So Confused About My Shoulder Injury

[SpcDearman]

Hello my fellow veterans. I do hope that I have the correct forum here. First of all I would like to thank the creators of this forum. I have researched and this site is the most informational. I do not know how I changed the font just now but here we go. I fell from the rope pull about halfway up in basic training and damaged both arms. I dealt with the pain due to WANTING to through with basic. I finished basic and moved to Korea for my first assignment. While there, i swamped one m2a1 bradley and again fell off trying to exit the vehicle. I was then stationed at FT. Hood Texas where the injuries started taking its toll. I went from vehicle driver to dismount (wlaking clicks at a time with a pack and radio. I sometimes had to hump with the m60's gear on my back. Lo and behold, I get another opportunity to drive and drive sideways into a tank ditch (ok you can laugh now). Upon exiting the vehicle, I fell once again and really felt alot of pain. I complained about my shoulders upon reaching FT. Hood and had at leasxe 3 complaints a week. This is documented in my military records. Long story short, I have recently only been able to be on a pain level of 8 when the winter comes. Now, I consistantly vary on pain daily from 5 to 10. I went to the VA and had two MrI's done due to PT being detrimental to my physical being. It made me at a 10 constantly. I cam confused due to being in a developmental status since may of 2011. Here is what the MRI results told my doctor and I. If anyone can help with these I would greatly appreciate it. All are without contrast.

Right Shoulder

Mild inferiror osteophytosis of the acromioclavicular joint with probable mild impingement of the supraspinatus myotendious junction

Probable degenerative fraying of the anterior labrum

Mild sprain versus partial tear of the humeral attachement of the glenohumberal ligament.

Mild tendinosis of the long head of the biceps tendon

Partial Thickness rim rent tear with tendonitis of the supraspinatus tendon.

Tendonitis with partial thickness deep surface tear at the subscapularis tendon; mild atrophy of the subscapularis muscle.

****And here is the kicker**** Other findings as discussed

Primary Diagnostic Code: Abnormality; Attention needed

I am as scared as a Republican having to run against President Obama. Ok not funny. Can someone please help me with this. the bad thing is that this is only for the right shoulder. The left shoulder is just as bad. I am a big boy. Let me have it. :)

[381sps]

Be carefull what you wish for shoulder surgery was the worst of all the surgeries I have had. I have had slap repairs on both shoulders one turned out good the other needs surgery again and I will hold off on that as long as I can. Currently going through PT on it. Then you have to go through some PT after wards and thats some real pain there. A very good doc is key .

[SpcDearman]

Thank you for the response. I am in so much pain now that I am hoping for surgery. I,once again, had to get my wife to dress me this morning. Both shoulders are locked and it is painful to even type this. reaching the ESC key is horrible. I have so much work to do today that I had to come in as is. If your shoulders are a 2012 camaro then mine today feel like a 1972 Pinto. I just went up 6 flights of stairs to reach accounting and they are just sore from gravity pulling on them. I cant even turn a door handle without pain. 12 more days until my Ortho appiontment with a VA doc. I have a question though. If I do have to have surgery, does VA HAVE to perform it? Can I get a civilian Dr. to perform it.

[john999]

PT for shoulder surgery will bring tears to your eyes. Take a big dose of pain meds about one hour before the PT.

[SpcDearman]

PT did bring tears to my eyes. I was set up for 1 hour sessions. We probably lasted about 15 minutes each seesion. Well maybe 30 minutes but 15 minutes of that was laying down with a heating pad on my shoulder trying to loosen it up. BTW Veterans Affairs, the heat pads that you gave me are AWESOME lol. They even strap to themselves. My question for now is, could there be anything more that I can get for VA to make my claim more easily approved or should I just see what they say after my Ortho appointment on the 21st.

[SpcDearman]

I will keep everyone informed on what happens and will ask for help on how to move forward. Tommorrow is the date of my Ortho appointment. Man that time went by fast.

[SpcDearman]

Ok so I attended the appointment with my Orthopedic doctor yesterday. My appointment was at 2:00 and I wasnt seen until 4:30. I am used to that by now. It looked as if an intern was reading my mri results. Here is what is going to happen moving forward. They would like for me to start doing physical therapy to strengthen the other muscles so that the ones that are damaged do not have to work as hard. That makes no sense to me whatsoever. It would be making the non injured muscle work harder but what about the others. I also will be getting steroid shots again. I hate the steroid shots. I can deal with the pain but then I have to miss half of a day for the shot and the entire next day for recovery. If that doesnt work, then I am going to have to have a scope and surgery begins. Now for the question session. If I have NUMEROUS complaints in my c-file for shoulder pain but no recorded accidents ( at that time nothing but my medivac was documented) should I expect any problems getting my claim approved? In addition, will the physical therapy sessions halt any progress in my claim moving forward?- Oh, and here is a funny thing that raised my doctors eyes. He annotated slap tear on his notes. I explained what a slap tear was to him and he hung on my every word. I advised him that everything that we are doing now has been done with PM&R and he started laughing. He said that my first injections were probably not even in an effective area of my joint. I quote" We do a better job of this than that other department." If I can get an answer to my questions then I would greatly appreciate that. Oh, and one more really important question. Should FMLA now be involved due to me having physical therapy once per week now? I see people dropping at my job for some of the most "questionable" reasons and do not want to go that way due to missing days for an injury. Thanks guys. I appreciate ya.