JetBlue All You Can Jet - Shoulder Season

With a week or so to go before traveling, what is there to do? Confirm final arrangements, start packing, go to physical therapy.

Wait... what? physical therapy? Why am I going to 3 physical therapy appointments this week, in the midst of all this travel prep?

Several weeks ago, maybe it's even been a couple of months, I pulled something in my shoulder. Frankly, I think sitting at a computer for hours and hours does not help my shoulders one bit. I'm trying to get up more often to stretch, and try to keep my arms are resting on something, but I can't always do it. Holding your arm out over your mouse, keyboard or track ball for hours at a time must be hard on shoulders. That's just my own non-medical theory.

Then one day I was moving fairly quickly, I stretched and reached out suddenly (to mail a letter from my car, of all things) and OUCH, felt like I had pulled my own arm out of my socket. Ouch. Pain. What have I done? It felt okay when my arm was not making any extraordinary moves, so I kind of forgot about it. But then I used that arm to pull myself up on a bus. OUCH. Shoot, I forgot, my shoulder is screwed up. Then it felt okay. Then I decided to try on some raincoats at a store. Reaching around to put that second arm in the sleeve. OUCH. Yikes. This is not good.

When I got the AYCJ travel pass, I started imagine 30 days of travel, lugging my luggage for days and days. I decided to have someone look at my shoulder. I'm now in physical therapy to try to get the range of motion back in my shoulder.

Geesh, how did I do this, I'm not THAT old. Well, this is the oldest I've been yet, but still. Is this the universe telling me to slow down a bit? My first experience with physical therapy has been really good. My arm's range of motion seems to be slowly expanding. But I am impatient and want it to get better faster. So I'm doing my exercises, slowly trying to stretch it back to its previous flexibility. And I have made the executive decision... to check a bag. I think using the overhead compartment repeatedly over 30 days might just be asking for unnecessary shoulder trouble.

So, another note for this journey, can I survive 30 days of travel with only one fully functioning shoulder? Better go stretch some more...