Up next is training for OAPU for the Dome and StrongFirst recertification. Master SFG Karen Smith is making me a program for the next 6 weeks. If I'm able to get there, I know her path is the best one to take! I found that I can use my jerk blocks and bands for regressions and I'm looking forward to working on this.
Ideally, I get the OAPU in April, and then move back into weightlifting after that... but we'll see. If it's not meant to be, I have plenty of other training options. Being pain free and fully functional is the main win, and I'm pretty much there already.
Revisiting this thread one more time to report that I did the 6 week program from Karen in March and April and it was VERY effective. I was able to rebuild my strength in OAPU training 4 days per week for 6 weeks, various assisted versions and singles, plus ISO holds and other related work that all came together to get that OAPU I needed to retest. The OAPU was there on recert test day at the Dome.
Since then I've done 2 weeks of transition training back into weightlifting and loading overhead, and now into 1st week of actual weightlifting again, with barbell snatches and jerks of decent weight. I was also able to do 24 kg TGUs again the other day. So far, so good. Shoulder is doing alright, mobility is much better, and the pain has not returned. It had first started about a year ago, and progressed slowly to the point it was when I started this thread in October. It finally started improving when I got the steroid shot and ceased the overhead barbell training back in mid-February, continuing the PT, and changing up my training. So, it has been a long journey.
I think the lesson for me was, one of my favorite quotes: "If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading." - Lao Tzu. In this case, what started out as a small problem just kept heading steadily down the wrong path. I needed to change it up, cease doing the thing that was aggravating it for a while, address weaknesses, rebuild, then start back in. Not easy to do when there's a certain type of training you really want to do, but there are many options, no matter the constraint. To keep training, and just doing what you can do while giving your body a chance to heal is the important thing. And of course, taking care of yourself.