Shoulder Surgery Tomorrow!!!

[Pacific lefty]

So this is it, I am having the arthroscopic shoulder surgery tomorrow. Hoping he's only going to take out the scar tissue and make a little space for the tendons to move around...Thanks to everybody who has given me good advice on rehab and on their own surgery experiences. Will post whatever the good surgeon finds tomorrow. It'll be weird being right handed!!!

[mikeler]

Hope you have a speedy recovery.

[LuckyR]

Originally Posted by Pacific lefty

So this is it, I am having the arthroscopic shoulder surgery tomorrow. Hoping he's only going to take out the scar tissue and make a little space for the tendons to move around...Thanks to everybody who has given me good advice on rehab and on their own surgery experiences. Will post whatever the good surgeon finds tomorrow. It'll be weird being right handed!!!

Good luck. What is the current injury and what symptoms are you having?

[Pacific lefty]

Hi LuckyR,
Rotator cuff tendonitis with impingement. Have had it since Oct 2010 and tried everything conservative, hasn't responded and the daily pain and compromised ROM has been getting worse and worse, so hopefully this will sort it out.

Thanks mikeler.

[LuckyR]

Originally Posted by Pacific lefty

Hi LuckyR,
Rotator cuff tendonitis with impingement. Have had it since Oct 2010 and tried everything conservative, hasn't responded and the daily pain and compromised ROM has been getting worse and worse, so hopefully this will sort it out.

Thanks mikeler.

Is the pain at the edge of your lowered ROM or in neutral positions or is it during strain, perhaps also in a neutral position?

[charliefedererer]

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

"May the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you."

[r2473]

Originally Posted by charliefedererer

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

"May the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you."

....(and just be happy you aren't Scottish):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1tJJO_pVvQ

[Pacific lefty]

LuckyR, well, external rotation causes pain, lifting arm above shoulder level same, and reaching across my body (like to do the popular stretch does too)...

Thanks charlief, I hope you'll be around on the forum during rehab...

R2473 - I love it! Trust me, its not easy being a Californian in Ireland!

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

Good luck!

If there's one thing you can walk away from the surgery and the rehab, it's the importance of joint balance, flexibility, and rest.

[Pacific lefty]

I had my surgery today and its finished. Delighted to say- no tears! My surgeon did rc and ac joint debridement and the acromioplasty and expects full recovery after doing PT of course. No pain in hospital but feeling it now for sure ( typing righty now). So glad to have it over with and looking forward to rehab. Sling not too bad, I am allowed to use it as much or as little as I need.

Must take back my criticisms of Irish healthcare as I had this done in a private Catholic hospital and the quality of care was excellent.

[mikeler]

Originally Posted by Pacific lefty

I had my surgery today and its finished. Delighted to say- no tears! My surgeon did rc and ac joint debridement and the acromioplasty and expects full recovery after doing PT of course. No pain in hospital but feeling it now for sure ( typing righty now). So glad to have it over with and looking forward to rehab. Sling not too bad, I am allowed to use it as much or as little as I need.

Must take back my criticisms of Irish healthcare as I had this done in a private Catholic hospital and the quality of care was excellent.

Glad to hear everything went well.

[charliefedererer]

Happy to hear there were no "surprises".

Also glad to here the care was so good.

[Pacific lefty]

1st Observation: At the hospital the physio, surgeon, and nurse pointed out that the sling was only for comfort and to be on and off, mostly off, for 2 weeks. I am finding it hard to keep off, as there is still a good bit of pain in moving the arm especially after bathing or getting dressed.

2nd Observation: If you're a girl its great to steal your husband's loose clothes as the majority of my tops will definitely not go on at the moment... Not even doing it the way they show you, you need loose ones.

3rd Observation: You must do the exercises religiously, especially the pendulum, even though the size of my circles are tiny at the moment.

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

Originally Posted by Pacific lefty

1st Observation: At the hospital the physio, surgeon, and nurse pointed out that the sling was only for comfort and to be on and off, mostly off, for 2 weeks. I am finding it hard to keep off, as there is still a good bit of pain in moving the arm especially after bathing or getting dressed.

2nd Observation: If you're a girl its great to steal your husband's loose clothes as the majority of my tops will definitely not go on at the moment... Not even doing it the way they show you, you need loose ones.

3rd Observation: You must do the exercises religiously, especially the pendulum, even though the size of my circles are tiny at the moment.

1st Observation: The sling is really up to your discretion. In both of my surgeries, the sling was only there depending on how much discomfort I was willing to put up. Both times, I had it on for less than 5 days. I just kept telling myself, the earlier I can move the shoulder without damaging the repairs, the better it'll be in the long run. I definitely had the sling off by the second week.

