Shoulder Surgery

Everything apparently went well with my shoulder surgery.

I was given a late-ish time to report to the surgical center–1:45pm, and just a we were about to leave home to go to the surgical center, they called and told me that they were running behind.  I finally showed up at 2:45 and got all checked in.

I dressed in their blue paper bloomers and their purple gown and wrote “yes” on my left shoulder.  They asked if I wouldn’t mind helping out a BYU nursing student who had never done an IV before.  Sure.  Why not?  So she worked on it for somewhat longer than a normal nurse might have done. Another nurse came in to shave my shoulder.  Most of what was shaved was my chest.  And then I waited.

My brother stopped by and we talked for a while.

And I waited.

I was my surgeon’s last “case” for the day.

And I waited some more.

Finally, the anesthesiologist came in and talked with me about doing a “shoulder block” which is basically like an epidural for my shoulder and would block pain for 12-24 hours.  Yes please!

They sedated me, administered the shoulder block, and soon it was time to head into the operating room.  I was transferred onto the table, they asked me to breathe deeply into the mask, and the next thing I knew, I was in recovery.

The doctor told my wife that they had placed four anchors, meaning that it was a more significant tear than they had anticipated from the MRI.  I had to hang around at the surgical center to make sure certain *ahem* biological proceses were in full swing, and then I went home, not arriving at home until 9:30 or so Wednesday evening.

So far, the recovery has gone better than I had anticipated.  For the first while, the shoulder block kept the pain at bay.  After that, regular Lortab helped.  They also gave me a nifty ice cooler that, when plugged in, would circulate ice water over my shoulder.  That kept the swelling at bay.

As of today, I’m off of Lortab and I’m not in pain.  My left arm is kept immobilized except for when I’m supposed to exercise my elbow 4 times a day.  I think I’m ready to head back to work tomorrow.  We’ll see how it goes.  Next comes follow-up with the surgeon on Thursday and physical *ouch* therapy after that.

It’s really pretty miraculous what they can do through three small incisions.