On Having Rotator Cuff Surgery

I am the proud graduate of a 5 month round of Physical Therapy after having had my left rotator cuff repaired on April 7, 2011.  Those are the weights I now use as I continue the rehab process at home.  Please don't laugh!  Those of you who work out will recognize these are only 1 lb and 2 lb weights!  But believe me, when I first started, these were very heavy!  In fact, there were no weights when I first started rehab!

Rotator Cuff Surgery was quite an experience!  Something I had not planned to ever experience.  I take care of patients with this surgery -- I am not supposed to NEED this surgery, right?  It was an amazing learning experience!  I really can now counsel patients having this surgery with a lot more information!

I wish I could say I had this injury from some wonderful physical activity experience...you know, like a sports injury.  But no, I had bone spurs in my shoulder that severed my rotator cuff from the bone.  I had no choice but to have surgery if I wanted to use my arm normally the rest of my life.

The surgery part was easy!  The doctor and the anesthesiologist had the hard part! It was a little rough on Mike, too.  I got to take a long nap!  The block they gave me took away all the shoulder pain for almost 24 hours.  My first Physical Therapy appt was the next morning for a dressing change and home exercises to learn.  No pain for that was nice!

The hardest part was the Physical Therapy.  It seemed to get more intense every week.  But I always left feeling better!  It has now been 6 months.  I am told it takes an entire year to recover fully.  Meanwhile, I continue to do exercises at home.  I have started on a program with our fitness center to increase strength.

Things I have learned from this experience (not in any order, except the first one):
1. My Husband is the most awesome husband ever!  He changed dressings, he helped me shower, he helped me dress, he fed me, he drove me places, he became an expert at setting up the ice machine...He was just Awesome!  And of course, still is!
2.  I can wash my hair with one hand.
3.  If my hair is cut short enough, I can blow dry it with one hand, too.
4.  I am very grateful that I have naturally curly hair!  Mike was not good with a curling iron!  And I was dangerous with one!
5.  Working out can be fun. Really!
6.  I can arrange pillows in such a way as to be comfortable when sleeping sitting up on the couch.
7.  I have great friends.  They fed us and encouraged me a lot!
8.  I have a wonderful family!  They were the ones who really had to put up with me!
9.  I have the sweetest granddaughter!  She really worried about my shoulder!  And she was so excited when I could pick her up again!  It was a long 4 months!
10. I can drive my car with one hand, too.  
11.  I know all the best channels to watch during the middle of the night when I could not sleep.
12.  Ice machines are a wonderful invention!  Ice water flows through a little half vest type thing that you strap on.  Deliciously cold!  Very helpful!  I often went to sleep with it on!
13.  I am claustrophobic.  Did not know this until they strapped me in an MRI machine.
14.  I can overcome being claustrophobic in an MRI.  Put a cloth over my eyes!  And I did a lot of counting.  If the series was 2 minutes, I counted to 120.  I had to be in the machine about 30 minutes.

I had a great Orthopedic Doctor, a great Anesthesia Doctor, a great Physical Therapy team, a Super Great Husband, and most of all, a Great God watching over me.

"The LORD is my strength and shield.
I trust Him with all my heart.
He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy.
I burst out in songs of Thanksgiving."
Psalm 28:7

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Now Somewhere in the Black Mining Hills of Dakota....

Image
...lived a young man named Rocky Raccoon."  I always thought that song said "South" Dakota.  Are there Black Hills in both Dakotas?  I'm sure I don't know and am not really going to take the time to find out, no matter how easy it is with Google, Bing, etc. After Cabin Time, This set of Worleys, young and old, headed for those Black Hills.  We were going to see Mount Rushmore.  In South Dakota.  And to see anything else that struck our fancy.  So we struck out in our trusty Jeep and Mini-van, loaded with kids and snacks.  On July 30.  We saw lots of motorcycles as we went.  Lots. Of. Motorcycles!  Come to find out, it was the start of the annual Sturgis Rally.  In Sturgis, SD.  If you do not know what that is, feel free to Google it! Our must stop place was Wall Drug Store.  In Wall, South Dakota.  We stopped, we ate, we shopped around.  It is a lovely place to spend a lot of time walking around. ...
Read more

THE WEDDING!

Image
The Wedding -- the only one we will ever host! Why didn't we have more girls? This was fun! Above, of course, Dad dancing with Bride Jenni. They had fun, didn't they? But of course, this was the reception, we are supposed to have fun! The week before the wedding was a whirlwind of last minute activities. We had guests from Chile at our house -- Kani - Rod's friend from childhood, and Cristian -- Rod's brother. We also had Lindsey -- Jenni's bridesmaid and friend of Rod from Chile. We worked on wedding stuff and ate way too much! Decorating the church was actually easy -- we had lots of help. We decorated on Wednesday evening. On Thursday, we finished up by adding trees to the auditorium. And, dumb old me, I have absolutely no pictures of it! I can only hope our photographer took some! Table Decorations at Rehearsal dinner -- Cute! Friday night -- rehearsal dinner. Wow! The Rehearsal went great. Decorations -- provided by my sister and our friend Sue T...
Read more

On Being Alone

Image
Sadie, in her "The Water Bowl is Empty" pose. I have spent the whole day alone! Well, Sadie and Belle are here, too. My goal was to sleep late, catch up on laundry, and read through March 4th in the Chronological Bible. I am happy to report, I have met all those goals! I felt a little bit like Mary or Martha today, depending on my activity. I would work some, read the Bible some, eat and drink something along the way. There was some praying occasionally, too. I have been in the book of Numbers today. One of my favorite hymns comes from this chapter six of this book (I am still trying to learn the alto part!): 22 Then the L ord said to Moses, 23 "Instruct Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing: 24 'May the L ord bless you and protect you. 25 May the L ord smile on you and be gracious to you. 26 May the L ord show you his favor and give you his peace.' Of course, one of our greatest blessings is Ava. She is getti...
Read more