OUCH! YOU’RE HAVING ROTATOR CUFF SURGERY - BLOG #10

Week two. 

As the end of week two nears, I’ve learned a few more things. If you’re bending over to wrap a towel around your hair or trying to pick up something from the floor… STOP. THINK. Where are your feet? When you weren’t injured, you might have bent over on one foot, picked up the item, and tried to work on your balance. Now is not the time to practice your balance or Twister game skills! You don’t want to take any risk of falling. So, how do you pick up things from the floor? You have a couple of options:

• Take a seat. That’s the easiest and safest way to do it.

• Get someone else to do it. While that’s the safest, it’s not always the easiest. You might be home alone, and that won’t work.

• The crouch. You could crouch down by bending your knees to reach the item. With your arm in the padded sling, your balance is different, and you might topple over. Think twice before doing this.

• The spread. If you’re bending over for any reason, be it picking up something from the floor or wrapping a towel around your wet hair, spread your feet apart. When your feet are shoulder-width apart, this lessens your fall risk because it distributes your body weight differently.

• However, option one of doing it from a chair and option two of getting someone else to do it are still safer. Especially if you are a little lightheaded from the medications.

I have a great support team. My doctor, my physical therapist, my husband, my family, and my friends are all stepping up to the plate to try to help this Type-A personality live in her Type-A Padded Cell for 6 weeks. They’re here to remind me I can’t open that bottle by myself. I can’t lift that stuff. I cannot go outside and weed the flower bed. Relax and behave, they remind me. All difficult lessons for the Type-A me. I love them dearly for stepping up to help me behave, so that I can recover fully and not have to go through this again.

There is still a daily fight with my brain. It tries to play tricks on me, wanting me to rip off the sling and go back to living, especially when I wake each day. Or at the end of the day, and I’m ready to sit down, little thoughts trickle into my brain like, “This is over, right?” “You’re ready to go back to living, right?” I’d say the hardest times are going to bed at night and getting up in the morning when my brain tries to trick my foggy self.

The highlight of week two is getting your stitches out. This returns you to the land where you can shower when you want…but no baths. However, the dreaded sling still has to go back on, and you have to be careful in that shower. Drop your soap? Stop! Don’t go rushing to pick it up without thinking, or you’ll find yourself moving wrong and undoing all the work you’ve completed so far.

This second week can also be marked by a little return to independence. By now, you feel more confident in what you’re doing, including getting the sling on and off, and getting dressed.

By now, some people have realized they might not need all of the pain medications and are opting for just things to reduce the inflammation. I will say that my post-surgery pain was very minor, and within a couple of days, I found I could wean off the pain medication.

Remember that everyone is different, but the best thing for pain reduction is to follow your doctor’s advice and behave. Ice is a great option to reduce swelling, which can also reduce pain. Always, always, always follow the recommendations of your doctor and their staff. Each person is different. I’ve heard all kinds of stories about the pain and medications. It all has to be based on you and how you feel, with guidance from your doctor.

Take time to celebrate the end of each week. Give yourself a night to go out to dinner with someone and enjoy a meal… yes, they might have to cut up your steak. Or go to a store and look for a special new thing you want. Just don’t go overboard with spending and getting out, or you could tire yourself and push your recovery backwards.

With two weeks down and four more to go, I haven’t hit the 50% complete part yet, but I can see it, and I’m excited to embrace it. Remember to do your exercises every day, per your physical therapist, but do not push them too far. Your goal right now is movement without any pushing to accomplish more.