acredsfan

[acredsfan]

Well, I figured I might as well join the party! I've got one of my senior pictures which is about two years old, then the other ones aren't very good, I'm not very good at taking pictures with my webcam.

[acredsfan]

Ok, it's time to update the old pictures. I look so young in the old ones. Anyway, out with the old, in with the new....

These are various pictures from a recent trip to florida. My girlfriend is in a few of them. Most of them are self explanatory, others are just cool...

[Tommyjohn25]

Nice pics! But I also have to compliment your avatar, House is the best show I've ever seen hands down!

[acredsfan]

Originally Posted by Tommyjohn25

Nice pics! But I also have to compliment your avatar, House is the best show I've ever seen hands down!

Thanks. House is the best, I just hope the detective character is done.

[TeamBoone]

Awesome pics! Wouldn't ya just love to live that life every day? (I would)

I watch House every week too.

[acredsfan]

Well, I have talked about my surgery in a few threads that I had on my right shoulder. I was the first person known to have had this surgery, and I haven't heard of any since. I thought I'd share some pictures of my custom brace... It's the Hummer of arm braces. Anyway, I have mentioned before that I really believe that pitchers may have the problem I did, but the means of dectecting it are very unknown. This could explain pitchers losing velocity mysteriously, experiencing pain when in their shoulder, experiencing numbness/tingling, and many other things, including weakness and fatigue. I was misdiagnosed with a labrum tear, a torn rotator cuff, tendonitis (which I have since learned that it basically means that a doctor doesn't know what is wrong.) and many more things. I went through two and a half years of doctors visits, chiropractor visits and countless sessions of therapy. I had 5 MRIs, numerous x-rays, and finally 5 EMG's. It was finally caught by a therapist from Oxford physical therapy and a doctor from the Wellington group. Anyway, I'm rambling... Here's the pics... sorry they are such bad quality. I had to wear this 24/7 for 6 weeks..

[RANDY IN INDY]

What was the final diagnosis?

[acredsfan]

Well, I had nerve damage in my back and shoulder. There is no way to be sure how it was caused, the leading candidate was a virus that attacked my nerves. The term is Parsonage Turner Syndrome. I also have Long Thoracic Nerve Palsy. I had a very extreme case that caused scapular winging, which just means my muscles that held down my shoulder blade didn't work and it would "flare out" when I tried to lift my arm, making it impossible to lift my arm. I had a very extreme case. My doctor took two hamstring tendons and attached them to my pec tendon to hold down my shoulder blade. They now go under my arm pit to my back and I had to go through therapy to teach my pec muscle to sqeeze when I live my shoulder. I became a case study for my doctor. He actually practiced the surgery on a cadaver. The nerves never grew back in my shoulder so I live with constant pain and numbness in parts of my arm and shoulder. I'm no doctor, so my explanation is very vague and I hope it makes sense. I have video of what my shoulder blade did. It is really pretty cool. The other things that could have caused this nerve damage would be trauma to the area, a pinched nerve, or the most surprising to me was that deep tissue massage can cause nerve damage. The Parsonage Turner Syndrome is seen in swimmers because of how violently they move their arms above their head. In a study of high school and college athletes, Long thoracic nerve palsy was shown to be more frequent in softball pitchers, baseball pitchers, and people who constantly lift weights.