Halting Progress, Kinda

Our power was restored Friday night. However, by then we'd already shelled out for a hotel room, having no desire to spend a third night without heat, hot water, or electricity. We checked in, took nice hot showers, went out for dinner and some beers, then curled up in bed.

As it turns out, though the power was back, the condo's boiler took until Saturday afternoon to really get going, which means we would have faced a very cold night had we come home (though we could have taken hot showers to warm up, at least). So we made the right decision.

Everything's back to normal for now...at least until the next time it snows or rains or the wind blows or thunder flashes or a tiny infant baby blows on the wires near our home. Yes, things are back to normal, but my grudge against Pepco remains.

After we got home Saturday, we cleaned the place up (including purging our refrigerator) and then I sent out all the stuff I promised agents at the conference last weekend. So, if you can believe it, I now have four partials and three fulls (plus the one 5-page request) pending.

Next on my list is wrapping up a first draft of Book 2 (my WIP). As I've probably mentioned a dozen times, I seriously think it'll just be a couple of sittings, and it's on my list for this week to finally actually do it.

Oh, and in the comments last week, Sierra asked for more information on Donald Maass's session at the conference. As it turns out, the conference organizers put up a pretty thorough outline of the session here. They did at least as good of a job as I could have done, and it's worth checking out.

Did I mention I went to an orthopedic specialist to have a look at my shoulder last week? The regular doctor I went to recommended him.

It's rotator cuff strain indeed, but he says it will heal on its own. Now, it still bugs me nearly five weeks after the fact (and actually I feel it more now than I did when I visited the doctor, which is a little disturbing), but it's less that it's soooo painful and more that I'm worried it's warning me to be careful.

He told me some exercises to avoid (like shoulder and military press) but the vast majority are OK for me to do. He didn't even order x-rays.
And I asked him about the supplements I've been taking. He said he takes fish oil for his eyes and his heart, not for his joints. But he still endorsed that one. As for glucosamine and chondroitin, he advised me to save my money. He also pointed out my problem is actually with the tendons, not the joints. However, for what it's worth: 1) I've actually been clicking and snapping less lately, and 2) I was concerned about my joints because of those noises. I've already bought a three month supply of glucosamine and chondroitin, and I'll probably stick with them for that duration.

He said to call him if the problem worsens but he definitely did not seem concerned, and didn't say anything about physical therapy.


At this point, I'm going to be more aggressive about icing it and taking ibuprofen (oddly, like I said, it worsened over the course of the week, and I have no idea why, but since two doctors have looked at it and said it's no biggie I really just need to give it more time I guess). Personally, I've never known ibuprofen to do much of anything for me, but the idea here is to bring down the irritation and then keep it down.

I've come up with a new set of workouts that avoid the problematic exercises he mentioned and add in a few things I should probably be doing anyway (like lunges). I was due for revamping my workout a bit anyway. But I'm going to wait at least another week before I start lifting, and even then maybe I'll just start with core to ensure nothing further agitates my shoulder.

Meanwhile, I've been doing cardio and have actually lost a couple of pounds since this whole thing started (I was 187 this morning and have been below 190 for weeks). That's OK, and better than gain under the circumstances, but I don't want to lose too much. I am really eager to get back to lifting, but I guess I just have to be patient with this injury. In 15 years of lifting I've never had anything like this, and I don't want it to end my run.