Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Shoulder Surgery (Slap Lesion Repair)

I decided to blog about this as this is the second surgery of this sorts that I have had done except this time it was my right shoulder....in 2005 in was my left shoulder which had a couple more issues.....in 2005 I had a slap lesion repair and said I had a tear in the bicep and labrum tendon so there was 3 anchors put in and the tendons reattached to those as well as a bone spur plus the ball and socket was gapped and he had to pull it back together....recovery sucked!!! it was long painful couldnt swim, couldnt run but I did the EFX was back at work teaching bootcamp, water aerobics but unable to participate with the clients. I did not have that checked until I was no longer able to swim.  Since I remembered the recovery but now wish I would have journaled about it so I could compare recovery I regret that.  I have known for a couple years now that my right shoulder was going to have to have a scope soon and knew something was wrong. Every time I did bent over rows it would pop at the front and felt like it was rubbing so eventually i just stopped doing bent over rows. I would feel pain here and there while doing other activities but my pain tolerance is at such a high level I just blew it off and told myself I wont see the Doctor until it interferes with my daily living. Finally about a month or so before Zion 100 I was having a hard time putting my clothes on and then the reality sat in that it was time! So off I went and only needed an xray to discover a very large bone spur and that was all we needed to be able to go in and do the surgery. I had Zion 100 upcoming and I wasnt about to have it done before hand as I knew the recovery would be long and I also knew as soon as I returned from Zion I did have almost 4 weeks until my next event...which was actually event(S) 6 marathons in 7 days in 6 states. I told the Dr I had this up coming as well and he just looks at me and shakes his head and I said I really will be good!! I can walk 5 of the 6 as there is no time limit and I WILL keep the sling on!! So he agreed to do the surgery immediately when I returned from Zion...came home tuesday late night, blood work Weds surgery 7am Thursday am. Once he got in there there was the tear which they call a slap lesion....he only had to use 2 anchors and reattached and then ground down the bone spur. Its really cool and amazing what they can do!! I didnt teach on Friday but was back at work on Monday and stayed in the saddle on the bike while I taught, when I stood there was a little too much pressure on the down push. I tried to walk a lot during the down time since I knew I had 6 marathons upcoming but I also knew I had to keep the sling on to protect it and allow it to heal. Min time in the sling is 6 weeks, 10-12 weeks min till they say you can jog.
As I write this it has now been almost 14 weeks, I have my second follow up appointment on Tuesday where I should be able to do some more therapy however I am still having troubles sleeping, my shoulder pop A LOT, not a normal pop a pop that sounds like the bone and who ever is sitting or standing near me can even hear it since its so loud. When I do a bent over row with NO WEIGHT of course still....there is still the "popping" that I could feel not hear which the Dr said was the slap lesion rubbing on the spur or the rotator cuff so that should be fixed I would think? I had a lot of coldness in my bicep tricep and forearm for several weeks and now I still also have a lot of just dull aches and I almost feel like the surgery did not work. I will address these concerns Tuesday - however, I will not be going back under the knife in the immediate future for several reasons- first the recovery is too long and 2nd I have an entire running schedule planned until next summer and I will not miss any of those!! If need be and it starts to interfere with dressing I will just have to make my left hand stronger. Gonna try to stay positive and hope after my appt on tuesday this is normal however I dont remember the loud constant popping- Here are the cool pictures wish I had a scanner to scan both scope pages they sent home with me :)

1 comment:

  1. You are one hard core person. I don't think I'd be up to even walking that distance after a surgery. Still, I'm impressed. http://www.andrewkerstenmd.com

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