Them bones: I have a Hills-Sachs lesion

hills_sachs_lesion.jpg

My previous post promised an explanation of the mysterious bodily images. Most of you can probably guess what it was--the inside of my (right) shoulder.The soft, white/fleshy looking stuff of the torn labrum in need of repair.A big surprise occurred during surgery when Dr. Z saw that my humerus was not just (repeatedly) dislocating out of the shoulder, but it was also knocking a hole in to the ball-joint-thingy in my shoulder. (I know, real high-tech talk here.)This type of injury is called a Hill-Sachs lesion (named after two guys who, um, decided to name this injury after themselves). And as Wikipedia explains, "Large, engaging Hill-Sachs fractures can contribute to shoulder instability and will often cause painful clicking, catching, or popping." And that's exactly what was happening to me. See the bone crashing into the ball? OK... now look at the photo of where my bone repeatedly crashed into my shoulder ball-thingy seven times in the past year.The bone part is white, and the pink material that looks like cotton candy is the inside of my bone!Isn't that fantastic? I am amazed.

Liz Salmi

Liz Salmi is Communications & Patient Initiatives Director for OpenNotes at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Over the last 15 years Liz has been: a research subject; an advisor in patient stakeholder groups; a leader in “patient engagement” research initiatives; and an innovator, educator and investigator in national educational and research projects. Today her work focuses on involving patients and care partners in the co-design of research and research dissemination. It is rumored Liz was the drummer in a punk rock band.

https://thelizarmy.com
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