A Real Pause

Several days ago, while in Littleton, MA, I began feeling a slight twinge of pain in my left shoulder. I imagined it was a sore muscle and put it out of my mind. I rode to Cambridge last Friday to spend the weekend with my friend Melissa, and the pain, although not acute, didn’t abate. By Monday morning, I suddenly couldn’t move my arm without upsetting something and  sending sharp stabs of pain through my shoulder and down my arm. Getting on the bike wasn’t even possible, so I decided to take the bus to NYC to see my trusted GP. One appointment and one X-ray later, I found out today I have a bone spur on my shoulder. I’m not sure why it started to become a problem just this last week, but I’m now on muscle relaxants to try to stop the inflammation/irritation cycle and hopefully eventually the pain (which hasn’t subsided). I’ve been advised to halt the trip, which I would’ve had to do anyway since (as before) I can’t even move my arm into position to get on a bike. (Typing, on the other hand, isn’t a problem since I can do it with my upper arm parallel to my torso, which is my least painful position.) I’m not sure what happens next, but I’ll be basing myself in NYC over the next several days while I figure it out. During that time, I’ll try to write about the last couple of traveling weeks, including the Sufis, the Shakers, Northampton, and the Gropius House.