Not the news we wanted to hear

Two weeks ago Charlie took a tumble jumping out of the back of his back up - and no, he wasn't drinking! He landed on the asphalt on his right shoulder and must have taken the blow all on the shoulder since he didn't hurt his head, neck, back, or anything else. It was quite painful especially for the first few days but then did seem to improve quite a bit. Oddly, it hurts mostly at night when he, make that we!, are trying to sleep.

After two weeks, mainly because of the pain at night and sleep deprivation, Charlie agreed to go to the doctor. Of course, I have connections and in this area he knows well enough to just do as I say! After a call to my orthopod office nurse friend, we got Charlie lined up to see an orthopedist this past Tuesday morning. Nothing showed up on the x-ray of course so the doctor ordered an MRI. Luckily, due to a cancellation, he was able to have it done right away. And instead of going back a week later for the results of the MRI, the nurse worked Charlie in so he got his MRI results the same day. Yep the MRI showed what we kind of expected, he did a good job on his rotator cuff; tearing both the supraspinatus and the subscapularis.

Now we're trying to figure out the best time within the next couple of months for this self-employed mechanic and bus contractor to have the surgery followed by 6 weeks off from work. Kind of a bummer - but we're so thankful it is something that can be fixed! I'm sure there are a lot of people out there with a lot worse problems who would gladly trade places with Charlie.