After returning home from the disaster of Marbella 70.3 I decided it was time to see the doctor for my shoulder. I scheduled an appointment and the next week was able to see him. After a few minutes of tests, he agreed that it was a substantial injury and recommended an MRI. But this was a special MRI, with dye injected into my shoulder in order to see with more precision the state of the injury. Fine, sounds good, let’s do it.

Two weeks later I have my appointment. At first, I lie on a table and they inject the dye into my shoulder. After a few minutes I go to the MRI and the process begins. But instead of 20 minutes they stop things after only a minute. “They dye is not in the right place, it is outside the muscle” they tell me. We have to go back and do the dye procedure again. So we do it again, and then back to the MRI, but again they stop the process after a minute as the dye is still not in the proper place. They tell me that three times in a day is too much, so I have to come back the following week to try again. Great.

So the same process the following week, but this time they hit the mark and the dye is in the proper place. Then into the MRI. If you’ve ever done an MRI, you know that they stick you into a tube with ear protectors and tell you to not move for about 20 minutes. I need to put my arm down by my side and try to remain still, but it really begins to ache at one point. I try to put it out of my mind, but finally I must hit the panic button. They pull me out of the machine and I am able to move my arm a bit to ease the pain. Then it is back into the machine, this time with my arm over my head, “only for a few minutes” they say. But with an MRI you cannot see the clock so the seconds stretch for an eternity and then the arm starts to ache again and I am ready to hit the panic button again, but then it is over. Finally.

I have to wait another week to get my results, and then I go to see the doctor that night. The muscle is fully torn so surgery it is. Before the surgery, though, I must take a few tests. Blood test, EKG, x-ray… This takes another week. Then I must take these test results to the anesthesiologist for him to sign-off on my surgery. Finally, all good. I now go back to my doctor for the next step, but he is on vacation until Monday, and I leave for Canada on Sunday… for a month.

Today is 18 July, summer vacation. I haven’t had a full night of sleep since April. But I’m hoping, hoping that when we return to Gran Canaria in a few weeks that I can see the doctor right away and have surgery during that first week of August. Then I can start rehab and slowly get back to my triathlon lifestyle, I hope. We shall see. Regardless of that, at least I will be able to have a full night of sleep without waking up every couple of hours to change my position. Let’s see what happens.