Second MRI Results Are In

The doctor just called me about my second MRI results.  Well, his nurse called, actually.  She informed me that the edema in the humeral head has resolved but, bursitis has showed up.  Which, makes sense cause bursitis is very painful and I have been in a lot of pain.  I know bursitis is painful because I had it in my ankles in high school when I was playing volleyball.  It hurts like hell.  And anyone who has had bursitis in any joint will agree to that testimony.

In case you don't know or have only a vague understanding of what bursitis is, I'll help you to understand better.  A bursa is a fluid filled sac, that functions as a gliding surface to reduce friction between tissues of the body.  There are over 100 bursa sacs in the body but the major ones are located near the larger joints such as the shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees.  Bursitis is inflammation of a bursa sac and it can be caused from injury, infection, or an underlying rheumatic condition.  In my case, shoulder bursitis causes "focal tenderness" of the inflamed tissues and can also cause a "pinching" pain when the elbow is moved away from the body.

I get both of those types of pain so bursitis is making sense for answer to my shoulder problem.  However, my PCP is not sure how this relates to the problem of me not being able to raise my arm so they are sending over a referral to an Orthopedist here to work on that problem as well as the treatment of the bursitis, which can involve aspiration of the bursa fluid and/or cortisone shots.  The treatment can get much more complicated if the bursa fluid is infected so that will have to be determined as well.

Luckily, the outlook for bursitis is good unless it is accompanied by scarring around the shoulder joint and then it requires long term physical therapy which, I'm worried about because I just had surgery in my shoulder area so there could very likely be scarring.

So, I have a possible answer to the pain and treatments so I am relieved at this bit of news.  But we'll see what the Orthopedist has to say to the not-being-able-to-raise-my-arm problem, if I also have an infection, and then what kind of treatment we will proceed with.  Let's hope it's not infected and that the second part of my problem will have an answer and solution soon as well.  Getting closer but more needs to be determined.