapy on your own is a good middle ground, but check out the whole insurance thing - it is sometimes nicer to have someone watching to make sure you’re doing it right and motivating you to go forward with more sets, etc.
on 27 Jul 2006 at 11:07 pm 8.Meglet said …
I’d be pestering him to do his excercises every day, just like he constantly reminds me to take my Enbrel injections. When we first talked about the whole thing, my immediate reaction was “Just learn what you have to do in one or two sessions and then do the rest at home for free.” As someone who pays almost $600 A MONTH in medical insurance coverage alone, $2,000 out of pocket for anything makes me steaming mad. It is SO EXPENSIVE to need any medical attention whatsoever! If I could somehow also be educated about the physical therapy he needs, I could be his cheerleader/motivator (so long as he doesn’t kill me)
on 28 Jul 2006 at 11:12 am 9.MaryT said …
Stupid America with our non-nationalized healthcare.
I mean, God Bless America and down with iraqi secret agents!
on 28 Jul 2006 at 11:13 am 10.ddipaolo said …
re: national healthcare
I used to be one of the people who said “pfft, why should I pay for other people’s health problems? I already give by donating blood, agreeing to donate organs, etc.”, but now that I’m starting to fall apart, maybe my tune is changing.