Wellness

[nagrom]

Just wanted to share my progress at the four month mark from my shoulder replacement surgery. Had an appointment with the surgeon on Thursday. Great news! My shoulder has healed very well and with lots of physical therapy as well as home exercises daily, I don't have to return to see the surgeon until my year anniversary. Nowadays I can reach the shower curtain rod, the top of the door, put dishes away in the cupboard, reach into the refrigerator and retrieve items, shut my drivers side car door, turn the steering wheel completely around. The list goes on and on. I can reach my hand and tuck my shirt into my jeans. Therefore, the doctor thinks I don't need any more physical therapy. Before I was told the recovery would be between six months and two years. My surgeon was great. My doctor recommended that when having replacement surgery choose a surgeon that does many of these procedures regularly.

Free at last. I am so happy that finally can do lots of things previously impossible. So little pain too. It was so worth the effort to fix my broken down arthritic, worn out shoulder.

[Big Sister]

That's good news! I bet you thought you'd never get to this point where you could do so many things that you used to take for granted.

[Bird mama]

Congratulations. You are the first person that I 'know' that had a successful shoulder surgery so I find this very encouraging.

[nagrom]

Thank you bigsister and Bird mama. It took six years to reach success. It was a long hard road. Getting there was more painful that by the time my surgery was done it was a much freer feeling. I had to wait for my surgeon to get the state licensure and credentialing for this to happen. The old specialist decided to return to his native state after practicing here for twenty-seven years. The new specialist came with a history of accomplishments and was well respected in his old position. He does a lot of shoulder replacements and is our universities team physician. My arthroscopic shoulder specialist gave him high praises before referring me to him. Some advice I was given was to make sure the surgeon does a lot of these procedures compared to someone that does a few per year. This is not a very common procedure as arthroscopic surgeries have become so successful that the need for shoulder replacement surgery is not needed.

[Barbiedr]

I was very interested to hear about all of your progress after your shoulder replacement. I had that surgery 5 months ago. I fell and fractured my upper arm in 4 places. The first doctor who saw me in the hospital was a trauma surgeon who said he might be able to repair it with series of plates and screws. He said if it didn't heal, I would need a shoulder replacement and he did not do those. My other choice was to wait a week until the shoulder specialist became available.. I am a nurse and my co-workers advised me to wait for the other doctor as his patients had such good results. My results are a little slower than yours due to the fractures but I am still pleased and a little amazed at what I can do.I have 4 more weeks of PT left. I am also done with the surgeon until my anniversary in August.

[nagrom]

Barbiedr, it is good to hear that you are progressing as well as you are with all those fractures. I had my last physical therapy appointment yesterday and was told that I did not need anymore. During my recovery I really used my pain meds and lots of time with the continuous ice machine. The first eight weeks after my surgery I followed the standard protocol for replacement surgery and used the stretch bands and over the door pulley. A lot of time spent doing the elephant trunk exercise to loosen up the shoulder. From there progressed with some of the exercises laying down on my bed as there is less pressure or tension on your shoulder. The cane stretching over your head and holding it for twenty seconds. Some isometric exercises to strengthen the arm and shoulder. Just kept up my exercise and would test myself what I could reach. This was not my first bout with shoulder exercises so I tested and kept on trying until I could reach the top of the shower rod and top of door frames. My stretch bands are positioned in the doors and whenever I passed by I would do a few exercises to strengthen my arm and get more mobility. One day I just decided to try doing windmills with my arm and found out I could easily. I can now reach behind my back at waist band level and shampoo my hair. Even use a blow dryer on my hair. Reach the third shelf of the kitchen cabinets. Also I am able to carry bags of groceries or a gallon of milk now. These were all things I could not do before. A nice warm shower on my shoulder feels good before exercising too. I just kept on trying to do things on my own. I still want to try to walk my 140# rottie but will wait for warm weather without snow or ice. Doctor told me to wear a shoulder sling this winter as a fall would be devastating.

It took me six years to get where I am today. All I can say was that I was very motivated. There were so many things I could not do and now I feel like a kid in a candy shop wanting to see and do everything I can.

Please tell me how you are doing or if you have any questions I may be able to answer. Good luck on your recovery.

[nagrom]

Barbiedr, it is good to hear that you are progressing as well as you are with all those fractures. I had my last physical therapy appointment yesterday and was told that I did not need anymore. During my recovery I really used my pain meds and lots of time with the continuous ice machine. The first eight weeks after my surgery I followed the standard protocol for replacement surgery and used the stretch bands and over the door pulley. A lot of time spent doing the elephant trunk exercise to loosen up the shoulder. From there progressed with some of the exercises laying down on my bed as there is less pressure or tension on your shoulder. The cane stretching over your head and holding it for twenty seconds. Some isometric exercises to strengthen the arm and shoulder. Just kept up my exercise and would test myself what I could reach. This was not my first bout with shoulder exercises so I tested and kept on trying until I could reach the top of the shower rod and top of door frames. My stretch bands are positioned in the doors and whenever I passed by I would do a few exercises to strengthen my arm and get more mobility. One day I just decided to try doing windmills with my arm and found out I could easily. I can now reach behind my back at waist band level and shampoo my hair. Even use a blow dryer on my hair. Reach the third shelf of the kitchen cabinets. Also I am able to carry bags of groceries or a gallon of milk now. These were all things I could not do before. A nice warm shower on my shoulder feels good before exercising too. I just kept on trying to do things on my own. I still want to try to walk my 140# rottie but will wait for warm weather without snow or ice. Doctor told me to wear a shoulder sling this winter as a fall would be devastating.

It took me six years to get where I am today. All I can say was that I was very motivated. There were so many things I could not do and now I feel like a kid in a candy shop wanting to see and do everything I can.

Please tell me how you are doing or if you have any questions I may be able to answer. Good luck on your recovery.

[Barbiedr]

Thanks for your reply. We are in the midst of ice and snow here. 'I am terrified of another fall. My doctor didn't mention wearing the sling this winter. I'm not sure how I would to that and still wear a coat. Sounds like we have a similar exercise routine. I am still using pain meds at bedtime.

[nagrom]

I put my sling on over my jacket. Yes we have snow and ice and plenty of it. Bitter cold coming again in the -40 range wind chills next week. My sling does fit over my coat but is awkward. Still I don't want to lose what I have gained. One of the hardest exercises is the alphabet and spider walks up the wall. At first they had me do them facing the wall. Then as I progressed they had me perpendicular to the wall doing them. That was the hardest but it seemed to free up the joint and gained more movements. On my last pt visit they had me doing semi push ups against the wall and then shifting arm and leg for strengthening and balance. I found that there was a great difference in who does the pt. Some are more knowledgeable and can take you further than others. In the middle of my pt sessions my regular therapist got transferred to another facility and I got a different therapist. He was less than knowledgeable. After a session or two my surgeon asked for a different therapist that was expert in shoulder rehabs. As a replacement surgery is not very common there are fewer therapists that have dealt with this kind of rehab. So glad I changed therapists as the one who was not knowledgeable was giving me the story that this is as far as you can achieve. Transferred to a different therapist and boy did he know his stuff and took me to where I am today. This is just my experience and others may have different.