I will be visiting one of my three orthopedic surgeons tomorrow to look at my swollen elbow once more. Last June 2009, I had arthroscopic surgery to remove bone spurs and repair a torn tendon that attaches to my right elbow. Of course, I'm right-handed.
I took a picture for you to see what I am talking about. My elbow reminds me of my father's elbows. He had bone spurs that protruded just like mine. Check this out!
As you can see, the elbow itself has a nasty large bone spur. If you look to the right of the bone spurred elbow, you'll see the swollen tendon that attaches to my elbow joint.
I have lost a lot of definition in this arm due to the major surgeries last year and the inability to exercise the joint. When I put any undo stress on the muscles and tendons of the joint, the elbow swells. Not even icing it will reduce the swelling. It also keeps me awake at nights... Arrggghhhh! :(
I'm expecting that the good doctor will want to shoot some more steroid into my elbow. If so, this will be the fourth injection in about a year and a half. Each time I get a steroid shot, it has a negative effect on my blood sugars and causes my readings to go up dramatically. That, in itself, is not good since I was recently placed on long-lasting Lantus and I'm already up to 50 units per day trying to keep it below 150!
I guess when I visit my PCP next month, I'll be asking for a referral to an endocrinologist. My wife, who is a juvenile diabetic, has been seeing a particular doctor who she likes. My wife wears an insulin pump and a monitor. Cool technology that didn't exist ten years ago! It has really helped her control her brittle diabetes.
I'm going to ask the surgeon if there is any other alternatives rather than having shoots every three months or so. Maybe he needs to make another visit inside to see what is causing this recurrence of swelling(?).
Dad
