When Life Gives You Lemons!

I went to see a new orthopedic surgeon yesterday for a second opinion on my shoulder issues. His recommendation for a lasting solution is surgery on both shoulders about 6 months apart. That’s a year of limited use. It takes about 6 months for each shoulder to heal. That’s pretty much a no go. The weird thing is that my shoulders only really hurt badly when I am woodturning. The bad thing is I’m a woodturner.

When life gives you lemons you can make lemonade, but what if you plant the seeds too and grow lemon trees? It looks like I’m going to have to do something different in the medium to long term. If you follow me, you’ve noticed cutting boards and cheese/charcuterie boards cropping up on my website. The process that I use to make those products is much more shoulder friendly. So for now, that’s what you will be seeing most of. I laid off turning for six months, only beginning to turn this month. I had hoped the lay-off would be enough. It wasn’t.

After this flare up subsides, I will try physical therapy again. There is some possibility that if I build up all of the muscles in my shoulders that the inflammation will subside. It’s worth another try. Steroids stop the inflammation and significantly reduce the pain but they have bad long term side effects. I am taking other medication but it, by itself, is not preventing the flare ups.

So lemonade and lemon trees it is for now. I have about 200 bowls waiting to be finish turned. Good thing is they don’t go bad.