Shoulder Rehab Week 8- Travel with a Sherpa

I said the week before that travel could be hard...and it was.  The wedding this past weekend was fabulous, Dominique was a beautiful bride and Piper had a fun time being a flower girl. All was okay, I mean I wasn't able to do any of my physical therapy exercises or ice but I wasn't carrying too much or lifting.  That was until life just happens, and you take your husband to the airport because he is due in Colorado, and you are on your own with a 6 year old and traveling alone.  Sometimes you just have to do things, even though you know you shouldn't, like holding umbrellas in both hands in the rain, and a back pack and your keys.  Like I said, life...daughter dressed in flower girl outfit, I'm dressed for the wedding and it's raining, can't ruin the hair right?
Anyhow, that was the least of my issues.  The next day I had to load the suitcases in the trunk, unload them then do it again once we arrived back in DC.  It's not like the suitcases and bags you do carry through the airport get walk there on their own.

Thus, it is my personal advice to anyone who has any type of surgery and must travel up to 12 weeks post-op, get a Sherpa and have them carry ALL the bags! I leave again next week and plan to have my best Sherpa (and husband) carrying and helping more than ever.  It will be just like the old days, when he would carry my swim bags at meets so my shoulders and arms wouldn't get sore.  The problem with this trip is I thought I could do it and then I had to do it and it hurt.  I hate the healing process, even though I know it always takes longer than you think and you have to be patient. 
On Monday, November 14, I had my re-evaluation with Vanessa, and despite my pain and soreness there is a lot of improvement and progress.  My flexibility is gradually coming back.  I can move my arm up from the side 20 degrees more than 3 weeks ago and on Tuesday I was able to touch my arm to my ear laying down and raising my arm up.  I have had to learn to really use my scapula and while Susan was stretching my arm and moving it I was totally focused on keeping my scapula tucked in.  It literally takes all my concentration and I think I am flexing every core and back muscle I have to do it.  But, HUGE flexiblity difference.  So, despite the pain I am currently in this week,  from inflaming the tendons and anchor,s when real life got in the way, I have had good progress and am still on the right track.  I even had a good swim/kick on Tuesday with my swim pals Alicia and Kirsten, who coached.

Finally, because it was a fun trip, here we are on the top of the Space Needle in Seattle.  Thursday last week was one of those beautiful fall days in the Northwest. It reminds me how much I love and miss Seattle and Washington State.  Then it rained and now it's snowing and I am reminded it is not yet cold out here.  I would be willing to lay at least even money that 20 years from now I am a snowbird, ha ha!

Shoulder Rehab Week 7

This week our big adventure is airplane travel! I only hope not to say "ouch" too many times while boarding, flying and getting off the plane.  Luckily I have Brad and Piper with me to help but coming home it's just McB and me so we will be checking those suitcases!

PT was fun this week, my friend, Kirsten who also had should surgery on the same day and the same arm was at Greater Metropolitan doing her therapy too.  Here I am on the stem machine with ice over it and Kirsten is walking her arm up the bench to stretch it out.  I feel like I made a lot of progress over the past week.  I can get my arm up straight above my head and it is starting to go up past 90 degrees from my side without pinching.  I haven't felt that since sometime last winter!

Susan did a lot of extra stretching of my arm when I was on my back and as long as I drop my shoulders to work my scapula I can really move it around, without a pinching feeling.  I have been doing a lot of scapula work in my back and that will help.  It is forcing me to develop and retrain all those little muscles that I didn't use before.  If you keep your shoulders down and use those muscles then in the end your shoulders are better off.  Finally, after 7 weeks I finally got to hold a 'real' weight in my right hand.  I say 'real' because lets face it, I am a mom and I have a dog, and go full speed ahead, a lot.  I am guessing that once in a while I have put more than 2 pounds in my right hand.  But...on Tuesday I got to lay on my back and do shoulder presses up with 5 pounds in my left hand and 2 pounds in my right.  It was kind of nice, maybe I can start rebuilding not only the scapula, back and shoulder muscles but also my floppy triceps muscle (aka my bat wing!). 

Stand by for the update next week when I recap travel, a wedding and sightseeing with a still tender and healing shoulder!

Shoulder Rehab Week 6

Had to add this it was just too funny.
Kaitlyn was totally asleep.

Things had been going well and although I was a little unsure about the whole Great Wolf Lodge and water park last weekend I thought I could handle it.  Well, let me tell you, I did handle it! Kaitlyn and I killed it going down the two person intertube slide.  We went so fast when we shot off the slide we went all the way up to the top step where you get out of the water! It was awesome, fun for all...but I overdid it, just a little, I guess.  Oh and the Howlin' Tornado was so fun, I rode that with Brad. I did my best to not grip but I may have tensed the bicep a bit because by Sunday I was hurting a little.  That did not make for a fun PT appointment on Tuesday. 

Turns out my tendon was a little inflamed from maybe doing too much.  Susan went easy on me but that might have been because my friend, Kirsten, was there doing PT too.  We were hanging out doing our exercises and chatting about our shoulder surgeries and recovery.  Fun and yet painful. 

This is me on the 'stem' machine, it does not sound fun and it isn't that great either.  It stimulates your muscles to make them work.  Afterwards my arm is actually tired, but on Tuesday it was more tired than before.  On Tuesday that 1 hour of PT was enough for my arm and I pretty much let it rest the remainder of the day.  Wednesday was about the same, I let it rest and today PT went better. Not as sore as Tuesday and a little looser.  So after my hour with Susan I went swimming. 

Here is a video Dominic made of me swimming with 1 arm and not that fast.  Do you know that I finally rotate my shoulders and yet I think I look so awkward.  The key is to make my body like a board, just kick and turn my head to the side to breath.  By the time I have two arms (sometime after Christmas) I hope my arms rotate and my body stays straight, like a board.  For now, good to know I can see this video and maybe finally fix my stoke while my arm heals.