2003-06-05 - 6:57 a.m.
Ange du Morte - the legend grows.
Sorry to everyone who e-mailed me yesterday and didn't get a reply - I'm up to my ears in University class stuff, and barely have time to eat, let alone do e-mail. At least, that's my excuse. Since I got a number of enquiries about the diagnosis, I thought I'd put it up here after all - besides, it's a slow news day at Casa AoD. What's wrong: I have developed scar tissue in my scapular muscles, which is setting off "trigger points" in my nerves, which is causing pain in my arms. It's all in my back, apparently. How it happened: My doctor thinks it was a combination of stress and all the things I do - fencing, sewing, arts, crafts, and so on, that slowly hardened the muscles, leading to the fibres being replaced with scar tissue. Bob and a couple of other people have a different theory, which I'll talk more about in a minute. The treatment: Deep-tissue massage and stretching to break up the scar tissue, then slow and careful strength training to rebuild the muscles. The doctor says I basically need to realign all the muscles in my upper body to prevent this happening again. It's going to take a while; no fighting for a year or possibly more. But I *will* fight again. Now, about that alternative theory for why I have scar tissue in my shoulder muscles: I was telling Bob, Matt and Alan about the scar tissue, and how when the doctor told me what I had, I was thinking "scar tissue? I don't remember doing anything back there". The boys are convinced it's where I got my angel wings chopped off so that I could blend subtly into society (as if the black clothes and skull antenna topper wouldn't tip anyone off). Apparently I don't remember it being done because I was under the influence of heavenly nectar at the time, which appears to have the memory-wiping properties of a bottle of banana-flavoured rum drunk a shot at a time (and that *was* a hell of a party - at least, the bits I remember). So, there you are. I'm having problems because I got my wings surgically removed. And to judge by the scar tissue (large and rock hard), I got the wings done by the National Health Service (English free health care - you get what you pay for), who also removed my tonsils, but left enough scar tissue that I still get tonsillitis on a fairly regular basis. But with regular massage, I'll be able to go back to wreaking havoc without relying on pain pills. After all, how scary is an angel of death that whines about her pain instead of inflicting it on others, the way she's supposed to? Heh.
Dorsal - Ventral
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