New update today! While things have generally been slow and plodding up until now, I can safely say that I have now started on the road to recovery. Earlier today, I finally received my standing desk at work. I’m still waiting on my keyboard, mouse and mat but I’ll gladly take a slightly stiff lower back over debilitating rotator cuff pain any day. Furthermore, I start my physical therapy tomorrow. Worker’s Comp hasn’t gone through yet but thinking on it, I’d rather pay out of pocket for treatment than live every day like that for another month. I’m not gonna get overly optimistic about recovery time but god damn is it good to actually be doing something to get better than play the waiting game.

-TB

So as some of you may be aware, I was having some problems with pain in my right arm a few months ago. I’ve been pretty quiet about it for a while now because I hate to burden my followers with my personal problems but I think it’s worth explaining why I haven’t been posting much.

After my first episode, I saw a doctor who prescribed me some pain killers while I healed from a rotator cuff strain. My rotator cuff eventually healed but it was just a symptom of a larger problem. My day job has me sitting at a shoddy desk in a bad chair for the better part of 10 hours each day. I regularly see a massage therapist to alleviate the damage but it’s catching up to me. Even with pain killers and massages, I’m in significant pain by the end of the day and when I get home, drawing is the last thing on the agenda. Lately my evenings have been spent resting, icing my aching muscles and just trying to keep myself from falling apart before the next day. It even persists into the weekends, making it hard to draw for anything more than a couple hours before I’m in too much pain to continue. I do my best to produce what I can but I’m so afraid of pushing myself too hard and injuring myself all over again. I requested an ergonomic desk from work but that was four months ago and yesterday I learned it could yet be another two months before they arrive. It’s a bad situation.

It had gotten so bad that I had to put in a case for Worker’s Compensation today. I don’t know if anything will come of it yet but in an ideal world, I’ll get some time off and physical therapy to manage my pain. But until that point, well, I’m just not going to be able to draw all that frequently. I thank you all for understanding and once I have something concrete, I’ll get you folks updated.

-TB

So I went to the doc and the news wasn’t bad. No tears, no permanent damage but it seems I did have a minor injury in my rotator cuff. Muscle likely sprained so they’ve got me on some anti-inflammatories and orders to not strain myself. Sports are right out but the doc says drawing should be fine as long as it doesn’t put me in pain. I’ll test the waters in one of my Tuesday streams and see how we’re feeling after that. Worst case scenario, I can find a posture to draw on my phone that doesn’t strain my shoulder. But obviously the tablet is the preferred medium of choice.

No matter how things go, I should be right as rain in a couple weeks so thanks for baring with me.

-TB