I am so behind in this update; where do I begin? To start, I returned to my teaching duties two weeks after the surgery. That return was eventful because two days after I came back to work our choir performed at the Eastern Arizona Large Ensemble Festival. They did will, despite my one-handed conducting. I was told by my surgeon that wearing the sling was a six-week proposition. Every time I was out of the house I was admonished to wear it; if anything it was a reminder to others that I had a bum wing. The day that I ditched the sling at work wouldn't you know it but a teacher who hadn't see me for a while clapped me on my bad shoulder! Yeow!
I was also told not to drive for a week. Well, I’m a fairly non-compliant patient, so I pretty much ignored all of these instructions. I waited five days on the driving before going off on my own to pick up some things at Target one day the following week. It was only a 4 mile straight run down one road from my house, so it wasn’t quite so bad. Turning was a bit of a challenge, but I figured out a way to do that safely and efficiently.
As far as pain was concerned I definitely felt soreness and stiffness during the pre-physical therapy period, and sleep was still a challenge. However I found that I was able to lay in bed sooner than I could with the previous surgery on my right shoulder. I used pillow bolsters to support my arm and shoulder and was soon able to stop wearing the sling for nighttime sleeping. That was so much more comfortable.
When I had the surgery on my right shoulder back in 2010 I remember having a lot more pain and struggling with my sleeping situation for several weeks. I also remember having problems doing simple tasks like wielding a spoon or a fork. But of course I am terribly right-handed. Doing anything with my left hand has always been a problem. Let’s face it – I am such a klutz left handed!
Physical therapy began the week I returned to work. It consisted of passive motion exercises. The therapists put me on a bench and then stretched and moved my arm and shoulder themselves. It’s hard to voluntarily give up control of your arm! You want to “help” the therapist, but doing so actually makes them fight with you. I learned to just close my eyes and breathe deeply during these sessions. That helped to keep my shoulder relaxed and the therapists happy.
There were four or five sessions of this type of activity, the goal of which was to begin increasing my range of motion. The first resistance exercises involved an overhead cable/pulley exercise in which my right arm pulled my left arm up high from a seated position. This was hard and painful, but I noticed that I could stretch the arm pretty high if it was aided by the right.
Once I could extend the arm (with soreness and stiffness), we began to work with very light resistance using a beach ball or very light elastic bands. From there I graduated to very light dumbbells, one to two pounds over the next four weeks.
At this point I am now up to five pound weights and stronger elastic bands. After my initial PT sessions ended I am on my own now, with the weight, bands and stretching program running three days per week, about 45 minutes each session. The last fifteen minutes of those sessions are reserved for icing.
The challenge is strengthening muscles attached to the reattached rotator cuff that basically shut down after surgery. It’s a process of many months of work to get it feeling anywhere near normal. There is still stiffness and pain as I use the shoulder more and more, and I have to remember to keep weights like milk jugs close to my body when lifting them. The same thing is true for extending the arm, as in drive-thru restaurants and banks. That can be uncomfortable, but if I make a conscious effort to use the arm it goes much better than reaching for something instinctively without thinking. That’s when the shoulder says to me “Hold it buddy, are you sure you want to do this?”
I fully expect to have my shoulder completely back in about six months, if I can keep consistent with my rehab schedule. There is a lot of work there yet to do, but I am already able to do more than at any other time since I tore the tendon in the shoulder. I’m looking forward to a time when my shoulder does not remind me that I am still healing!
