Want some wine?

Wah. My shoulder hurts.

We've just entered week four of the AC Joint saga. And while it feels better than, say, day 3, it still feels like it hurts way more than it should be after sitting on my ass for 3 weeks. And of course, the back is kicking in again. Running was the magic pill keeping that injury under control. I tried the recumbent bike yesterday. Sucked; a half-hour of monotony. I got the heartrate up for the first time in a while, which was good. But I don't think it's doing much for the back; it seems much worse, actually.

Anyway, the web was pretty helpful when it came to self-diagnosing the injury... Ok, I hit this when I did such-and-such, but it doesn't hurt there, it hurts here. That doesn't seem right; hmm, maybe this is more serious than I thought... A few google hops later -- viola! Shoulder separation. Probably grade 1 (no bones sticking out or anything). 6-8 weeks ...or 2-3 months?! Ugh. Well, this is the internet we're talking about.

I see the doctor, then the orthopedist. Yep, 6-8 weeks. Rest. Pain is your guide. Blah blah blah. Yeah, I've already talked about that.

So now we're at week four and frankly it's hard to tell how well I'm doing on the scale from broken to fixed. Particularly against my 6-8 week window. Am I really half-way there? Am I falling behind schedule? And if so, what can I do to correct it?

Shit, I'm sounding like a F'ing project manager. Maybe I should work up a Powerpoint presentation while I'm at it.

But seriously, it'd be good to have some, well, milestones or something. And so... back to the web.

6 weeks to 3 months. Right. Still the AC joint. Check. If not surgery, rest. Yeah, yeah. Same story. Nothing new. Not what I'm looking for. What I really want is some kind of guide that can give me a better sense of my progress. Something like: "week 2. pain should subside to a dull roar, less if properly medicating; tenderness will persist with sudden or jarring movements but should not be noticeable with most normal activity. Avoid rolling shoulder forward to prevent tightening of ..."

...well, you get the idea. Regardless, it isn't there. I guess I'll just let pain lead the way.