Shoulder Surgery

I'm not completely sure how I hurt my shoulder, but I think it was from over-extending it for several hours straight when I put performance sway-bar bushings on my car back in November of 2000! There was one bolt that was very hard to remove. I think it had been cross-threaded at the factory. I ended up having to re-tap the hole, all the while working in a very bad position. Getting old sucks.

Anyhow, 15 months later, after an MRI, physical therapy and a plenty of healing time, I still wasn't all the way better. I was at about 90%. I could do my day-to-day things, but not much overhead like throwing a ball overhand, playing volleyball, etc...so it was time to see if arthroscopic surgery would work. I didn't have a torn rotator cuff; it was stretched tendons of the capsule. The surgery tightened them and cleaned out the bursa.

As of this point (3/31/02) just 2 weeks after surgery, it is still too early to tell if it has helped. It will be at least another month, maybe two.

Here I am 48 hours after the surgery...time to remove the bandage. Yes, that's me in glasses! Since I wear contacts, I haven't gotten new glasses in at least 5 years.
		I don't know what the ink is about. Maybe they were drawing a treasure map in the operating room. Anyhow, the surgery didn't require any major cutting. Two small openings on the front, and one in the rear.
A closer look at the front. The top incision was about 1/2 inch -- four stitches to close. The bottom one was just a little puncture -- one stitch to close. Not too bad at all.
		Like the bottom-front, the back was just a little puncture -- one stitch to close.
Here's a close-up of the front...and yes, there's still blood and Betadine stains. I wasn't supposed to clean the wounds, just remove the bandage, clean around the area, but not too close, put on Band-Aids and this wonderful thing called an "Op Site" patch...
		The Op Site is very, very thin, like skin. It is waterproof, so bathing was now possible, yet it "breaths", letting air help heal the wound. The green strips are at the edges of the patches.
I started out cautiously with the Op Site. Even though they said it was waterproof, I didn't want to get it any wetter than necessary. Kathy came up with the idea of putting a trash bag over me, then she washed my hair in the kitchen sink where it was easy to do with the sprayer....and a great photo-op looking like a dork. (As it turns out, the Op Site stayed in great, enduring a week of showers.)
		I stayed at home for a week, doing work from home the last few days. Since I didn't have to go anywhere, and since shaving would have been difficult, if not dangerous with my left hand, I didn't shave for a week. Both Kathy and I were curious what I'd look like with e beard. I'd never grown one before. Whadda ya think?
Three Months Later... Little did I know that my recovery would take so long. The surgeon tightened me up much more than necessary! At 13 weeks I was finally at where he had hoped I would be at 6 weeks.
	This is the person who made it possible for me to get back to normal -- Tracy, my Physical Therapist. It took a long time, a lot of patience, and tremendous help from Tracy. I couldn't have recovered without her. Thank you Tracy!