3 Early Signs of Trouble

It was around 2004 when I couldn’t understand why I always had difficulty doing the downward dog pose in my yoga class. Then, while looking in the mirror one day, I noticed that the top of my right shoulder had some unexplained atrophy. I didn’t think much about it until I had difficulty keeping up with others on a kayak outing.

 

During the next couple of years, I developed neck pain that my doctors diagnosed as arthritis and disintegrated disks. My physical therapy and cortisone injections gave me little relief. When I noticed unexplained right arm weakness, I went to a local neurologist. He said he didn’t know what was wrong and referred me to a neurosurgeon. That didn’t seem right to me, so I searched for other options. I jumped at the chance when I was able to get an appointment at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona.