I had my 6 week checkup with my surgeon on Thursday. Going in, I was really excited to show all my progress to her. My excitement slowly fizzled as she told me my therapist had been going easy on me. She had me lay down and took my arm and forced it up and held it there. I was in so much pain I couldn't breathe. She did tell me that she was happy with my progress but that now it was time to get forceful so I could get as much motion back as possible. Kinda put me in a bad mood after that. As usual, I'm up for the challenge. I wish she had started out with some praise and encouragement but oh well. One thing I'm excited about is that I can wear a bra again! (TMI!) I haven't been able to wear one because it really bothered my scar. I think it's (scar) finally been desensitized and I can tolerate a bra again! It's the small things that make me happy. I'm also starting to drive again. I took my nieces to Target last weekend. It went well so I'm going to get my car from my house and bring it over to Mom's house. I'll be able to take myself to therapy and wherever else I feel like. I'm very close to going back to work. I think within the next 2 weeks I should be good to go. I'm so looking forward to it! Miss my co-workers and having something to do! The one thing I don't miss is getting up at 4am. :(
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Home stretch
This week in therapy we started strengthening my shoulder muscles and doing some major stretching. I've actually been working up a sweat! We've started out using yellow resistance bands for strengthening. Also, I've started using some kind of a machine that I can only describe as an exercise bike for the arms. I can already tell a difference just from this week! I'm able to lift my arm enough to touch my face now. Last week I couldn't do it very easily. I've been doing really well at keeping up with my therapy at home. In fact, I think I may be going above and beyond what I should be doing. I'm so anxious to get back to my life! Work, driving, leaving the house whenever I feel like it and being back with my baby, Max.
To help pass the time I've been reading the Walking Dead Compendium One which I think is books 1-48. I finished it the other night and have already started on Compendium Two which is books 49-96. I've also been watching a lot of TV, playing a lot of facebook games, and lots of exercising. I'm starting to get bored....
Friday, February 22, 2013
Making progress
Almost 5 weeks after surgery! I missed both therapy appointments last week. I was sick one of the days and the other day my therapist was sick. I worked extra hard at home to make sure I didn't lose any movement. When I went back to therapy this week she was impressed with my progress. She stretched my arm muscles even further and thinks I'm ready for muscle strengthening exercises. So next week we are going to start using bands for resistance with my exercises. Also, since they had to cut into part of my rotator cuff during surgery, I haven't been allowed to rotate my arm outward. Next week I am going to start working on that movement. Lots of hard work and pain but I'm looking forward to it. I'm thinking within the next 3 -4 weeks I will be driving again and starting back to work. Yipee!
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Not feelin' so hot
I haven't been feeling so hot the past couple of days. My stomach has been upset and nauseous. The one thing I hate the most is when I'm hungry but feel like I'm going to get sick if I eat. Hopefully I'll start feeling better soon.
Yesterday I had my stitches removed. It was one continuous stitch with bows tied at each end. Two snips and they pulled them out. Very little pain (yay)! I have therapy twice a week. It's been going well. Lots of stretching the muscles. I've started working on moving my arm myself. Lifting it straight up and out to the side. I've been having trouble lifting it straight up. It's a bit difficult and causes some muscle pain. It disappoints me that it's so hard to do. I keep reminding myself that I did just have surgery 2 weeks ago. Things aren't going to work perfectly afterwards. That's why I have therapy. Also my arm muscles haven't worked right for about 5 years so it's going to take some time to build them back up. I have made some progress though. I am able to brush my teeth by myself and feed myself. The more things I can do on my own the better it makes me feel. I'm hoping to be back at work within 4 weeks. I'm already bored and actually want to go back!
On Saturday night I spent the evening at my house. I've been living with my mom and Jim while I recuperate. I had to leave my dog Max behind. I've missed him so much! I spent the evening with him and he was on my lap the whole night. I invited my dad over to hang out for awhile and my nieces were there too. We ate some Papa John's pizza which did not sit well with me.
That's all I have for now!
Yesterday I had my stitches removed. It was one continuous stitch with bows tied at each end. Two snips and they pulled them out. Very little pain (yay)! I have therapy twice a week. It's been going well. Lots of stretching the muscles. I've started working on moving my arm myself. Lifting it straight up and out to the side. I've been having trouble lifting it straight up. It's a bit difficult and causes some muscle pain. It disappoints me that it's so hard to do. I keep reminding myself that I did just have surgery 2 weeks ago. Things aren't going to work perfectly afterwards. That's why I have therapy. Also my arm muscles haven't worked right for about 5 years so it's going to take some time to build them back up. I have made some progress though. I am able to brush my teeth by myself and feed myself. The more things I can do on my own the better it makes me feel. I'm hoping to be back at work within 4 weeks. I'm already bored and actually want to go back!
