Just wanted to give an update. I am 90% recovered from the pinched nerve/damaged nerve/something like that that occurred on 12/14. I am now convinced I pinched a nerve in my neck, not my shoulder.
The first 2 weeks were really no fun, with every movement of my left arm/ shoulder causing pain/burning/numbness, with improvement from day to day being so small that it seemed as if it would not improve without significant intervention.
Sometime around the 1st week of January, the rate of improvement picked up, and I began to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was able to stop taking pain meds (extra strength Tylenol mostly), and was able to begin to do things I took for granted before, like shaving in the shower. By the end of the 2nd week of January I began to experiment with very light workouts, and although there was some discomfort and numbness during some exercises, it did not persist after I finished. This past week I started to ramp up lifting, very cautiously, and the last 2 days did about 75% of my normal (post injury) sets at about 60% of the normal weight. I am a bit sore (it sucks how fast you lose conditioning at almost 60), which actually feels great!
I still have numbness in my thumb and index finger, and slightly less numbness in my middle finger. There is still lingering discomfort (as I type this I can feel a little discomfort down the back of my arm), my arm still goes numb sometimes, especially bending down to tie my shoe or get the dogs ready for a walk. My left shoulder and arm definitely have some lingering weakness. But all and all, I am so happy to be where I am today vs where I found myself 12/15.
I did discover that health insurance is all but useless for something like this, atleast in the short term. They denied the MRI and nerve conductivity tests in favor of physical therapy for 6 weeks, none of which I could get schedule before February. Maybe in my case denying the MRI/nerve conductivity was the right move, as I seem to working my way to a full recovery, but if I had not significantly recovered, and I had to suffer for weeks with the debilitating pain, I would not be a happy camper. Added to that my company messed up my health insurance at the new year leaving me uncovered until I fixed it...not fun.
I'll be testing myself a little more today, as I need to move hay from a storage barn to the horse barn...great fun.