Yes, it was tough. But it had to be done. I had my left rotator cuff repaired on April 16,2012. I knew what to expect because two years earlier, in March of 2010, I had my right rotator cuff repaired. The difference between the two injuries was that the first one was from a sledding accident which caused a tear when I crashed on my sled. The second one was less serious, but there were "several small tears" according to my surgeon. And because they were "small" and may have been there for a while, he said that it was possible that through Physical Therapy along with a shot of Cortisone, I might be able to avoid surgery.
I believe, I'd had these small tears in my left rotator cuff for some time and because they were small, I was able to work through some of the pain associated with them.The pain wasn't trivial, but it wasn't enough for me to complain about and it wasn't preventing me from doing normal, everyday activities.
But then in July 2011, I noticed it was getting worse. I don't know what caused it to get worse or when it happened, but I had a difficult time doing some normal activities like putting a jacket on, reaching for dishes in the cabinets, pulling the covers off me in the morning and pouring milk. Push ups - something I had worked up to being able to doing 40 or 50 without stopping, I could now only do 2 or 3 and the pain was pretty bad. I knew I had to go back to my shoulder surgeon. I went to see him and after testing my strength and range of motion, he had me get an MRI for my shoulder. When the results came back, he diagnosed me with several "small tears" in my left rotator cuff.
He felt that since they were small, I might be able to get by with a cortisone shot and some Physical Therapy. The cortisone helped relieve the pain and I was able to go to Physical Therapy, but it never felt quite right. After 3 months, the cortisone wore off and I was no better than I was before the cortisone and Physical Therapy. Clearly, I could either continue with the pain and limited range of motion and strength (and never get any better) or I could go through surgery again, having to endure the 6 months of rehab and continued Physical Therapy.
Because my first shoulder surgery was so successful, I knew surgery was the option I'd go with. So, on April 16, 2012, I had my left rotator cuff repaired. My surgeon warned me that even though the tears were less traumatic, the recovery time would be at least as long as it was for the right shoulder and possibly longer because of the nature of these tears and because of my physiology. I guess I'm more prone to these types of tears than some people are and he thought it would take a little longer to fully heal.
He did the entire surgery arthroscopically again - no incision. I have five small scars where they inserted the instruments need to do the surgery. One light, one camera and three tools were needed to repair my rotator cuff. If you didn't know I'd had surgery, you would never be able to tell based on the scars on my shoulder. Not every surgeon does it this way, but my surgeon does and I'm thankful for it.
The surgery went well and at first, everything was great because he had given me a nerve blocker which completely numbed and paralyzed my arm from my shoulder to my fingertips. The first night, I slept great because I couldn't feel anything. It lasted about 24 hours and then, the feeling (and the pain), returned. I wanted to use the minimal amount of pain medication as possible, so I took Vicodin this time (last time it was Percoset) and I did better on the Vicodin. I used it sparingly and by the end of the fourth day, I switched to ibuprofen to manage the pain.
In the following days and weeks, I went through the same routine as I did with the first surgery - sleeping in our easy chair for a few days, then moving to the couch for a few weeks and then, eventually into my bed, propped up on pillows sleeping on my back (which I hate).
The Physical Therapy began again a little over a month after I had had surgery. I went to the same Physical Therapist as I did for my first shoulder surgery. Initially, it's all about stretching, passive resistance (she did all the work) and gaining range of motion. Eventually, after a month or two of that, it evolved to some strengthening with no weights at first and then, 1 or 2 lb. weights. Early on, I thought I was moving more quickly than I had with my first shoulder surgery. In some areas I was and in other areas, I still showed weakness. My surgeon continued to take the conservative approach and told me to take my time and to not rush it due to the possibility of re-injuring my shoulder again.
I met with my surgeon every 4 - 6 weeks, so that he could check my progress to see what I should do next. As I mentioned, he took a very cautious and conservative approach to my Physical Therapy, but in the end, my progress was much quicker and there was a higher likelihood I was actually healed by taking this approach.
Eventually, I could hang on my pull up bar. It was difficult at first, but the stretching felt good and I think it helped me in the long run. I had home exercises to do with the bands and with no or very light weights and by doing all that, I feel I'm in a very good spot today.
It's now been a little less than 7 months since I had the surgery. The last time I saw my surgeon, he said I'd know when I didn't need to go to PT anymore and even though he wrote me a prescription to continue with the treatments, I'm feeling good enough to work out and stretch at home, without having to see my Physical Therapist.
I might see my Physical Therapist one more time and I will see my surgeon again in December, but I think that will be the last time. At that point, I'm on my own and I'll have to continue with my own Physical Therapy and exercise routine at home.
My goal is to be able to do a handstand again and I feel like I'll be able to do it pretty soon. I was able to 1 year after my right shoulder surgery and I'm hoping it'll be less than a year after my left shoulder surgery, that I can do one again. I'm starting up with P90X again, which I'll talk about in another blog post. But for now, I'm happy that I had my left shoulder surgically repaired. There were some tough spots along the way, but when you feel you're making progress and getting better, you know you made the right decision.
No comments:
Post a Comment