On Saturday night I spent the evening at my house. I've been living with my mom and Jim while I recuperate. I had to leave my dog Max behind. I've missed him so much! I spent the evening with him and he was on my lap the whole night. I invited my dad over to hang out for awhile and my nieces were there too. We ate some Papa John's pizza which did not sit well with me.
That's all I have for now!
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Therapy
Today was my first therapy appointment. It went well. We started with passive therapy meaning I didn't actually move my arm myself but the therapist moved it for me. It moved really well and she was able to stretch my muscles. The only thing that hurt was the pulling on the stitches. Things went so well that she had me move it a little on my own. Obviously the muscle was extremely weak but it was a good start. She also decided to move up my appointment for getting my stitches out. I'm now getting my stitches out on Monday. It's really going to help my therapy. I think I'll be able to move my arm a little better without fear of the stitches hurting. Next week I'll start exercising my arm myself and working on building my muscle. I'm super excited!
Monday, January 28, 2013
One week ago today
I cannot believe it's been a week! I'm happy to say that my pain is SOOOO much better. Yesterday I only took 2 pain pills which is alot less than I've been taking. I start therapy tomorrow. I'm excited to get this arm moving! I may have to bump up the pain meds on therapy days but that's the usual. Want to hear something so stupid? I finally got approval for my short term disability for work while I'm recovering. Unfortunately they only approved me for 2 weeks! Can you believe that? 2 weeks to fully recover from a partial shoulder replacement is not enough time. I just don't understand how they came up with that. I'll get paid through Feb. 4th. If I need more time I have to submit another disability form which costs me $15 to have the doc fill out. If not I guess I'll be expected back at work. I don't even get my stitches out until Feb. 7th!
We had movie night with my brothers, Mariah, and Alyssa. We watched The Possession. It was creepy which I loved! My mom and I ran around earlier that day. We went to Target and walked around for awhile. It felt good to get out. We also stopped by my house to see my baby. I miss Max so much! I'm used to having him follow me around the house and cuddle me on the bed. He also keeps me busy by annoying me. He wants to go outside then a few minutes later he wants right back in then a few minutes later wants back out. Ok maybe I don't miss the annoying part ;) He was excited to see me and when we left I could hear him yelp a couple of times. Poor baby.
I'll let you all know how therapy goes tomorrow!
We had movie night with my brothers, Mariah, and Alyssa. We watched The Possession. It was creepy which I loved! My mom and I ran around earlier that day. We went to Target and walked around for awhile. It felt good to get out. We also stopped by my house to see my baby. I miss Max so much! I'm used to having him follow me around the house and cuddle me on the bed. He also keeps me busy by annoying me. He wants to go outside then a few minutes later he wants right back in then a few minutes later wants back out. Ok maybe I don't miss the annoying part ;) He was excited to see me and when we left I could hear him yelp a couple of times. Poor baby.
I'll let you all know how therapy goes tomorrow!
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Ouch! This effing hurts!
I must say that this has been one of the most painful surgeries I've ever had. I keep thinking to myself that the outcome will all be worth it.
