What a difference a year makes! New Year’s Day 2015 found me 12-hours post-op from my rotator cuff surgery, looking forward to months of rehab, pain, discomfort and uncertainty over whether it would all be worth it. Well, after the optimistic early days described in the entries below, I’m pleased to report the sailing remained smooth and steady. End result? A right shoulder that’s 100 percent functional in every way and better than it has been in 15 years. It has been tested on the tennis court, the golf course, in the swimming pool, on bike trails & ski slopes, in the kitchen and in the gym. In fact, thanks to the shoulder exercises assigned by my physical therapy guru, Luke Bongiorno at NY SportsMed, my right is now stronger than my left — so there’s still work to be done! I couldn’t recommend more the pre-op preparations I outlined in earlier posts. What I didn’t mention, though, was the physical therapy I did before the surgery that I believe gave me flexibility and strength in the rest of my shoulder putting me on the fast track to full recovery. Post-surgery I wore a sling 24/7 for one month and then for an additional two weeks only at night. I visited the physical therapist 3 times a week the first two months and did my exercises at home, religiously. Tapered to 2x/week of therapy for months 3 and 4 (especially since I ran out of insurance coverage after 20 visits!) and kept building strength at home with thera-bands and free weights. Despite the snowy & icy New York City winter of 2015, I managed to stay on my feet — until one day about 8 weeks post-op, when I tripped on an uneven sidewalk, breaking my fall with my right forearm. This jammed my shoulder pretty good and had me worried for a few days that I had undone some of the repair. But two weeks later, I was back on track. Phew. So, here’s the rough timeline of my rotator cuff recovery. Of course everybody’s different, and some may recover at a slower pace, but I haven’t heard of anyone who has rehabbed any faster.
It’s a long, challenging road, but worth every step if you start out, like me, with a rotator cuff tendon that’s still healthy, despite the tear. Some doctors told me that I wasn’t getting any younger and I’d have to begin accepting my limitations. But others said that with determination, there was a chance I could turn back the clock and keep doing the activities I love. Obviously, I went with the optimists and I was richly rewarded. Leave me a comment if you need any specifics or encouragement.
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I’m pretty certain that what my kids used to call “the magic pills” were what got me on the recovery fast-track. I’m talking about homeopathic remedies that come in the form of tiny white pellets that can be dissolved under your tongue. Homeopathy is a centuries old healing method that goes by the principle of “like cures like.” While certain herbs, flowers, minerals or other natural substances might cause toxic effects ingested whole, when taken in a highly diluted form, they stimulate the body to produce the exact opposite effect. Think of it as a type of inoculation that triggers a healing response. So, for instance, while the plant Arnica would cause you to bleed profusely if eaten whole, it causes constriction of blood vessels when taken in a micronized form. Getting your wisdom teeth dug out of your gums? Taking Arnica ahead of time will keep the trauma to a minimum. Having your shoulder joint probed, scraped, snipped and stitched back together? Same deal. So how do I know it really worked for me? Besides the relatively pain-free post-operative period, I was also able to gather some valuable intelligence right in the operating room. While my whole right arm was deadened with a regional nerve block, I awoke from the twilight anesthesia midway through the procedure just as the surgical residents were commenting on how minimal the bleeding was. I don’t know how often they get interviewed by their patients in the middle of a surgical procedure, but the residents and orthopedist patiently answered my questions about what they were seeing through the arthroscope and how the repair was going. For those of you reading this who are intimate with the workings of the rotator cuff, my supraspinatus tendon was hanging by a thread, but the length of the tear was only 1 cm, so only one screw was used to anchor the sutures. My biceps tendon turned out to be in great shape, despite expectations to the contrary, cartilage was all good and there was very little scar tissue to impede the mobility of the joint. For this, I’m going to credit the autologous stem cell injection I had in August, which promised to rebuild and strengthen the soft tissues, though nothing short of surgery could reattach a tendon that was torn away from the bone. So my secret weapons, for those of you still with me, were contained in the regimen of healing herbs and microbes I used pre and post-operatively. It’s a combination of homeopathy, probiotics and detox tea. For two days before surgery I took Ferum Phos 30c three times a day to minimize inflammation and infection. To minimize bleeding, I took Arnica 200c three times the day before surgery, again when I awoke at 4:30 the morning of the surgery, 10 minutes before they wheeled me into the operating room and within a half hour of getting to the recovery room. I took both remedies every 4 hours when I got home that day and then switched to just Arnica 30c 3 times a day for several days afterwards. Now I use Traumeel cream externally on my shoulder and a few times a day I take a wet dose of a combination of Ruta 30c and Symphytum 30c to speed the knitting of the tendon to the bone because the stitches and anchor used in the repair are only temporary fixes.
Thuja 30c for a day after the surgery was used to clear my system of anesthesia and Detox Tea was sipped every day to help clear the liver of those nasty painkillers and anti-inflammatories I took in the first couple of days. Finally, in the days after the surgery, I took probiotics in the form of both capsules and a kefir drink to rebalance my gut biome after the intravenous antibiotics that were administered just prior to surgery. Instead of Colace, I used a psyllium supplement for fiber to ward off constipation. Okay, now, I think I’m getting into TMI (too much information) territory, so time to wrap it up. Meanwhile, I know there’s a long road ahead (4 to 6 months) of ups and downs with physical therapy and recovering my mobility and strength. Check back periodically for reports. Questions or discussion about the complimentary remedies can be posted in the comments and I’ll be sure to respond. I’m now eight days post-op and I can safely say now that my early optimism so far as my pain-free recovery was not unfounded! Surgery was Wednesday. By Friday morning, I had taken the last of my meds, which by then amounted to a couple of extra strength Tylenol, an anti-inflammatory called Toradol, a nerve-blocker called Neurontin and Prevacid to protect my stomach. The whole lot had made me pretty queasy. Feeling quite good that evening with everything out of my system, Jeff and I accepted an invitation to join friends at their new apartment a few blocks away. The only downside to going out was the time it took me to dress and groom myself left-handed and having to leave my beloved cryo-machine behind and use an ice-pack instead. Since then I’ve made progress every day, becoming a whiz at getting my cumbersome sling on and off, venturing out on errands by myself, walking gingerly in a snowfall and weaning myself from sleeping upright in a recliner to nearly prone in my bed with the help of a foam wedge. Everything takes me twice as long as usual, but I’m no later to my appointments than usual! And everything is twice as exhausting, which means I nap when I can and sleep like a baby at night, a full 7 hours! Those who know me will be shocked to find that I no longer can be found sending e-mails at 2 a.m. Tomorrow I’ll detail the regimen of homeopathy, probiotics and detox tea that I credit with my positive experience so far. But I’ll also say that the umbrella rule certainly came into play, whereby if you have one with you it doesn’t rain. I had equipped myself with every tool and recommended apparel for a long haul of housebound dependency. Yesterday I gleefully returned just about all of it for refunds. Had rotator cuff surgery yesterday at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital with Dr. William Levine’s crack team, just hours before ringing in the New Year and having my insurance deductible reset to zero! The journalist in me was more than prepared, having read research studies, watched surgery videos, interviewed everyone i saw wearing a sling and best of all combing blogs like this and discussion threads where I got all kinds of great tips on how to prepare and what to expect. End result? Day 1 post op has been a cake walk. No pain, no narcotics, full night’s sleep (in a recliner), no swelling. Yes, my neck is a bit sore where they injected the regional nerve block that turned my whole arm into the human limb version of a rubber chicken. And the sling is a cumbersome contraption that I’m not looking forward to wearing for a month. But, hey, that seems like a small sacrifice to get my shoulder back into fighting form. No, I won’t try that boxing class at the health club again. But by summer I expect to be back doing the sports I enjoy, sleeping on my side again, and yes, doing housework without wincing. Stay tuned and tomorrow I’ll tell you what I believe is the secret to getting through the post op days without pain and discomfort. And for people who landed here while googling for information on what to expect during and after your rotator cuff surgery, I hope I’ll provide the answers you need in the coming days and weeks to help smooth your journey to recovery. |
AuthorJust somebody who wants her shoulder back. ArchivesCategories |