The MRI, take two

I finally went and had my MRI done on Friday.  My regular doctor prescribed a sedative for me, so I was able to sleep through the procedure.  I don't remember more than small snippets of the actual procedure. This is a very good thing, although I now know that sedatives make me totally loopy and not worth anything after taking it!  I slept quite a bit on Friday.  I was moving very slowly when I was awake, which was unusual for me.  Even my chiropractor noticed that I was sluggish when I went in to talk to him.

They got the results of the MRI the same day.  There wasn't any visible damage to nerves or muscles to attribute to the pain I've had in my shoulder/neck area.  The nerves all look great.  Now we get to talk to an orthopedic doctor and see what he thinks is going on.  In the meantime, I'm restricted from pushups (although I'm going to test the boundaries on some things), planks, running, etc.  He did say I could use an elliptical machine, so that may be in the works for this afternoon.  I can go swimming as long as I don't push it.  Nothing that will affect my shoulder.  

I'm going to the Natatorium today.  If I can't do any other workouts, the least I can do is work on getting my overall fitness up.  I WILL be healthier this year!  My goal for the month of February is to lose 5 pounds (and I'm only setting it at 5 because I don't want to discourage myself).  My goal is February 24th.  It was recommended to set a goal that is attainable and that is not unreachable, so there it is.  Now it's out in writing too, so I can't pull it back.

Testing...testing...testing...

Tomorrow I'm going to have an MRI after work.  I've been fighting with pain in my neck and upper back, between my shoulder blade and the spine, plus some odd pain down my left side and in the front of my collarbone.  It's all isolated to the left side, which I found odd.  I visited my regular doctor, who found nothing wrong.  I visited my chiropractor, and he diagnosed a pinched nerve, but it didn't get much better.  I can lift my left arm now, which wasn't possible a few months ago.  Unfortunately, the pain hasn't really gone completely away, which has my chiropractor wondering why.  He's tried to avoid this but finally came down to "we're going to do an MRI".  I'm going in tomorrow after work.  We shall see in a few weeks what's going on.  In the meantime, I don't get to "play" at karate and have to be cautious about what I do with my arm.  One of the guys at work told me it was my poor posture at my desk which is probably contributing to my shoulder issue.   They all have theories about what's causing the problem.  I carry a laptop to work, but that's on my right shoulder and I haven't had any problems on the right side.   Ah well.  I'll find out what the problem is and we can address the issue from there.
I want to get back to karate.  I want to start working on the things I need to work on, like forms and sparring.  I want to get back into weight lifting, so that I can kill off the "bat wings" on my arms.  I guess I need to learn patience.  I just don't want that patience.  I want it NOW.