Help Amanda, LMT, Get 2nd Rotator Cuff Surgery!

My parents have always believed that in life, whatever you do, always give 110%. They taught me that hard work pays off. I have always loved helping people, and that’s what led me to become a Massage Therapist. I have been a Licensed Massage Therapist for over 15 years and am grateful to serve my community for that long. Four years ago I started working at UPS, and my goal was to follow in my dad’s footsteps and become a truck driver while still massaging. To become a driver at UPS they have you start from the bottom up in order to climb the rungs, and I've never shied away from hard work, so I went above and beyond to achieve the goal I'd set for myself. I was massaging during the day and working UPS in the evening.

After a few months I started noticing all the physical labor was taking a tremendous toll on my body. I would come home exhausted and not be able to move my arms or grip anything due to being overworked. Alison, my wife, would serve me dinner in the shower once I got home when all I wanted to do was go to bed. After close to two years of repeating this cycle, my arm started to get worse. I thought the discomfort was due to overworking myself, so I decided to quit UPS and simply continued to massage. About a month later I went in for my first MRI and found I had a tear on my left shoulder, and was advised not to jump into surgery right away. I spent several months in physical therapy and received multiple cortisone shots with no insurance at the time to help with expenses. Nothing helped and I felt I was getting worse.

Fast forward to February 2021, when I chose to have ICL surgery - contacts that are permanently implanted in both eyes due to my astigmatism being so high I could no longer find anyone to make contacts or glasses for me. This was my only option, and this procedure came with complications, resulting in 5 more procedures on one eye after the initial surgery. Within this time I couldn’t do much by myself, I wasn't working or able to blow off steam at the gym, and I fell into a deep depression. It was God, my family and Alison who helped pull me back into the light. Once my problematic eye situation was finally resolved I thought disaster was all in the past, but once I stopped the pain medication I had been prescribed for my eye my left arm started giving me problems again.

A second MRI revealed that now I had two tears and a bone spur on my left shoulder. My surgeon, Dr. Westbrook, took one look at my MRI results and recommended open rotator cuff surgery immediately. On August 27, 2021 I underwent open rotator cuff surgery on my left shoulder. It was a brutal and lengthy recovery, being a left-handed human and having little to no use of my dominant arm. As l was getting better from my left shoulder, my right shoulder started experiencing the same pain and discomfort the left arm once had exhibited. My doctor and l were hoping it was just signs of overcompensation for the left arm being temporarily out of order. In December 2021 I received an MRI on my right shoulder and have been diagnosed with two tears on my right shoulder. I will officially be needing open rotator cuff surgery on my right shoulder.

I’m still making payments for my past procedures. As a self-employed massage therapist, I have been unable to work due to the pain in my arm - even while typing this up my arm has gone numb several times. I am unable to qualify for unemployment, as their offices have rejected my candidacy based on not having enough work credits over the past several years because - you guessed it - I'm self-employed. I’m reaching out to anyone that can help, however you can. A little goes a long way and I will appreciate anything! Please help me return to my passion of helping people and getting back to massaging. God bless!