It looks as if I’m going on the disabled list to have my left shoulder repaired. I’m scheduled to have arthroscopic surgery on the old wing next Thursday.
I will be out of pocket at least two or three weeks. Talk about a great way to celebrate the Fourth of July. At least I’ll be ready for football season — I hope.
The reality is, the older I get the younger I was and no place is age more evident when I’m trying to pump a little iron.
Four weeks ago, I was doing some lateral flies with what I thought was a reasonable weight. It was a weight I’ve used before, but I might not be using again. I know I won’t use it again anytime soon.
Early in the first set, I felt something pop in the shoulder. OK, explode is a better word for what I felt, but I’ve had that exploding feeling before and nothing happened. I had surgery on the shoulder when I was 19 and I just thought I was loosening the old wing up.
I always try to do the flies first to loosen up my upper back and shoulders. Even with the explosion I kept working out, three sets of 10 reps each at six or seven stations.
The shoulder hurt a little, but nothing too bad. However, but Thursday night and Baker School’s football jamboree at South Walton I was feeling the pain. Maybe the heavy camera bag I sport has something to do with things getting worse – I don’t really know.
To make a long story short, I made an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon. Fortunately I was able to get an appointment within a week of the mishap.
One MRI and another office visit later I was told sooner or later the shoulder will need to be scoped. My bicep is pulling away from the shoulder and there is a lifetime of bone fragments floating around in there as well. I figured sooner makes sense.
The fact is the MRI only shows so much and even with all of today’s great medical technology the best option is to just go into the joint and see what’s wrong.
I was told I’ll probably need an artificial joint in the shoulder somewhere in the future. My hope is that future is a distant future.
I joke about my old aching body sometimes. There are even times I wonder if I wouldn’t be experiencing as many problems if I had avoided playing high school football. But I have no regrets about playing the game that has come to mean so much to me.
I’m not sure how long the basic recovery time is. I know most people need three to six weeks to start getting back into a flow after a scope.
I want to get the shoulder fixed before the start of football practice Aug. 1. I know I won’t be 100 percent by then, but I should be getting close.
Don’t worry, I’ll be back and I’ll be ready to go into what should be an interesting fall in football and volleyball for local schools.
Email News Bulletin Sports Editor Randy Dickson, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: DICKSON: Facing the disabled list