OUCH! YOU’RE HAVING ROTATOR CUFF SURGERY - BLOG #9

Week one.

Plan to spend the next few days eating on time and keeping up your fluids. Hydration is very important. Three meals a day are also important. If you normally eat something every two hours, be sure to stick to your healthy routine. No, you can’t skip meals. This is not the time to diet. Your body’s dealing with a lot after the surgery, and it needs to be assured that you will give it the fuel it needs for healing and do it on time.

Tracking your medications while on pain medication can be challenging. I recommend making a chart where you can fill in the times you took it. For my Excel happy people, yes, you can make a spreadsheet. However, you gotta print it out. For the rest of you, paper and a pen or pencil is fine. No one is grading you on neatness.

Across the top, make columns for every medication you are on. For example, if you’re on two different pain meds, put one in the first column and the second in the next column. What about medications you normally take in the morning or at bedtime? You might want to have a column to record that as well, because during these first few days, you’re still a little foggy. You need time for your brain to rest but you don’t want to screw up your medications.

Down the left side, write the day of the week. Under each column, write whatever times you took the medications. Don’t write the days of the week too far ahead because you might need several lines for some of the medications, especially those you’re taking every three, six, or even eight hours. You can also use the alarm on your phone to remind you exactly when to take medications.

The biggest impact during week one is becoming friends with your slang. It’s not pretty. It’s practical. It limits you, but it protects you. Your greatest challenge this first week is getting comfortable with this new option attached to your body and understanding that no one is judging you for sitting down and not doing things while you’re wearing it.

I am jokingly calling this Type-A Padded Cell. I’m a type A on the go all the time person, and this is cramping my style. I decided that I needed a name for the sling to keep things light. I briefly considered putting on bows, ribbons, and other fun decorations, however, that sounded like a lot of work and more things to get in the way when I was trying to take it on and off. So, the Type-A Padded Cell it is, and I’m moving on.

As the end of the first week draws to a close, I’m getting more comfortable with my limitations, and I’m getting more feeling back in my hand. So far, so good, and I know that I can do this for another five weeks with reminders to take it slow, along with family and friends to help me.

The highlight of week one is getting to take off the great big post-surgery bandages. Now you can take a shower. You’ll just need help getting dried off and possibly putting band aids over the stitches, as long as you have them in.