On The Disabled List
 

Happy New Year to all my fellow Maintainers! I started 2006 off in memorable fashion by having rotator cuff surgery yesterday.

Last August I did something stupid in the gym and injured my shoulder. It seemed to be slowly getting better and I kept working and lifting weights. Then in November, my shoulder began getting more and more painful until I finally bit the bullet and saw a doctor (who forever endeared himself to me by saying he was baffled by the chart of a 51 year old woman being on the door to my exam room since the patient in the room (me) clearly couldn’t have been that old) Next up was an MRI which showed a complete rotator cuff tear and assorted damage.

I didn’t have a choice if I wanted to regain normal motion and strength – I had to have surgery to attempt to reattach the tendon to the bone, though the doctor kept pessimistically warning me that things might not be repairable. So yesterday was the day (this all happened fast because the muscles were atrophying) and – hurray! – it’s now successfully repaired. I was totally drugged up when the doctor talked to me but remember him saying that it was an unusual tear but that it’s fixed. I’ll get all the details when I see him on Monday.

Now comes the hard part – six months of rehab to get ‘reasonable use’ back. Right now my shoulder has a bandage about the size and thickness of a football pad and my right arm is in what they call a sling and what I call an upper body chastity belt. It’s all thick padding and Velcro straps, with a waist band and padded wedge that holds my arm out from my body. I can’t do anything that will fire my shoulder muscles for at least six weeks and don’t have any use of my right hand at all (bet you guessed that I’m right handed). This, gang, is challenging.

So I may not be able to post much – this post is all left handed pecking – and it’s taken me a lo-o-o-ng time. Matter of fact, if it wasn’t for my three marvelous pain meds, I would have lost interest a long time ago! :rofl: But I’ll be reading here every day, as always, and participating as much as possible.

It would be great if some of you would like to jump in and post some topics for discussion or just general chit chat. We have the best conversations here and I’m always amazed by how much we all have in common. If you’re usually a shy person, now would be a wonderful time to speak up about whatever’s on your mind. :)

Love you all --

Well, as you know, I'm a shy and retiring little flower :lol3: but I'll certainly do what I can to help. In the meantime, you take care m'dear! I've had my share of rotator cuff problems (in fact, it seems like a number of us here in 3FC land have had rotator cuff problems; is it something in the water?) and the main curative seems to be time. The good news is that they've fixed it; the bad news is that you have to rest it.

Does anyone know what happened to the weekly thread that Mel started? Or was that last week? Sheesh ... my memory is a sieve.

Hugs Meg, and happy recuperating.:grouphug:

Best wishes on your recovery Meg!

I'm so glad you didn't wait any longer to go see the doctor. It sounds like you went in the nick of time.

Here's hoping you don't go toooo stir crazy during your recuperation.:kickcan: :goodluck:

Did you really type that whole thing with one hand??? i am incredibly impressed :)

Hi Meg! I didn't have rotator cuff surgery, but I had an acromioplasty on my right shoulder to repair an impingement problem (a bike rider really doesn't do well versus a car in an accident). Anyway, when I went home I had no use of my right arm (isn't that a terrible feeling when it doesn't even want to DANGLE unsupported?!)--right handed of course. I had to do ALL the rehab/PT on my own. But...they had told me to expect only partial range of motion post recovery and I got back practically everything. I'm hoping that you have a similar experience--sometimes I think the doctors hedge their predictions of ROM/recovery based on the poor commitment of so many patients to doing their rehab exercises.

BTW, I took a sweatshirt with a full zipper up the front and cut off the sleeves and had myself a zip-up vest. That pretty much constituted my "top" for the first couple weeks until I had some motion back. It's a very fetching look ;)

We already know how committed you can be so I bet you'll do well (and hey, *I'm* seriously impressed that you pecked all that info out left-handed too!).

Tracy

Originally Posted by NowOrNever!:
We already know how committed you can be so I bet you'll do well (and hey, *I'm* seriously impressed that you pecked all that info out left-handed too!).

