AuburnChick's Adventures

Today, I am 24 weeks post shoulder surgery.

That’s a lot of weeks.

I’ve been in physical therapy for 22 of those weeks. I took one week off during my February cruise.

I’m currently in the middle of a short reprieve from physical therapy to give my left shoulder a chance to rest in preparation for my upcoming surgery on my right shoulder. I’ll be back at physical therapy three days after my surgery to pick up where I left off and add in work for my right arm.

That’s a lot of PT.

My left shoulder continues to improve, and sleeping is getting easier every week. The scar from my bicep tenodesis looks good too!

I still have limited range of motion, and part of my shoulder still hurts when I reach overhead like this . . .

This stopping point is what makes it difficult to apply deodorant and fix my hair. The pain when I move my arm up like that isn’t fun either. I’m not sure if this is related to the back of my rotator cuff or my labrum, and my physical therapist isn’t sure either.

One thing I do that the Mr. mentioned the other day was when I walk, I keep my left arm at my side instead of letting it swing naturally. I barked back at him but then started noticing it myself. I’m sure I quit letting it swing when I injured it and then post-surgery.

Truth be told, it hurts when I let that arm go back and forth. Maybe I should start letting it do its thing to loosen things up. Something’s gotta give eventually, right? I need the scar tissue inside my shoulder’s capsule to break apart and be gone!

Medicine is so much a guessing game until someone actually gets in and has a look. It can be very frustrating for everyone involved.

I’m giving my left shoulder another full year to heal. If it’s not better next Spring, I’m going to have it reevaluated. I’m not being pessimistic, but I think it’s smart to have a plan.

For now, I’m doing my PT exercises every other day so I don’t overwork my shoulder.

I’m also making preparations for my surgery. I purchased a few button down shirts from Amazon.

I love this blue one.

The blue is my favorite of everything I’ve purchased so far. I wore it to work last Friday.

I really like this black shirt too.

I wore it last week and wound up being matchy-matchy with one of my favorite coworkers. Her last day was Friday, and I’m going to be sad about this for a long time.

I did not like this red one, so I sent it back.

It looked good online and in the picture above, but it was too long and wide. I just didn’t feel good in it.

The Mr. and I ran to Kohl’s after church on Sunday. We had a 20% coupon from when we’d returned something to Amazon from the store.

This pink button down was calling out my name. It is very soft.

I bought it in a blueish gray as well. Both shirts look good with the new shorts I picked up (in both pictures).

I got my hair cut last week and have my girl on standby for after my surgery. She washed and styled my hair a couple of times after my first shoulder surgery.

I reversed the straps on my sling so it can hold my right arm. I’ll wake up with it on after surgery.

I’ve already put in in my car and even have a reminder on my phone for the morning of surgery to ensure I have it with me.

Things are coming together. It sounds crazy, but I’m grateful for the first surgery, which taught me a few lessons going into the second one.

Filed under: This-n-That |