2nd Observation: Can't really comment there, but I can see why you'll have problems there. I remember I was being excessively careful when the bandages were still on. I'm talking about Janga careful. 1) I didn't know what was underneath the bandages. I'm not going to be stupid and move it out of alignment. 2) It's REALLY hard to dress when you have one dead arm.

3rd Observation: I was very religious with the pendulum too! Absolute crucial in my opinion during the early stages of post-op. 1-2 weeks, I was just making small circles with my arm dangling to the side of my hips. They weren't big circles, maybe like an inch or two in radius. By the 3rd week, I was able to bend over, let my arm dangle down and made bigger circles.

Did your surgeon give you electrodes and hooked it up to your shoulder? I had it for my 2nd surgery (it was a bit more intensive repair, partially torn supraspinatus and partially torn posterior labrum). The electrodes stimulated localized twitching of the muscles and helped with pain management too.

[Pacific lefty]

Well, I am not having any luck getting out of the sling yet. My arm feels so weird when its down. Really weird. It's okay if I am sitting down doing nothing but when I am up and busy, I need it.

I didn't have any of the electrodes hooked up, and really at the moment I do not need a lot of pain medication by day. I am waking up every night around 3 or 4 a.m. with it really painful, but I guess that's just what happens when trying to sleep. I so cannot sleep in a chair!

It is getting a bit stronger though as I was able to use my hand more to help a little when getting dressed, so that's good. I am sure it will improve a good bit by the end of the week.

Thanks Say Chi, your observations are really good, so I can compare how its going to someone who has had shoulder surgery already...

[Robbnc]

Originally Posted by Pacific lefty

Well, I am not having any luck getting out of the sling yet. My arm feels so weird when its down. Really weird. It's okay if I am sitting down doing nothing but when I am up and busy, I need it.

I didn't have any of the electrodes hooked up, and really at the moment I do not need a lot of pain medication by day. I am waking up every night around 3 or 4 a.m. with it really painful, but I guess that's just what happens when trying to sleep. I so cannot sleep in a chair!

It is getting a bit stronger though as I was able to use my hand more to help a little when getting dressed, so that's good. I am sure it will improve a good bit by the end of the week.

Thanks Say Chi, your observations are really good, so I can compare how its going to someone who has had shoulder surgery already...

When I had it done about 7 years ago I bought one of those ice-therapy machines off e-bay used for about $50 . That was the single best investment I ever made.

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

Originally Posted by Pacific lefty

Well, I am not having any luck getting out of the sling yet. My arm feels so weird when its down. Really weird. It's okay if I am sitting down doing nothing but when I am up and busy, I need it.

I didn't have any of the electrodes hooked up, and really at the moment I do not need a lot of pain medication by day. I am waking up every night around 3 or 4 a.m. with it really painful, but I guess that's just what happens when trying to sleep. I so cannot sleep in a chair!

It is getting a bit stronger though as I was able to use my hand more to help a little when getting dressed, so that's good. I am sure it will improve a good bit by the end of the week.

Thanks Say Chi, your observations are really good, so I can compare how its going to someone who has had shoulder surgery already...

If you can't get out of the sling yet, then don't rush it. It won't help you in the long run if you are damaging the repairs already. I'm simply saying, they earlier you can move the arm, the better it'll be in the long run. But there's no set deadline and it'll be different among individuals.

I think sleeping on the chair is a myth. Like you, I can't sleep on a chair.

The most annoying thing for me a few weeks after surgery was: 1) Shoulder stiffens up first thing in the morning and it hurts. 2) Forgot I had a dead arm and I try to move it, haha yeah that hurts a lot too a few weeks post-op.

[jmjmkim]

Best wishes to you. I had spinal surgery 3 yrs ago . .. It'll take a little time to come back to tennis, but it will be for the best in the long run.

[adventure]

These are inspiring stories to be sure!

Good luck to all of you!

[Pacific lefty]

Mornings are definitely the worst!!! I did get a talking to from my PT yesterday who said definitely to leave the sling off more and more during the day, so I tried that yesterday afternoon and it seemed ok. She also gave me the pulley exercise to do to raise that arm as my surgeon had told me that he wanted me to try and achieve that for my check up a week from friday (talk about a tricky challenge!!!)...

As jmjm said, I agree it is better in the long run. The only drawback is that my fantastic coach who taught me right handed tennis is going back home to Asia, so I'm definitely going to miss him. He was top-class!!!