First, the MRI was not as unpleasant as I had expected. I had it last week. It took about 30 minutes, was mildly uncomfortable, and did not involve nasty injections or consumption of vile fluids. I can see how some folks could get claustrophobic in the thing but it didn’t bother me much. The biggest issue was how loud it was so close to my head, and the attendant’s request that I be as still as possible. Whenever someone says that, you know your nose/eyebrow/something is going to start itching, so most of the time I lay there wishing my nose wouldn’t itch and wishing it was all done.

The results showed that I have a tear in a tendon in my right shoulder and have to now go consult with an orthopedic specialist. This really wasn’t a surprise to me in that I’d google’d the heck out of this and was already pretty sure that’s what was wrong with me, it just took an expensive MRI to confirm it. The worse news is at least from my general practitioner’s point of view, I don’t have a great shot at being a candidate for surgery for the issue – once you get past 35 I guess your chances of healthy recovery from repairs of this nature is not great. I’ll remain optimistic until I talk to the specialist though. Who knows – I’m in great shape, take care of myself, and know how to be disciplined about exercise/physical therapy regimens when I need to, so maybe surgery remains on the table for someone like me. I should find out in a couple of weeks.