Wellness

[highmaintenancejan]

@I am still oxox

Not able to go to NYC...so, I have to take my chances.  Surgeon is trained at Northwestern and Duke...

It is done at an outpatient center and is Arthroscopic...the outpatient center is safer than a hospital...less germs!

[mac116]

I went the cortisone shot/weeks of physical therapy for my right shoulder.  That was 5 years ago, and it is doing okay.

I now have extreme left shoulder pain, but can't see the orthopedist until June 29.  I'm hoping for the same line of treatment. 

[highmaintenancejan]

@mac116

If it is torn, how can cortisone shots and PT repair it?  I was told Cortisone shots can cause it to tear further.

[FuzzyFace]

highmaintenance: I don't know why but my joints started wearing out as I approached my mid-50's. Also, I was quite active in my younger years (not athletic but things like dealing with heavy file folders when I was working, heavy lifting when working around the house, etc.) so that didn't help either. I didn't want to have surgery, especially when my joins wore out AGAIN after the first round, but the pain was unbearable. The second surgery seemed to do the trick, luckily.

I'll be thinking of you and wishing you good luck.

[highmaintenancejan]

@FuzzyFace

I'm so sorry, no one should have to go through this twice.  Thank you for your information and thoughts.  I also have to have the other shoulder done.  It hurts very bad...so I guess in 6 months.  So pain relief shall not be soon.

[SeaMaiden]

@highmaintenancejan     I will compare what you will go through to my experience  with  having had my two kneees replaced....( also both hips)

The pain and discomfort after surgery  was pretty bad the first month.... and physical therapy was pretty hard too... BUT, the pain is different from the pain you have now  before surgery.... The pain after surgery is  a healing type of pain that gradually gets better and better each day and each week.   

So what I am saying is that the pain you have now that is so terrible, will go away and after surgery  you will experience a NEW KIND OF PAIN AND DISCOMFORT... BUT, just for a while.... that will be temporary .  And then in just a couple of months...  you will feel  SO MUCH BETTER and be glad you did it.  

Just know that the surgery is a temporary discomfort..... leading to feeling better

 In life we come across inconviences that are just something we need to deal with like adults.... so just look at this surgery as a TEMPORARY INCONVIENCE on your road of life... a bump in the road so to speak.  LIFE IS GOOD!

[ownsyjay]

Don't get any special pillows yet.  If you can, once you're scheduled for the surgery, and if your insurance company will let you, use one of your PT visits as a pre-op session.  They can advise you on the clothing you will need (you are going to need a large t-shirt split down the operation side for coming out of surgery, and will likely have to wear it for a few days), and other practical issues that will get you prepared.  In my case, I had the bad luck to have the nerve block start wearing off within about an hour of getting home, but I had a pain pump plus additional meds for the pain to help.  Make sure someone is writing down every time you take your pain or nausea meds--I couldn't do it myself, and was too muzzy to remember it, which can be either dangerous or painful, depending on whether you have taken too much or too little (I had a friend to keep track of it in the early stages).  Everyone was adamant that I was not to put any kind of pillow underneath the shoulder, and I had to sleep for some time with the operative arm elevated on pillows.  Actually, my surgery was for a torn labrum, but I think the protocols are similar.  These things don't repair themselves, and the surgery and aftermath is painful; also, you will be in PT for quite a while, but things do get better, if you do what they say to do.  I know your husband can help, because you will need sponge baths for a while, probably best done while you sit on a shower seat.  Also, having baby wipes for toileting will be helpful, especially if it's your dominant hand (sorry to be indelicate, but it can be an issue).  The hardest part is being immobilized for some weeks except while in therapy or while doing very limited exercises.  I kept wanting to do more with my arm, but you just can't--the surgery has to heal, and they have to wake up the underlying muscles slowly, and in order.  

Oh, and I can comment on knee replacements versus shoulder--yes, knee surgery is challenging, and that post is utterly correct about the fact that you will be trading the torn rotator cuff pain for post-surgical pain.  The shoulder operations are unfortunately more painful to deal with than the knees, but the rest of the advice--do exactly what you're told, and use the pain meds provided as you need them--is spot on.  Wishing you much luck with surgery AND especially recovery.

[highmaintenancejan]

@ownsyjay

Thank you, I am scheduled for June 27th...They didn't give me the option of having a pre visit with PT...just the doctor.  Maybe they will give me all of that information.  It is my dominant arm and I am just mortified to have to have someone take so much care of me.  I don't mind being confined to the house.  For the last 4- 6 months I've only getting out 1 day of our 5 maybe.  What bothers me more is washing hair, doing makeup, toileting, getting dressed, bathing/showering (we do have a built in bench in shower).  I'm a private person and I hate to admit this, but vain.  Bad thing is, after this, I will have to have left shoulder done.  I'm really fit to be tied!  Thanks for all of the information though, it really helps!! 

[highmaintenancejan]

@SeaMaiden

Boy, this hasn't been my year, huh?

[SeaMaiden]

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@highmaintenancejan wrote:

@SeaMaiden

Boy, this hasn't been my year, huh?

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@highmaintenancejan    Yes it seems like 2018 is a rough one.... but you will be fine in the end and all will be good. Want to give you a big cyber ((HUG)) and let you know that you are amazing and  everything will be fine.