Shoulder Surgery

[tom_hargreaves]

The physio has been giving me ultrasound every week to try and keep the muscles regerating themselves and not getting a build up of scar tissue.

Hope all goes well, let us know how you get on. And tell us all about the PAAAIIIINNNN!!!!!!!!!

[tom_hargreaves]

How was it Mook? Dead? Dying? Share the pain!

[Tipex]

I bring sad news of Mooks operation, unfortunately there was a mix up at the hospital and Mook received gender re-assignment surgery by mistake, It's taking him a while to get over the shock, but I'm sure he'll be fine once he gets down the hand bag shop.

Duisberg - hows your new shoulder?

[tom_hargreaves]

[Mook]

Sorry Tom, completely forgot to update this

Went in at 7am for the op (nothing to eat from midnight) and the op was at 1pm, so I as bloody starving.

Excellent care where I was (Nuffield Bournemouth). The consultant came in and explained what was happening and the anaesthetist explained what he was going to do. I've had two generals before, so I'm not bothered by them.

He also explained that once I was under, he would be injecting me in my neck which would kill off all the nerve senses in my shoulder and arm for 24-48 hours.

In terms of pain after the op, I couldn't move my arm because of the neck injection, so it was fine. I'd say the pain scale was about 3 out of 10 straight after the op and for about 12 hours afterwards.

Once the feelings started to come back in my arm, the pain went up to a constant 4/10 for about 2 days after. The only way I can describe it is like someone having a 2" knife lodged right in the middle of your shoulder. If I moved it the wrong way (too quick or too far), the score spiked to 8/10, so yes, it feckin hurt, but it only lasted for about 5 minutes each time I did it, so I quickly learned to be a bit mroe careful!

The op involves cutting a small hole straight through the middle of each of your deltoids (anterior, lateral and posterior). I'm not sure which one they used for the main part of the op, but I reckon it was the front one - that's given me the most grief in terms of post-operative pain. Single stitch in each hole after the op. Stitches were taken out two weeks after the op.

I've been to physio twice a week since the op and it's all been about slowly getting the movement back into the shoulder. There's been a few 8/10 pain moments at the physio, but, having originally been told I would need six weeks of physio, I was discharged from physio last week after just three weeks.

I also saw the consultant last week and he said that I'd made a much quicker recovery than he was expecting. He's put this down to following the post-operative instructions properly and the fact that I was stupidly fit before I had the op (I increased circuits and spin from three to four times a week, plus ran four times a week rather than three for a month before and was even there the night before the op!)

I'm now three and a half weeks after the op and, apart from the odd twinge (to be expected) I've got full range of motion in my shoulder joint. It'll be another three weeks or so before I can start lifting any weights and I managed to push it too far at the weekend when I was working on my car, but hey, you can't stop everything...

[tom_hargreaves]

Thanks for that Mook, it's very informative. I haven't been on the forum properly for the last week or so because of work. And I had to push back my consut because of that reason also.

I'm going to see the surgeon this afternoon. So i'll take with me what you've been saying and see if he can link the problems.

Thanks again, i'll let you know what he thinks.

[tom_hargreaves]

Went to see the Surgeon, who was brilliant. Had some X-Rays and i'm going back for the MRI scan on the 16th. I'm on private healthcare so things are happening pretty rapidly.

The Subacromial decompression was mentioned as a solution to fix it, as he says this is the only option. I could have the op done within the next 3 weeks but i'm going on holiday at the beginning of April, so i've taken the decision for it to be delayed until after I get back.

Can't wait to get it sorted though, the pains are really difficult to live with. I had a period of about 10 days last week when I had no pain, but it's been constant for the last few days.

[Mook]

Glad you've done it, Tom - best of luck with the op