Moving fast

I just returned from the orthopedist/surgeon's office. He did a great job assuaging the fears I had about the damaged tendon. It turns out I may have overreacted a bit. I won't be in the sling that much longer than had the injury been a labral tear, and in fact, he feels generally more confident about the recovery for this kind of procedure. The doc walked me through every bit of my MRI scans, showed me the problem, explained it, and reassured me that there are no other problems in the shoulder. In fact the radiologist noted there might be partial tearing of the infraspinatus tendon as well, but Dr. Berdia dismissed this, which is agreement with what Kris said as well.

So the big news? Surgery is scheduled for...Tuesday! Yeah, I'm going to be under the knife (or arthroscope, I suppose), on November 4th, just four days from now. I'll only miss two days of work and will be doing my first physical therapy (PT) just two days after surgery, Nov. 6th! Four weeks of PT will follow, 2x a week of passive motion, no muscle engagement. Active therapy will follow that.

My initial thought about recovery was, 'Can I beat the 6 month post-surgery landmark', which is where full-strength should be reached. The doc thinks I can be lifting heavy weights and throwing a disc again 3 months post-surgery - the beginning of February! This is undoubtedly great news.

So in a way, this prognosis was the best birthday present I could have hoped for. This, matched with my boss's understanding of the situation, I just got done telling her I won't be able to do an experiment for about a month, has made me feel pretty thankful for the good that is being made of a not-so-good situation. Fortunately, the month ahead at work will be focused on preparing for a big Division-wide presentation, anyway, which would have left less time for experiments, even for a fully healthy version of me. In effect I'm not losing that much time at work. I can still think, write, and talk about my science, and perhaps get a few experiments done one-handed with the help of a few friends, here.

One last hurrah, this weekend (MOSH!), and then it's off to the (recovery) races!