Monday morning came and I was getting really nervous. It only took 2 tries to get an IV started (yay me). Then came the block for my arm so I wouldn't be able to feel anything. They told me that different parts of my body would twitch until they found the right nerve for my arm. They kept hitting the nerve for my diaphragm. So I would uncontrollably start to twitch from my diaphragm which made me feel like I was having a seizure, along with uncontrollable grunting. Yeah it was great. They finally found the nerve for my arm and eventually it went completely numb. My surgery was scheduled for 8am. I was happy I wouldn't have to wait or be postponed for later in the day. Yet my surgeon was late. 830 came and went then about quarter till 9 she finally got there. They then tell me that they don't do surgeries until 830. Ummmmm....... then why schedule me at 8?!?! Annoyance. Anyways, once I was FINALLY taken back things went much better. They were able to only have to do a partial replacement. She said things couldn't have gone any better. She was really pleased. Once I was taken to my room they told me that once my block wore off they would give me morphine and norco for pain. My block wore off and I was in so much pain I couldn't stop crying. The morphine and norco did absolutely nothing to ease the pain. I asked my nurse (through tears) if there was anything else that could be given to me. She said no, that the block had worn off and I was getting exactly what the surgeon had prescribed. I took that as a hint to deal with the pain and stop my belly aching. Thank god that not much later the nurses switched out. My new nurse took one look at me and said she was going to call my surgeon and see if there was anything she could do for me. Within 30 minutes I was getting much stronger meds. Morphine every 2 hours and percocet every 4 hours. It helped and I was able to get a little sleep. Then about 4am she came in for another dose of morphine. As she was injecting it, it was extremely painful. She stopped and tried to get some blood to come through the iv but nothing was coming through. Turns out that at some point through the night the IV came out of the vein. My wrist had been slowly swelling and I think it was the meds from the iv pooling under the skin. So they pulled that IV out and 3 nurses (and needle sticks) later they were able to start a new IV. OMG! Once she injected the morphine through the new IV I felt absolutely nothing! I was so excited and was finally able to get some sleep. I almost didn't want to leave the hospital because I didn't want to be without the morphine. Eventually I went home on Tuesday. It's been so painful. I've not been able to concentrate on anything other than the pain because it is so overwhelming. But each day it gets a little better.
I had a therapy appointment today. My surgeon wanted to see me also. She ended up taking my big bandages off. She also moved my shoulder around. I'm pretty excited at how much movement I already have without having any therapy yet. They weren't going to start therapy for another 2 weeks but they decided to start me next week. They have me on some additional pain meds which is going to help a lot. I'm really looking forward to therapy and to getting back to life! Thanks to everyone for all the support and well wishes. It means so much!
Monday morning came and I was getting really nervous. It only took 2 tries to get an IV started (yay me). Then came the block for my arm so I wouldn't be able to feel anything. They told me that different parts of my body would twitch until they found the right nerve for my arm. They kept hitting the nerve for my diaphragm. So I would uncontrollably start to twitch from my diaphragm which made me feel like I was having a seizure, along with uncontrollable grunting. Yeah it was great. They finally found the nerve for my arm and eventually it went completely numb. My surgery was scheduled for 8am. I was happy I wouldn't have to wait or be postponed for later in the day. Yet my surgeon was late. 830 came and went then about quarter till 9 she finally got there. They then tell me that they don't do surgeries until 830. Ummmmm....... then why schedule me at 8?!?! Annoyance. Anyways, once I was FINALLY taken back things went much better. They were able to only have to do a partial replacement. She said things couldn't have gone any better. She was really pleased. Once I was taken to my room they told me that once my block wore off they would give me morphine and norco for pain. My block wore off and I was in so much pain I couldn't stop crying. The morphine and norco did absolutely nothing to ease the pain. I asked my nurse (through tears) if there was anything else that could be given to me. She said no, that the block had worn off and I was getting exactly what the surgeon had prescribed. I took that as a hint to deal with the pain and stop my belly aching. Thank god that not much later the nurses switched out. My new nurse took one look at me and said she was going to call my surgeon and see if there was anything she could do for me. Within 30 minutes I was getting much stronger meds. Morphine every 2 hours and percocet every 4 hours. It helped and I was able to get a little sleep. Then about 4am she came in for another dose of morphine. As she was injecting it, it was extremely painful. She stopped and tried to get some blood to come through the iv but nothing was coming through. Turns out that at some point through the night the IV came out of the vein. My wrist had been slowly swelling and I think it was the meds from the iv pooling under the skin. So they pulled that IV out and 3 nurses (and needle sticks) later they were able to start a new IV. OMG! Once she injected the morphine through the new IV I felt absolutely nothing! I was so excited and was finally able to get some sleep. I almost didn't want to leave the hospital because I didn't want to be without the morphine. Eventually I went home on Tuesday. It's been so painful. I've not been able to concentrate on anything other than the pain because it is so overwhelming. But each day it gets a little better.
BEFORE
AFTER
I had a therapy appointment today. My surgeon wanted to see me also. She ended up taking my big bandages off. She also moved my shoulder around. I'm pretty excited at how much movement I already have without having any therapy yet. They weren't going to start therapy for another 2 weeks but they decided to start me next week. They have me on some additional pain meds which is going to help a lot. I'm really looking forward to therapy and to getting back to life! Thanks to everyone for all the support and well wishes. It means so much!
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