-=> Ardith Hinton wrote to James Bradley <=-

 AH>  I developed a rotator cuff (shoulder muscle) injury
 AH>  akin to your bursitis.  [...]

 JB>  No... I doubt it. My bursitis is self inflicted. 


 AH>           In retrospect, I had been pushing my physical
 AH> limits for some time... but until the pain settled in I
 AH> didn't consciously add everything up.  Seems to me you know
 AH> when you're overdoing it.  I'll know better in future
 AH> (maybe).  :-)

Good luck with that!  Did you - in retrospect - see signs that you 
should slow down with the rotating at the cuff, or did you just wake up 
with it?

As you know, I have such a nerve deficit from surgical damage, it took me 
forever to recognize my boundaries, and another eternity before I *started* 
to respect them. I still often need to cue into secondary symptoms to 
realize that damage has occurred, and those often show up days later, 
so....

 JB>  Seriously, this isn't the first time it has given you
 JB>  trouble, right?


 AH>           You're thinking of the other shoulder... [wry grin].

I trust you'll forgive my ignorance?  I have an axiom for 
carpentry. Never hit your left thumb so hard, that it can't swing the same 
hammer into the right thumb. 'Ya think it'll catch on?  Seriously, I 
suppose exercise is in order once you have the pain under control?

 AH>           According to our chiropractor, it's inflammation.  He has a
 AH> technique for draining the lymph glands which seems to have
 AH> helped a lot.  He is also the person who initially compared
 AH> it to bursitis... which, BTW, both my father & my father-in-
 AH> law had many years ago.  I gather any repetitive motion
 AH> involving the shoulder (such as hammering nails or digging
 AH> up the vegetable garden in spring) can lead to this sort of
 AH> problem, especially with people who are middle-aged or
 AH> older & whose endurance isn't quite what it used to be.  I
 AH> imagine you may have been building yet another fence when
 AH> your shoulder said "Enough, already!"  ;-)

My shoulder? I thought we were talking about your (other) shoulder?  

Coincidentally - *maybe* sympathetically |-) I woke in the middle of the 
night to what I imagine was rotator cuff "inflammation". I guess my gland 
drained itself, because it was mostly gone by morning. But, back to you....


 AH>           Yes.  I had been negligent WRT the exercises I generally do
 AH> during TV commercial breaks.  (To me they're boring, as are the
 AH> majority of commercials.) Although these exercises involve
 AH> both shoulders, we seldom watch much TV in the warmer &
 AH> drier months.  Then summer's end found me in circumstances
 AH> akin to the latter.  It's a long story, but I am beginning
 AH> to see the humour in it....  :-)

Well, that's the first dose of medicine.  Funny, but I managed to put my first bed in for *years* this 
summer. Mostly, I threw a bunch of stuff in to keep the weeds at bay until 
some strawberry can establish them self in the nursery, and found a few 
things that are going to return next year. 

Did this summer find you too digging in the dirt?

 JB>  [...] to swing your arm up and down?


 AH>           Yes, or lift it high enough to brush your own
 AH> teeth without some kind of support for the shoulder.  I
 AH> kept my elbows close to my body & supported the injured
 AH> side with the opposite hand at first.  And contrary to
 AH> proper etiquette
 AH> ... i.e. as generally prescribed for "strong & able" young
 AH> folks at summer camp
 AH> ... I made use of any available surface for support when I had to raise
 AH> my hand to my mouth at mealtimes.  I'm practising to be a
 AH> feisty old lady some day.  If others would rather I starve
 AH> than put my elbows on the table, I've got news for them!

"Feisty [...] lady some day." Because of the modifier qualifying the 
statement, I'll let it slip this one time. 

 AH> For those who aren't so hung up on convention I'd be more
 AH> than delighted to explain how I've modified my computer
 AH> desk & chair at no extra cost....  :-)

I'm almost afraid to ask, but when it's in you to explain.... 

 JB>  *think* I can forgive you for your reticence. [-|{

 AH>           Aww, shucks!  Thanks....  :-)

... The *least* I could do. 


 AH>           I start to worry about you when I haven't heard a peep out of
 AH> Calgary in two months because Kevin's system is down.

He had a few issues. One was moving to a new OS, ROMDOS and it sounds like 
I took out his modem while downloading a mail package. As long as his 
health holds - that's the main thing. The rest is just toys and trinkets.

 AH> Apart from that... I realize I'm a weirdo.  All my
 AH> favourite people are weirdos.  How could it be otherwise
 AH> when we're dealing with weird stuff hardly anybody else
 AH> understands?  If it takes me awhile to answer sometimes, it
 AH> may also be I'm blown away that you do....  :-))

Line starts behind me, sister! 


... James
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