Week 1 / Left Shoulder

Week 1 - Left Shoulder Rotator cuff surgery 
August 18-24, 2017

Drugs- Celebrex for 3 days - made me sleepy + Narco for 3 days - didn't think it was doing much and it made me constipated, so I stoppes taking it after 3 days. Baby Aspirin at night.

Pain - not too bad in the sling. Hurts when i let my arm hang down, which i try to do 3 times per day. Also seems to hurt when the waist band is too tight.

Ice Therapy - 5 x per day for 30 minutes

Exercise: Arm hang circles(2 x 20 reps each direction), radial twists w/ arm bent at side (2 x 20 reps), wrist flexion w/ arm hanging straight down, wrist abduction and adduction.
Walking around the neighborhood - starting w/ 4 blocks and increasing.

Showering:  Duct taping Saran wrap over steri-strips. 

Weight Management: Right after the surgery, I was up to 139lbs and then cam back to 135lbs.

Week 10

After weeks of being told how far behind I was in my progress and how stiff my shoulder was, I decided to switch physical therapists. My new therapist is a swimmer and also the physical therapist for the 2012 Olympic Swimming team. He was "pissed" that my old therapists were letting my cheat on my exercises and said my 10 weeks out progress was equivilent to someone who was been out of surgery for 4 weeks.
What I was doing wrong:
Overhead raises on your back - I was arching my back. I am now instructed to do them with my legs raised so my lower back is pressed against the floor. Also I was doing them on my bed. Need to do them on a hard surface.
Standing wall climbs with my arm - shrugging my shoulder. Need to practice "child's pose" in yoga to stretch my arms out in front of me.
Standing arm lifts - arching my back. Need to lift my arm while standing against a wall with my back pressed against the wall.

Weeks 7-8

There has been some progress in the angle that I can bend my elbow backwards. It went from 10 to 50 degrees, but seems to be stuck at 50 degrees now. I got some new exercises. One is facing the pulleys another is walking my fingers up a wall. I also started riding the recombant bicyclle at the Y.

Things that are getting easier to do: chopping vegetables, blow drying my hair, shampooing, driving letting my arms hang from the steering wheel in the ten and two o'clock position, lifting a bar over my head while lying down.

Reaching for objects on high shelves it still a bit tricky. I feel like by whole body has to twist to do it.
I tried mopping the floors and raking leaves. Both cause pain. Especially when you have to wring the mop out. My doc said not to weeding, but I thought that I could probably do it with my left hand, but my shoulder hurt for the rest of the night afterwards. Had to take some ibupropen.

Weeks 5-6

The doctor confirmed that I was behind in my recovery. Because of that, he asked me to ditch the sling so I could move the arm more. That meant that I finally get to drive again. Freedom to leave the house. This is good news. I think that part of my depression is due to being stuck in the house all the time. I have been walking and listening to French tapes and episodes of the podcast Serial. I think that Anon did it, but I agree that there isn't physical evidence to link to the crime.

Week 4

This has been the most painful week yet. It has been tough to sleep even in the recliner. I did figure out that I can't do any PT exercises at night because that definitely makes for a long night in which I get up every hour trying to re-adjust so the pain isn't apparent. As far as my exercises, I figured out that I was doing the pulleys incorrectly because my good shoulder barely moved and my right shoulder and traps went from a zero degree angle to a 45 degree angle. In addition, my PT is telling me that I am behind on progress. She is always telling me that my upper back muscles are super tight. Not sure what to do about that, but now I am trying heat for 10 minutes before my exercises followed by 10 minutes massaging with the Theracane. After the exercises, I do 20 minutes of icing. The whole routine takes 80 minutes. I have been doing this 3 times per day. Overall, I am getting depressed about my lack of progress and my increasing pain levels. I have a one month follow up on Monday.

Week 3

This blog covers days 15-21. First of all, having older parents take care of you is quite a bit of work. They don't know where anything is, even after a couple of days. I tried to hide out in my office, but was continually interupted by parents needing help.
Accomplishments: I showered by myself, slept in the bed one night - the recliner is still more comfortable, increased shoulder rotation, slicing veggies.
New PT exercises: assisted overhead lifts and drops behind by head while lying down, exterior forearm presses against a door jamb, hand presses into a door jamb with straight forearm.
Bent elbow abduction while lying down with elbow bent is still limited in range.
Accomplishments: Unscrew Gatorade Cap, Walking 3.5-6 miles per day, learning French

Day 14 & 15

Washed the sheets and tried to make the bed. Took 30 minutes. The fitted sheet was a PITA. Each pillowcase took me 2 minutes and 30 seconds!
Mom and dad are here to help since my husband is traveling for work.
Walked 3 miles around the lake two days in a row in addition to the PT exercises.