Well, I'm still around, and things seem to be improving. Here's my current state :
As far as the kidney stones are concerned : On February 16 I had a CT Scan done of my abdomen/pelvis to check for stones, I was hoping (beyond hope) that the report would show "no stones", but alas, the report showed "several stones in the kidney", however, I was told that they were "not inhibiting functions of the kidney and so are not a problem at this time", that's somewheat good news, however that only means they're not a problem now, they could become a problem if even one of them begins to grow or move (or get trapped in the ureter again as happened in late November 2005).
As far as the shoulder is concerned : Well, I can move my arm better each week, to illustrate the progression of my recovery, on October 20, 2005 I could only move my right arm as high as 45* (from straight down at my side being 0*), on January 31, 2006 I could raise my arm straight out in front of me at 90* (whoo-hoo!) so my doc increased my physical therapy exercises from 6 (3 times) a day to 9 (3 times a day), adding arm muscle strengthening to the regemin, and on February 14 (yes, Valentine's Day!) I finally made my arm go above my head to 180* for the first time since tearing my Rotator Cuff on June 3, 2005!!! I can't quite hold it above my head for more than a few seconds without it burning and feeling like it's going to fall off, but the fact I can now do this under my own power is a miracle to me.
I never thought I'd get to this point, and on February 22 my shoulder doc increased my physical therapy exercises from 9 (3 times) a day to 12 (3 times a day) increasing the muscle training and begining work on strengthening my shoulder muscles. I still ache every day and moving the arm above 90* for "normal" daily routines is still diffiocult, but I'm far better off than I was even 3 months ago and progress appears to be consistant and effective.
Since my kidneys appear to be settled (for the moment anyway) and my shoulder progressing nicely I thought it was time to have my 30,000 mile inspection for my Crohn's Disease. To show how it's not always the "fun" that makes time fly, I discovered that it had been over 2 years since I last saw my Gastroenterologist for my Crohn's (I thought it had been only 1 year, I thought I saw him January 2005, but it turns out it was January 2004 since my last visit!)
Seeing as how the pain from my kidneys and shoulder could mask any discomfort from the Crohn's I made an appointment to see him, and I had an Endoscopy done on Thursday (March 2) and today I had a Small Bowel Series. I don't yet know the full results of the SBS (but the doc who performed the test said he could not see anything obvious that would make him worry the Crohn's is acting up, but the full report would be ready for my GI doc on Monday) and the Endoscopy showed I have quite a few ulcers making life in my stomach unbearable. My GI doc thinks I must have a high threshold for pain as I didn't complain about the pain, but I did mention to him before I knew about the ulcers that my GERD had been acting up for about 4-5 weeks now (so he gave me Nexium), so I guess the ulcers are rather new.
This is kinda why I wanted the check-up, the pain of the kidney stones & shoulder were worse than the ulcers, so the pain was overshadowed, hence I didn't feel anything, I thought the same could be true if my Crohn's is acting up (although from the preliminary results of both tests it appears I don't have to worry about the Crohn's again just yet).
Now why in the world would I have ulcers?
Funny I can't think of why I'd be worried about anything?!?
So I guess I'm sorta lucky in that all appears to be going the right way at the moment, this worries me because it's usually at this point something goes horribly wrong.
Only time will tell.....
Until next time kids, remember to eat your dog
and let out your vegetables
.....um, or something like that.and let out your vegetables
RobMac
