So many new things! As always, feel free to skip straight to “***big exciting bit” if you want to get straight to the best part of the post.
I have reached the 3-week milestone since surgery. Since having my stitches out I’ve enjoyed the return of a lot of mobility and freedom. A list of all the things I started doing in the past 7-10 days includes:
Showering - mostly without assistance!, though I still can’t use my surgically repaired right arm to wash my left)
Dressing - I have complete autonomy, most importantly being able to easily get socks and shoes on, though it takes some maneuvering of my un-slinged arm.
House work - I can hold light (<5lb) items in my right hand while in the sling. This allows for things like doing dishes to be possible again. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but I was starting to feel bad about all the things I couldn’t help Sarah with around the house.
Yard work - I can use the leaf blower (mostly one-handed), and can rake leaves, although I’m not actively pulling with the repaired shoulder, just lightly holding the rake with the bad arm and pulling with the good one.
Workouts - I mentioned this earlier, but the idea is that at two weeks post-surgery the site of repair reaches a point where it’s much more stable. This allows me to do things like standing squats or left-arm dumbbell press, which before I couldn’t, at least not without worrying I’d be somehow pulling on/activating my right shoulder. Jumping is also possible if I keep the arm in the sling and tight to my side!
My PT is going well, all range of motion progressing, although Friday was a bit of a nightmare. I had a different therapist since Lita wasn’t working that day, and this new lady was essentially apologizing at every manual bit of work she was doing. I was in pretty nasty pain for 24-36hrs after the session, and needed to use a full Percocet Friday night to sleep. Fortunately, the manual work being done on me is not strong enough to risk rerupture, but because I haven’t moved my shoulder in a normal way for so long, reintroducing these motions to my body can be really painful, mostly because of stiffness. Somehow me and this therapist just didn’t click. Word to the wise, *do not* lay and tolerate the pain. Some discomfort is expected, but your body is telling you it doesn’t like some movements for a reason. The ‘no pain, no gain’ attitude is not beneficial, in this case.
***Big exciting bit ---> Lita ‘graduated’ me to assisted active range of motion (AAROM), today. Essentially, lying flat on my back, I’m now allowed to work on external rotation, and overhead motion. I can do this by holding a stick/dowel/broom with both hands. The good arm holds on tight, and the right arm mostly hangs on for the ride, being assisted along the way for the two motions. Here are links to each motion I’m allowed to do, now:
24hr update: I’ve done my AAROM work 2x since therapy, yesterday. I already see a substantial improvement in ROM, including the ability to go chest-to-table on my table slides! This is mega-super-awesome progress!!
Also awesome, I am allowed to use the sling without the pillow, now, and can start weaning off the sling at home! Slightly less awesome, tried sleeping without the pillow under the sling, was very uncomfortable, then couldn’t get the pillow back into a good spot on the Velcro attachment and kept waking up with my right hand having fallen asleep. Sleeping well and through the night is still one of the bigger hurdles, but otherwise I’m thrilled about all my progress. Huzzah!
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