I have been having problems with my right shoulder for several months now. Lots of pain and inflammation. I had surgery to remove a bone spur back in October 2008 and for a few months everything was good. Then the pain started back up again last year.
I tried physical therapy for a few weeks but it didn't help. I also did the cortisone shots in both my shoulder and neck area. The shots helped for a couple days but then the pain came back even worse.
I saw my ortho doctor on Tuesday and we decided it was time for another surgery. I saw him in November of 2009. He sent me to a neck doc who ordered the PT and shots. When I went back to him this week he was very surprised how much my shoulder has deteriorated in that short amount of time. According to all the tests and examinations the bone he filed down in 2008 has decided to grow back. He said that in all his years and patients he has only seen the bone grow back quickly in one other patient. Theirs grew back in 2 years. I guess I'm special since mine grew back in less than a year. On average these bones don't usually grow back for 8-10 years.
I thought I would give everyone a little info about the surgery. These things always interest me so I thought maybe someone else might be curious. The doc will be doing this surgery arthroscopic-ally. There will be just a couple little incisions where he will work through. I have pain up in the clavicle area so he will be shaving off some bone at the end of the clavicle. He uses a tool that reminds me of a Dremel just much smaller. I also have bursitis so he will be removing some or all of the bursa sac. There is also another bone in there that I'm not sure the name of that needs some major trimming. That is the one that is causing the most pain. He will also be trimming up the rotator cuff if he sees any shredding in there. There was a decent amount to trim up last time. Of course he'll also poke around and see what else might be causing trouble. You never really know what is going on in there until they get in there. Hopefully there won't be any tears or holes in the rotator cuff.
The surgery is schedule for March 24th. I start physical therapy on the 25th. Therapy will run for at least 12 visits but probably more. These are usually 3 times a week. I will be out of work for 6-8 weeks. Last time it ended up being 12 weeks because I pulled a muscle during therapy. Hopefully I can avoid that this time.
So, now I have 3 weeks to get all my swaps and current projects finished up. I won't be able to do much of anything for a bit after the surgery. The first 3 days or so after the surgery are extremely painful. I think I slept more than anything during those days last time. The pain meds just knocked me out lol. Since I'll be in a sling for about 10 days I won't have much use of my right arm. After a couple weeks I should be able to gently use the sewing machine. I won't be able to use the rotary cutter for several weeks though. I have an embroidery project lined up once my arm starts to feel a bit better. It's a good thing that I can embroider both left and right handed. I'll also be reading alot. I also figured that I can use this time to clean up my shop and the pics on my computer.
Anywho...that's what has been going on around here. What's going on at your house?
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