Is It Getting Better?

I never really wrote a follow-up on my shoulder.  I have had a hard time writing about it, because it's not progressing as fast as I think it should be, but I do need to write something.  I'll try to scan in the pictures, because they say a lot more about the surgery than I can (especially if I want to keep this at a length where Sarah will actually read it . . . j/k).

I had the surgery on Monday, June 20th.  It was scheduled for about 1pm, and they were running a bit late.  Thankfully I was entertained by my new smartphone (on which I was reading Pride and Prejudice . . . maybe I should have just brought the book with me!).  As far as I knew, everything went well.  I was out of it for quite some time.  I'm glad I was able to spend the next few days at Mom's house so she could help run after the boy.  I had to wear a sling full-time for a few days, then I could wear it off-and-on (mostly on).  I was not very prepared for the pain; I was alternating Oxycodone and Ibuprofen every few hours.  I really didn't like the narcotics--they did take care of the pain, but I was so out of it when I took more than one (the dose was 1-2 every 4 hours).  It took me a couple of weeks, but I weaned myself off of them.  I really hate being dependent on anything, which is why I really should cut the Diet Coke.  Alas--I'll admit that I am addicted to that.  It's not healthy, but it is legal.

I had a post-op appointment with Dr. Fukushima on June 29th.  They took out the stitches (four smallish incisions) and put steri-strips on.  I thought that was kind-of overkill, so I left those on for a couple of days and then pulled them off.  When he came in to talk to me, he told me that my shoulder was "blitzed out," (yes, those were his words) and it really couldn't have waited much longer.  He did another surgery the same day, on a woman who had had four or five full dislocations and multiple partials, and he said mine was much worse than hers.  Go for the gusto, right?  Well, the cartilage tears were pretty significant, the bursa was quite red and inflamed, and I had actually torn a nice chunk of bone and cartilage off of the head of the humerus, so I had a free body floating around in the capsule, tearing everything up for those three weeks before the surgery.  He fished out the piece of bone, tacked down the cartilage, smoothed off the rough edges, and tightened up the capsule.  At the appointment, he checked my range of motion and said it looked really good, but he wanted me to slow down because my shoulder had been so damaged.  He also wanted to wait a bit longer than I would have liked to start physical therapy, to give me a little more time to heal. *sigh*

So I have started P.T. at TOSH, which is only a couple of miles from where I live.  The therapist I am supposed to be seeing has been out of town this whole time, so I have been seeing this guy named Robby, usually twice per week.  I like him a lot, and we're the same age, so we get along pretty well.  I told him about Harry Potter, and he told me about his girlfriend getting lost while hiking, etc., etc.  Thus far, most of the therapy has been stretching--stuff I really couldn't (or wouldn't) do at home, because it is painful.  I don't feel like I do much personally (it's more passive movement on my end), but I'm exhausted when it's done.  I'm supposed to start seeing my actual therapist this week.  It's a little sad, because I really like Robby.  Oh well--c'est la vie.

It is getting better, slowly but surely.  I'm not at 100% of movement and strength, and I probably won't be for a few months, but the movement is becoming easier, and I'm getting more range-of-motion back.  I still have a hard time doing my hair (there's your empathy challenge, friends--try doing your hair without raising your dominant arm more than 90 degrees), but I am feeling pretty good otherwise.  I'm only taking Ibuprofen occasionally (usually after P.T.), and I'm totally off of the narcotics (I have been for a couple of weeks, and I haven't filled the new prescription he gave me).  I am to the point where I'm feeling a little guilty about having taken the summer "off", even if I didn't have a conscientious choice in the matter.  I am enjoying spending time with the little man; more so now that I can do more with him and don't have to wear the sling much at all.  I have a feeling that going back to work will be a lot harder than I thought it would be.  I do miss it, but I didn't realize how much I was missing my boy, either.

So that's where I'm at.  Slow improvements, wondering at how fast the time seems to have flown.  Lots of other things have happened, and I'll try to catch up on them eventually.  You'd think I'd be writing more often; it's funny how time slips through your fingers, isn't it?  "It leaves you baby, if you don't care for it."