rustyapplecore
09-28-2009, 08:49 PM
I'm bored and also looking for anyone else's input on this surgery so I'll tell my story thus far into surgery, I'm just starting my 5th week post surgery. About half my labrum was torn and 4 anchors were put into my bone, Im in my 20s. I popped my shoulder out once a year ago, and 2x this year, all 3 times it went back in on its own. So I got surgery.
The 1st 2 days I was in so much constant pain I could not sleep so I went to the ER to get stronger pain medication, 10x stronger than morphine. The percoset didn't work really at all. The new pain meds allowed me to sleep but it still hurt.
After the 1st week I could probably sleep a little easier although still sitting upright. The whole 1st week was staying up very late until passing out because sleeping was uncomfortable, and waking up was very, very painful in the morning. Pinching, shooting, piercing pain. Ontop of that is a dull throbbing pain that is constantly there. I had to go back for more X rays and an ultrasound because the high pain levels made them wonder if blot clots were present, luckily they were not and everything was ok.
2nd and 3rd weeks I started using less pain meds even though, if I had more, I would still be using the same amount. Just about running out of the 50strong pain pills, and making the transition to the remaining 30 percoset pills which proved to work at the tail end of all of this. Still slept upright, with the morning pain lessening over the weeks.
4th week was still painful, the sling was starting to come off so a new bout of swelling arose. No more pain pills, maybe some advil, but still icing, through all of these weeks. Can't move the arm aside from typing on the computer and squeezing balls, with assisted movement from my other arm to bend my elbow.
5th week, sling is off almost all day but still ssleeping with it. Still swollen from just removing the sling, still always painful in one way or another but much better. Slowly walking with it, still can't move the arm at all, and have to be very careful with it. Every morning is pretty painful, sitting is usually painful, moving around is least painful ironically. Still swollen, it's still a long road before full recovery, only 1 month into it with 8 to go, and a lifetime of physical therapy.
Things I have learned from this were that:
nerve blocks are cool
the pain meds they gave didnt work
you really have to fight to get strong pain meds that work
it was more painful than i was lead to believe
did i mention it was really painful??
i hate being unable to do anything active, it is torture
Questions I still have:
What does it take to pull your anchors out?
Is it crazy to request a weight trainer to be covered by medical insurance for when I am ready to lift weights again so that when I get back to it I can prevent getting re injured?
The 1st 2 days I was in so much constant pain I could not sleep so I went to the ER to get stronger pain medication, 10x stronger than morphine. The percoset didn't work really at all. The new pain meds allowed me to sleep but it still hurt.
After the 1st week I could probably sleep a little easier although still sitting upright. The whole 1st week was staying up very late until passing out because sleeping was uncomfortable, and waking up was very, very painful in the morning. Pinching, shooting, piercing pain. Ontop of that is a dull throbbing pain that is constantly there. I had to go back for more X rays and an ultrasound because the high pain levels made them wonder if blot clots were present, luckily they were not and everything was ok.
2nd and 3rd weeks I started using less pain meds even though, if I had more, I would still be using the same amount. Just about running out of the 50strong pain pills, and making the transition to the remaining 30 percoset pills which proved to work at the tail end of all of this. Still slept upright, with the morning pain lessening over the weeks.
4th week was still painful, the sling was starting to come off so a new bout of swelling arose. No more pain pills, maybe some advil, but still icing, through all of these weeks. Can't move the arm aside from typing on the computer and squeezing balls, with assisted movement from my other arm to bend my elbow.
5th week, sling is off almost all day but still ssleeping with it. Still swollen from just removing the sling, still always painful in one way or another but much better. Slowly walking with it, still can't move the arm at all, and have to be very careful with it. Every morning is pretty painful, sitting is usually painful, moving around is least painful ironically. Still swollen, it's still a long road before full recovery, only 1 month into it with 8 to go, and a lifetime of physical therapy.
Things I have learned from this were that:
nerve blocks are cool
the pain meds they gave didnt work
you really have to fight to get strong pain meds that work
it was more painful than i was lead to believe
did i mention it was really painful??
i hate being unable to do anything active, it is torture
Questions I still have:
What does it take to pull your anchors out?
Is it crazy to request a weight trainer to be covered by medical insurance for when I am ready to lift weights again so that when I get back to it I can prevent getting re injured?