Yesterday marked two weeks since my surgery. I had a Dr appt at 9:30, so we had a test run of getting up, eating, showering, putting on clothes and figuring out how to button and zip pants with one hand. I was seriously considering investing in some elastic waistband maternity pants, but it wasn't altogether impossible, so I didn't.
My Dr has been really great. As I've been seeing him since 2008, I think we're both happy to be a certain distance down the road of making my shoulder better. And now what we've all been waiting so patiently for, the prognosis! According to Dr. Collville, who has been operating on shoulders arthroscopically since the 70s I might add, I was born with incredibly loose shoulders, particularly in the posterior direction. What this means is that when I move it in certain ways it pops out of the socket and gets inflamed and hurts. In addition, he found a tear in my labrum which I believe may have started as a small year when Max ran after a squirrel one day while we were running, and has been getting bigger with each row I hoe in the garden. So the doc showed me all of the images from my "capsulariphy" or "tightening of the shoulder capsule". What looked like industrial strength nautical ropes were tiny threads that he used to gather up extra capsule tissue and cinch it up. For the torn area, he lassoed what looked like a war tattered flag, cinching it up just like the other areas. He did four of these sutures in total.
My main complaint for the doc was not pain, but the inability to sleep. He recommended I take something at night, so I opted for Vicadin 7.5mg, the stronger variety of ocycodone's well known cousin. I guess I thought the ocycodone was a bit heavy to continue taking, but it gets the job done. In hindsight, I should have gone with the stronger drugs, but I'm really uncomfortable with the idea of a strong narcotic as a sleep aid.
Dr. Collville seemed concerned about my lack of range of motion, but not overly surprised. He's sending me back to Helen, with whom I did 6 months of pre-surgery PT. She is amazing. If there is anyone I know can get me back in action, it's her.
Last night Kevin and I enjoyed our very last day off together (he took 2 weeks to take care of me) by watching 2 long movies. One thing Collville mentioned was that it would be very hard to "mess up" the surgery at this point, something that had previously kept me sleeping on the couch in my sling propped up with pillows. He said I could lay down in bed with some pillows to support my left side. Two nights ago I came into the bedroom crying at 7am because I hadn't slept a wink on the couch. The next night I tried sleeping in bed but came back out to the couch because I was so paranoid of turning onto my shoulder that I didn't sleep at all. Seems nothing was working. Last night I put a pillow on my chest and "hugged" it, and I was fairly comfortable. The doc said the pain will stop me from making any false moves. He was right. Just a tiny tweak in my arm sends shooting pains. But I'm learning what I can and can't do, and more importantly how to sleep without my sling and ice machine.
Today I was a complete sloth, reading photography blogs and gathering ideas for an upcoming wedding that my friend Matt from work asked me to shoot with him.
I can't say thank you enough times to everyone who has sent cards, baskets, carepackages, emails, texts and phone calls filled to the brim with love, well wishes and prayers. Getting through this has been much easier with all of your support. And I can't leave out my incredible husband who has anticipate my every need, and ones he didn't, adapted and responded to. His commitment to my recovery and wonderful sense of humor has gotten me through all of the rough bits in one piece.
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