Day 10: Happy haircut day

Extremely windy today. Wind speeds up to 32 mph.
Went for a walk - 7 blocks.
Did PT exercises 4X.
Took a shower and didn't fall, but the new bathtub non-slip strips are already coming off. Need a new solution.

Day 9: Day 2 of PT

Went to the docs in the morning to find out if I ruined my surgery with my bathroom wipeout. Short answer: Probably not. The PA took off my steri-strips to inspect the damage.

Went next door to PT. Got a different therapist. She started to do some passive manipulations of my shoulder and I was feeling a great deal of pain. She then told me that I should take my pain meds before coming to PT to make her job easier. Never mind that the Percocet made me throw up and the other pain pill gave me a headache. double vision and extremely sleepy. My plan for the next visit is to take the pill right when I get there and then she'll have to carry me around because I won't be able to keep my eyes open. See how easy that makes her job!

Day 8: Slipped in the tub

Today I slipped while reaching for a towel after my shower. As you can see the bathmat slipped out from under my foot. I stepped forward to stop my self from falling, but my healing arm swumg forward and out much further than it had in the last week causing a great deal of pain. The pain lessened during the day, but there is more pain that the previous day. I am so mad at myself for possibly undoing all the work the surgeon did. Why didn't I wait for my husband???????

Day 7: First Day of PT

Last night I tried to sleep in a bed. I slept for a couple of hours on my non-injured side, but went back to the recliner. This morning I made two eggs, toast and tea on my own. I also washed the dishes, took the sheets off the bed and started the wash. Later in the morning I took a walk outside around two blocks. The weather is nice, 26 degrees and no wind.
PT visit included more exercises that hurt. I now have a pulley to passively raise and lower my right arm using my left arm. Did all the exercises four times throughout the day.

Day 6: Doctor's Visit

So you should know that I haven't been moving my right arm at all besides squeezing a rubber ball. At the doctor's office I was told that I needed to start physical therapy immediately because I had frozen shoulder going into the surgery. I was also given some painful exercises to do 3-5 times a day. The first exercise was to bend over and let my right arm hang loosely while rotating my hips in a clockwise and then counter clockwise motion. I was told that I wasn't relaxing my arm, but it was more like I was afraid how much it was going to hurt if I did. The next exercise is to sit in front of a low table and walk my fingers out. The last one was to keep my elbow at my side and bring my hand up to my mouth as in the sign "to eat" in sign language. This was the only one that I could do that didn't hurt. I was also told to start to use my hands more as in typing and writing. I did not get permission to try to twist off a Gatorade bottle top, but tried in vain anyway. It was beyond me. Too hard, too much pain.

Day 5: Relief

All morning I was having abdominal cramps. I was trying to evacuate, but getting incomplete results. Finally around noon, during my 4th evacuation, I felt like I got out what I needed and felt much better the rest of the day. We drove to a local mall and I walked around the interior perimeter. Felt tired after that. Came home ate dinner and watched Dead Poet's Society.

Day 4: Shower Day

The most significant things that happened today were I decided that I wouldn't take any more of the Tramadol pills, I took a shower and left the house to walk around a local greenhouse. The shower went OK.  The first challenge was getting the arm sling off. Next, the giant gause bandage had to be removed. I am hoping that it was filled with Betadine and not blood because it was soaked in a dark maroon liquid. Next was the shower itself. I have a hand held shower that is aimed at the back of the shower wall, so if you are not holding the handheld, you are not getting wet. I needed my husband to pump the shampoo out of the bottle and to dry me off. We tried a blow drying experiment where he held the blow dryer and I twirled a brush.
No drugs today, but I was getting constipated. Had some relief in the evening, but not 3 day's worth.

Day 3

After a good night's sleep, I decided to try the other pain pills I was given: Tramadol. These pills gave me a headache, made me sleepy immediately, and if I tried to fight the sleep I couldn't focus my eyes on anything. It was like a circling double vision. I slept most of the day in the recliner.

I received these flowers by delivery from the Sage Y Masters swim team that I coach wishing me a speedy recovery.

Day 2

I was woken up every 4-5 hours by my husband who gave me more Percocet pills. By 9:00am, I had already taken 6 pills, but wasn't feeling any pain. I was regaining feeling in my right arm indicating that the nerve block had worn off. I tried to eat some oatmeal, but wasn't hungry. I ate 5 spoonfuls when I felt like I had to throw up. I got up to go to the bathroom and passed out. At this point, I decided that I didn't need so many pain pills especially since I wasn't sure that they were even needed because I hadn't felt any pain. We reduced the dosage to one every 6 hours. I was in the recliner watching TV most of the day.

Day 1 :Surgery

This blog is supposed to be dated Feb.11, however due to a nerve block that I was given during surgery I did not have use of my right hand. In fact the nerve block lasted 18 hours. During that time, I felt like someone else's hand was attached to my right arm. It was a warm large sweaty man's hand which felt completely foreign. My arm was completely limp and was my new man hand. I didn't feel any pain. Before bedtime, I took 2 Percocet pills and an EX-LAX which made me sleepy.

This is a photo that my doc took of my tear as outlined in black magic marker.