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no more excuses
Jan. 18th, 2006 08:31 pmIt will have been a month since my shoulder surgery this coming Tuesday, and I've been able to type for a while now, so I really have no excuse not to post an update.
I can't say I've never been in a hospital (if an outpatient surgery department counts) as a patient anymore. 46 years, 8 months and 15 days was a pretty good record, if I do say so myself. The calcium lump has been removed, an angry bursa has been dealt with, and a small tear in my rotator cuff was repaired "while we were in there, anyway," as the surgeon put it.
The shoulder is progressing. They say it will be 4-5 months until it's completely back to normal -- that would be April 23rd-May 23rd. I'm being optimistic and shooting for my birthday (April 8th). There are a lot of terribly mundane things that I will never take for granted again -- sleeping in my own bed (which I'm just now starting to be able to do again), being able to put on a bra (six days without was awful), wear tops that don't fasten up the front (not yet). And an awful lot of things that this ostensible lefty actually normally does righthanded. Verra strange.
I've been in physical therapy for a couple of weeks now -- I think your standard physical therapist must be 90% healing angel, 10% sadist. But since they've gotten me from being able to lift my arm from only 35 degrees to 90 degrees in two weeks, I can't complain too much. Ice packs are my friends. Next week we start active motion (lifting my arm using its own muscles, rather than using my other hand or a pulley to lift it), which I suspect is going to be more painful, but it's progress.
I'm gradually weaning off the sling -- I still need it to drive (or to remind me not to do something Very Very Painful by accident while driving) and at work (first day back was Tuesday last week -- I still can't believe I got to the point where I was looking forward to going back), but have mostly set it aside at home. I don't jar the shoulder nearly as often as I used to (g). Oh, and, boy, am I glad I traded my old stick shift car in for an automatic last summer. If I hadn't, I'd still be housebound. Putting the key in the ignition lefthanded is bad enough, thank you.
I'm *almost* to the point where Charley and the book are starting to call to me. Which is good, because my beta reader has been patient above and beyond the call of duty. Now all I need is a good night's sleep. Which I'm going to try to get in my bed tonight. For the first time. Wish me luck...
I can't say I've never been in a hospital (if an outpatient surgery department counts) as a patient anymore. 46 years, 8 months and 15 days was a pretty good record, if I do say so myself. The calcium lump has been removed, an angry bursa has been dealt with, and a small tear in my rotator cuff was repaired "while we were in there, anyway," as the surgeon put it.
The shoulder is progressing. They say it will be 4-5 months until it's completely back to normal -- that would be April 23rd-May 23rd. I'm being optimistic and shooting for my birthday (April 8th). There are a lot of terribly mundane things that I will never take for granted again -- sleeping in my own bed (which I'm just now starting to be able to do again), being able to put on a bra (six days without was awful), wear tops that don't fasten up the front (not yet). And an awful lot of things that this ostensible lefty actually normally does righthanded. Verra strange.
I've been in physical therapy for a couple of weeks now -- I think your standard physical therapist must be 90% healing angel, 10% sadist. But since they've gotten me from being able to lift my arm from only 35 degrees to 90 degrees in two weeks, I can't complain too much. Ice packs are my friends. Next week we start active motion (lifting my arm using its own muscles, rather than using my other hand or a pulley to lift it), which I suspect is going to be more painful, but it's progress.
I'm gradually weaning off the sling -- I still need it to drive (or to remind me not to do something Very Very Painful by accident while driving) and at work (first day back was Tuesday last week -- I still can't believe I got to the point where I was looking forward to going back), but have mostly set it aside at home. I don't jar the shoulder nearly as often as I used to (g). Oh, and, boy, am I glad I traded my old stick shift car in for an automatic last summer. If I hadn't, I'd still be housebound. Putting the key in the ignition lefthanded is bad enough, thank you.
I'm *almost* to the point where Charley and the book are starting to call to me. Which is good, because my beta reader has been patient above and beyond the call of duty. Now all I need is a good night's sleep. Which I'm going to try to get in my bed tonight. For the first time. Wish me luck...
