My procedure was done on the 28th of December, it’s
now the 16th of January I’m still awake at 2:15 AM, when I normally
go to bed at 9:30 PM. I’ve found that
when I take an oxycotin it either makes me want to pass out, or I I can’t fall
asleep.
Why did I take any Oxy?
Well relative to the other pain killers this one makes me feel the least
shitty, I’m pretty sure in another life I was a strung out crack whore, who
would give you a hummer for a hit. When
I’m on anything that ends in –codene I get lazy, I go into a haze, and all I want
to do is sleep, or do something passive.
Rewinding back to the 28th of December…what was
supposed to be an hour procedure turned into a 4.5 marathon for my
surgeon. I knew things weren’t going to
be in my favor, when the intake nurse stuck me for the IV did it incorrectly, and
then told me everything was fine as I was telling her it wasn’t fine. It took a senior nurse at the surgical center
who could tell something was wrong from my grimace, and by looking at how the
IV line was placed came in and fixed it.
The Anesthesiologist stuck me four or five times when doing
the nerve block. None of these things
seemed to be a big deal before the operation, but in hindsight they are like tea
leaves.
Following the excruciating process of the nerve block, the
next thing I remember is waking up while I was turned on my side, and the
doctor was finishing up the sutures on my arm and shoulder. That’s right I woke up while still on the
table.
This is where I freaked out a bit, because I wasn’t sure if
I was actually awake or in a dream, I tried to open my mouth and say, am I
supposed to be awake, but the words wouldn’t come out. At some point Doctor Bombay looked at me, and
realized that I was awake, and then my surgeon told me that he was almost done.
From the surgery center Nancy drove me home, but we had to
make a stop at the surgeons office, because he wanted to make sure I had
Oxycotin, along with my Norco, and the type of sling he likes to use were not available
at the surgery center, so I got to through the awesome process of fitting into
a sling again.
That visit to his office was probably the worst part, I was
disoriented, the nerve block was wearing off, and I was in desperate need of
pain medication. To top it all off, a
week later at my follow up appointment I would learn that the tech who fitted
my sling did it wrong, and the week of discomfort I encountered was all for
nothing.
Was the surgery its aftermath an ordeal, no, if that was the
cost for a successful outcome of the actual procedure I’ll pay 10x, but it was
for sure not a day that went smoothly. The
first week following the procedure was filled more with discomfort than
pain. The only time I actually felt pain
was when my arm or shoulder were moved, I could feel the shoulder joint was
stiff, and any movements outside of the 90 degree angle the sling kept me in
was excruciating.
If not for the love and care of Nancy, that first week would
have been horrible. She made sure I was
looped up on pain killers, took care of the dog, did all of my laundry, and
generally did her best to make me comfortable.
This is why all men need women, if the roles were reversed I would do
everything I could to make her feel better, but being a dumb guy I’m sure I’d
do something to make it worse.
There isn’t a whole lot to write about that period because
it basically involved, sleep, icing, brief walks to and from the bathroom. I watched the entire 7th season of
the Shield, the most recent season of Kitchen Nightmares, saw 5 movies, and am now
addicted to the TV shows Millionaire Matchmaker, Dangerous Grounds, and Honey
Boo Boo…well maybe not Honey Boo Boo.
By day five following the surgery I had eaten 2 pints of ice
cream, and had suffered 3 days of awesome constipation. One of the few true pleasures I have in life
is taking my regularly scheduled AM poop.
My morning doesn’t start without this, it’s like my cockle. I later learned from Mickey that stool
softeners, and laxatives are a must have following surgery, as constipation is
a side effect of the anesthesia.
At my one week follow up with my Doctor Nagda I learned the
true fate of my shoulder. Nancy, my
sister, and my mother all tried to explain it to me but it’s always better to hear
from the horse’s mouth.
The MRI’s Doctor Nagda ordered back in September had
revealed 4 small tears, 3 in my labrum, 1 in my rotator cuff. From his examination of me he indicated that
I probably had bursitis and issues with my AC joint. So what he was expecting was a simple
procedure, and told me that recovery shouldn’t be too bad, yet he always
qualified this statement by telling me he really won’t know the extent of the
damage until inside my shoulder.
What he found was a labrum that had been torn all the way
around the glenoid cavity. A quick
anatomy lesson, the glenoid cavity is the space where your arm connects to your
shoulder. Inside the cavity is the
labrum which is cartilage that basically functions like a bushing or plastic
bearing, it helps hold the arm in place and allows for movement of your arm
without friction between the bones of your arm and shoulder. Most people when they have tears either get
them at the top or bottom. I had them all the way around.
The photos below are the before pictures. You’ll see all that tissue floating around which
basically looks like well, wet pieces of tissue. Healthy labral tissue is supposed to look
smooth, and uniform. Not like mess of
floating shit you see in my pictures.
This was a huge shock to Doctor Nagda, and it ended up
taking him 3x the time he had anticipated.
When he finished with the labral damage, and moved to the bursitis in my
shoulder he thought he was in the home stretch.
What he thought would be 20 mintues was an hour. He told me during the follow up that it was
one of the worst casese of bursitis he’d ever seen…so I got that going for me.
You add to this the work he did on my AC joint and my rotator
cuff and you have a marathon.
Doctor Nagda delayed the start of my physical therapy an
extra week, and prescribed three weeks of passive therapy before I start moving
my arm on my own. My first two PT
session were basically heat, electric stimuli, and the therapist supporting and
moving my arm performing mobility for me.
Starting the second week following surgery I felt pretty
good for the most part, but was very much up and down. Most of that cycling of how I felt I think
was directly related to pain management, while I think some of it was from poor
diet and the change in activity level.
This last week I’ve been mentally better, I’m able to do
more daily activities for myself, and if not for the fact that Nancy is hiding
my car keys I’m pretty sure I would have already gone for a drive. I need to get off of my ass, and back into
some type of routine, and return to being a productive member of society, but
the disrupted sleeping patterns is making it hard.
I want to thank all the well wishers, and appreciate the
support from everyone from PCF, much love to you all, and I really can’t thank
my boss enough. She has been the reason
I’m recovering at the rate that I am, and even when I’m a whiny bitch she is
for sure patient.
End pity party here…
Man, that’s one hell of a shoulder injury. I hope your recovery goes well.