Shoulder Rehab Week 5

Tuesday and Thursdays I do physical therapy with Susan, who has done both knee surgeries as well as some back and hip rehabilitation with me. This week we did measurements on Tuesday to see where I am from my first evaluation on October 6.  I am making great progress getting my arm up above my head and am at 152 degrees now, (180 degrees is straight up) and 2 1/2 weeks ago I started at 115.  I can lift my arm out from my side to 98 degrees which is 18 degrees better than at the beginning.  I am now adding a few more movements and exercises to my day to get more flexibility. 

Tuesday was also my second time swimming, well kicking, in the pool. I managed to get 2,000 meters in with the aid of fins for some of the 1 armed swimming.  I will try to post video of that next week.  Right now I feel literally like a fish out of water since my last real swim workouts were in early August.  Here is my current swimming accessories until sometime after Christmas, a sporty grey band to keep my arm down.  So far it works but when I do flip turns I really want to raise both arms.  I swam a blistering 4 minutes and 30 seconds 200 meter 1 armed free. Thus, the bar has been set, ha ha. 

Wednesday found me at Dr. Carlini's office for my 2nd post surgery follow up appointment.  I had all my reading materials and a letter to write and a charged phone (usual wait time is around 45 minutes or so) but I needed none of that today.  The computers were down and the doctor was running a little ahead of schedule.  Hmm think they are connected? Regardless I was able to see Dr. Carlini in a timely fashion and it he was really pleased with my progress, so far. He said my flexibility is coming back really well, I am still on track to swim a real stroke around Christmas time, and am now on anti-inflammatory to help me get to the next step and beyond.  I don't have to wear my arm sling anymore unless I want to around large crowds and my incisions look good.  There is a period of healing that has to take place before we can move onto using light weights and building up strength again.  The anchors that are in must really be able to hold the tendons in place.

 I have to say my shoulder still hurts, and sleeping isn't always that easy to do. After the PT and swimming yesterday it's tired today and I am looking forward to the anti-inflammatory starting tomorrow.  Up until now I have just been taking Tylenol.  This weekend will be a challenge since I will be at a water park with my daughter and I don't think I want to call attention to myself in the pool area with a grey band around my arm.  I also don't know how many, if any, slides I will go down but I am looking forward to hanging out in the pool with Piper.  More next week!!

Shoulder Surgery

Many of you know I had some shoulder trouble this spring/summer and in the fall I had surgery on my right one.  It has been a little over four weeks since the procedure, which was September 20th.  According to Dr. Carlini all went as planned and they put in three anchors, one to hold the labrum and two to move the bicep tendon back over where it belongs and keep it there.  In addition to that I had a Stage 3 Impingement and they shaved off bone to make it flat again as opposed to the way it was which was hooked.  (there are 4 stages of impingement, I was at stage 3, there are 4 types of SLAP tears and I had a SLAP 2).  It was a pretty easy surgery, I was out in 45 minutes, and total time at the surgery center was 5 hours start to finish.  The worst part for me, and those of you that know me well are not surprised, was when they put the IV into my hand.  I do what is called Vaguling and when they put the needle in I get really light headed and my blood pressure plummets.  That of course was all I was worried about and with good reason.  Here I am BEFORE surgery in the picture.  All of that equipment just so I don't faint BEFORE the surgery. Brad was really good about taking care of me then and I was happy he was there with me.  I also received a nerve block that made not only Brad happy but me too.  I got lucky and it lasted almost 30 hours so I had a lot of pain pills in me to ward off any pain.

I couldn't drive for three weeks and in the third week my mom came out to take care of me since Brad was traveling.  There are a lot of things I can do post shoulder surgery that are different from knee surgery. After me knee procedures I got back in the pool after 2 weeks and pulled for a month, this time I was back in the gym after a week and doing one armed spin class but no swimming.  I have been doing physical therapy now for 2 1/2 weeks with Susan, and today I got my arm all the way over my head and out to the side just a bit.  Today was a big day for another reason too, I went swimming for the first time since August.

This is the longest I have ever been out of the pool since I was 28! I did a lot of kick and some one armed free, fly and back. It was so nice to be in the pool and not the gym, and easier on my knees.  I admit to being tired but I can't wait to go again on Tuesday.  I have a band I wear that ties around my chest and holds my right arm at my side. I like to think it will really help my breathing to the right side in the end. It is looking like I might get to do a stroke sometime after Christmas between the 12 and 16 week recovery point.   I think I will take some pictures in the coming weeks to chart my progress.  The end goal is now to swim in Omaha, NE in July at Long Course Masters Nationals, so we shall see if I can do that.