But my elbow still hurts

As you may recall, the reason I got my mammogram in the first place is because I went in to get an order for an elbow MRI, and I decided on the mammogram sort of as an afterthought. I have been dealing with elbow tendinitis for over 18 months and I'm getting sick of it. If you take away the emotional stress, my elbow is impacting my quality of life way more than my breast is. Prior to today, I have seen two docs, a physical therapist, and a chiropractor for this problem. I have had 4 corstisone injections, therapy, and even wore a big brace for awhile. The MRI diagnosed a chronic partial tear at the origin of the common digital extensor tendon - aka late stage lateral epicondylitis (or tennis elbow).

I have scheduled and re-scheduled a second opinion with an orthopedic surgeon several times since my MRI in March. Finally, I was able to make my appointment and drove down to Twin Cities Orthopedics in Edina this morning. What a fantastic building! It was huge and new and very busy, yet organized. There were like 6 different check in places depending on who your surgeon was. Many of the patients were either young athletes (like high school age) or really old (ie fractured hip age). It kind of gave me pause, going into the building. I'm no longer a young athlete, so I must be on my way to a broken hip. It's all downhill from this point on, isn't it? Crap! The surgeon was very nice, ordered up a second set of x-rays, and actually spent quite a bit of time explaining my options. Basically, if left alone, my tendinitis would likely "burn out" in a few years, but he did acknowledge that in the meantime I would be in as much pain as I currently am. How much pain is that? It's not severe, but it is constant. It even wakes me up at night. It affects my ability to do certain tasks, like get a gallon of milk from the refrigerator or grab one of my kids when they're misbehaving or running into the street (which, even at 7, the girls still do!).

He did recommend arthroscopic surgery, although he touched on some other treatment options such as platelet-rich plasma (which would not be covered by insurance, BTW). I would be out of work for 10-14 days, and have limitations for about 6 weeks. I am leaning towards having the surgery, but I have to wait until after my appointment with the breast surgeon tomorrow so that I can figure out the timing of the procedures. I would like to have the elbow surgery in June so that if I wasn't working, I would at least be able to be home with the kids.

I was sipping a smoothie on the drive to my appointment, when I had an unfortunate smoothie accident (which I did predict to Lisa before I left - just ask her!). I tipped the glass up and the half-frozen smoothie was inching down towards my mouth, when suddenly the entire thing came at me, covering much of my face and getting on my jacket. I had to use one of my kid's used socks that was lying on the floor of the van to wipe my face off. I thought I had it pretty much under control until I stopped in the restroom after my appointment and saw the berry smoothie lining the edges of my nostrils. Sweet. I wonder if the surgeon made note of that in his chart? "Extra infection control during surgery- this patient is not very hygienic."

No news about the breast MRI yet. At this point I guess I'll find out the results tomorrow at my appointment. The "big" appointment where I hear all about what I have and what the plan is. I'll let you know.