winged scapula

I’m Chris Short and I have Long Thoracic Nerve (LTN) Palsy with Winging of the Scapula. On October 12, 2003, during a military hurricane evacuation exercise at Avon Park Air Force Range, I managed to permanently damage my LTN leading to winging of my right scapula. Continued service and aging has led to multiple bone spurs in my neck. My life has changed dramatically since I got hurt. Pain is something that I am constantly learning to live with and occasionally thrive with....

I had my “procedure” done on my shoulder this morning. Everything went fine. I was asleep and woke up and mobile so that is a good thing. However, I still feel like I’m having an out of body experience at the moment. The good news is that the pain I had this morning is pretty much gone.

When I first started writing this article I decided to write about how bad the military health care system is and what a farce TRICARE (the military’s HMO) is. However, I think that’s not in the best interests of myself or this web site so I’ll provide an update on my shoulder (back, ribs, spine) injury. But, please allow me to say that you get what you pay for and, in the military, you don’t pay for health care....

Costovertebral Dysfunction of Rib T-8. That’s what’s wrong with my shoulder. After a year and a half of worthless medical treatment the military doctors have finally figured out what’s wrong. There is a rib bulging out from my spine just below my shoulder blade. This is what is pushing back against the muscles in my shoulder thus making my shoulder hurt. Last Tuesday, a physical therapist folded me up like a lawn chair trying to discover the cause of my pain....

The Electromyography (EMG) and Nerve Conduction Study yesterday was a somewhat painful experience but it proved that I don’t have any permanent nerve damage. I have to wait until after the 4th to talk to my doctor (he’s on leave and no one else picked up for him). I did talk to my doctor’s technician and she assured me that my doctor will contact me on the 6th.

TRICARE actually did me some good today and called me while I was on my way home and set me up with a neurologist. The neurologist will be doing an Electromyography (EMG) and Nerve Conduction Study. The appointment is set for the 24th. As usual I will keep you all updated.

Well… I just got done with my follow-up to my MRI. I’m very distraught about the entire thing because (even though I wasn’t told this) no one in this hospital has ever seen my MRI. I know this because a SrA was scrambling around trying to find my MRI or at least get some kind of information about them (which included me giving the phone number of the MRI place)....

I had my orthopedics appointment for my shoulder today. It went okay I guess. I told the doc I was tired of the pain and the runaround he understood then said that there might be a problem with my neck (more runaround). However, he did schedule me for an MRI. So when I get a date for that I will let everyone know.