Tracy

Just goes to show you that on top of her *other* talents, our Meg is a great little pecker... :carrot:

(okay OKAY...I couldn't resist... :dizzy: )

now GET WELL SOON...dangit!!

Originally Posted by MrsJim:
Just goes to show you that on top of her *other* talents, our Meg is a great little pecker... :carrot:

OMG, you are so cracking me up!

OMG, I am ROARRRING here :rofl:... I have a visual of Meg pecking away in a fancy shmacy one arm-cut-off vest ... Cute, real cute Meg :devil:

Get well Hun!! :hug:

:hug: Poor Meg, get well soon - I'm sure you'll be fighting fit in no time!

Originally Posted by :
a doctor (who forever endeared himself to me by saying he was baffled by the chart of a 51 year old woman being on the door to my exam room since the patient in the room (me) clearly couldn’t have been that old)

What a smooth operator!!

Meg, look after yourself and keep taking the medication. You'll be back in no time. And we'll behave ourselves.

hi Meg,

How awfull for you to have the injury, and I'm so glad that you went to the doctor & took care of it!.
Have a lot of rest, and I hope you'll get well soon.

Rabbit

A bold yet nervous student asks
 

Meg

Boldly, I'm asking the question which some of the other students may want to know the answer to.

What is the rotator cuff? I know it's to do with the shoulder. I think that's all I know.

Yours nervously

Silverbirch

From the American Academy of Orthopaedics website:

Originally Posted by :
The rotator cuff is made up of four muscles and their tendons. These combine to form a "cuff" over the upper end of the arm (head of the humerus). The four muscles - supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis, and teres minor - originate from the "wing bone"(scapula), and together form a single tendon unit. This inserts on the greater tuberosity of the humerus. The rotator cuff helps to lift and rotate the arm and to stabilize the ball of the shoulder within the joint.

Symptoms

Symptoms of a rotator cuff tear may develop acutely or have a more gradual onset. Acute pain usually follows trauma such as a lifting injury or a fall on the affected arm. More commonly, the onset is gradual and may be caused by repetitive overhead activity or by wear and degeneration of the tendon. You may feel pain in the front of your shoulder that radiates down the side of your arm. At first the pain may be mild and only present with overhead activities such as reaching or lifting. It may be relieved by over-the-counter medication such as aspirin or ibuprofen. Over time the pain may become noticeable at rest or with no activity at all. There may be pain when you lie on the affected side and at night. Other symptoms may include stiffness and loss of motion. You may have difficulty using your arm to reach overhead to comb your hair or difficulty placing your arm behind your back to fasten a button.

When the tear occurs with an injury, there may be sudden acute pain, a snapping sensation and an immediate weakness of the arm.

When I had an MRI in December, it showed that I had completely torn the supraspinatus tendon from its attachment, had torn the supraspinatus muscle almost in half, and had high grade tendonitis and muscle atrophy in the infraspinatus. I had to have surgery in order to regain normal use of rhe shoulder.

So tell me why you're nervous? Do you have shoulder pain? If so, I strongly recommend that you get it checked out right away. Delay can make the problem worse -- there was some doubt that my tendon could be reattached becasuse I waited for three months before I saw a doctor (you know, trying to be a tough girl and working through the pain :dizzy: )

Thanks for your quick response, Meg. I've got the picture now.

Originally Posted by Meg:
So tell me why you're nervous?

Only joking! You must know that feeling of asking a question in a big lecture hall! But I always say that if one person asks the question there must be at least one other who'd like to know the answer - so I did it!

BTW, I see you're up early! Old habits die hard - even for someone who's recuperating? :)

Whew! I was worried because I thought that YOU were having problems!

Sleeping's just the worst after shoulder surgery -- there simply isn't a comfortable position. I have to sleep sitting up so I use a backrest and a bunch of pillows but it still hurts. I'm off pain pills during the day (except for physical therapy) but still need them to sleep at night.

So that's why I'm up so early! I sleep for a couple of hours and then pull the laptop over and see what's going on at 3FC ... :D