AuburnChick's Adventures

Friday, I had my first post-op appointment with my orthopedic surgeon.

My surgeon has the BEST bedside manner, y’all. I count him and his staff among my many blessings.

I thought I’d share details about my surgery during Friday’s visit.

First, though, look at my shoulder.

No more stitches! I had one incision I was a tad nervous about because it had a knot, but it smoothed over as soon as the nurse pulled out the stitch (which hurt coming out, by the way).

The steri-strips will eventually fall off on their own.

I am not allowed to scrub my shoulder (nor would I want to), but it’s now okay for my shoulder to get wet. Now, I’m not going to soak in a pool, but simply running soap and water down my arm is allowable.

The doctor had visited me in the recovery room after my surgery and gave me two sheets of photos. I took them with me to Friday’s appointment and asked if he would describe each one.

He’s a saint, let me tell you, and acquiesced to my request.

Photos 1, 2, 4, and 5 are of my labrum BEFORE he repaired it.

He said it was shredded. He said you can see it from the way the wispy tissue was floating around.

Photo 7 is my labrum and the socket AFTER he released the bicep muscle from the labrum.

The bicep muscle was then attached to my humerus bone with an anchor. That’s not in the photo, but it is why I have a long incision down my bicep. He always fixes that injury with an open incision.

I’m not sure, but I think photo 8 is of my rotator cuff. It seems to look a little like the rotator cuff photos in the next grouping.

Before I leave the first group, though, photo 6 is of the section of arthritis, which he smoothed over. I didn’t even know that could be done.

Here are photos 9-16.

Photo 9 shows a complete rotator cuff tear.

When describing photo 10, my doctor referred to it as a subscap tear. Here’s a link to read more about this kind of rotator cuff tear.

I had every single one of the symptoms, which my surgeon had attributed to my labrum after getting my MRI results, which initially didn’t show much of a rotator cuff tear. I’m going to sound like a broken record, but I am SO GLAD I pushed for surgery so quickly. There’s nothing like putting eyes on an injury.

Here’s a diagram I found online of the muscles of the shoulder. I found it helpful when I got home and looked it up because there are a lot of moving parts inside the shoulder.

Is it any wonder why I had been in so much pain? Yikes!

Photo 11 shows the rotator cuff after he repaired it.

He described how the procedure worked. After seeing the torn tissue, he scraped back, looking for good tissue. He had to keep scraping back. The official term for this is debridement, which is the removal of damaged tissue. I had seen the word on my surgical papers but now fully understood what it meant.

Since there wasn’t enough undamaged tissue left to build on, he completed the tear, which was already at 50%, and repaired it from there, putting it back together with an anchor.

Photo 13 shows the rotator cuff before the repair, and photo 14 shows it afterward (it’s kind of fuzzy because of the blood that leaked into the cavity).

So much ouch in that. I’m so glad I was dreaming all of the things while all of that was happening.

But there’s more!

Going back to photo 12 – my doctor removed a bone spur. I think he shaved it down.

Photos 15 and 16 show where he also shaved down part of my collar bone.

I find it amazing that I’m doing so well considering all of the crazy stuff that was done to fix my shoulder.

It’s also no mystery why they say that shoulder surgery is one of the most painful.

I asked my surgeon how to avoid these kind of injuries in the future.

He said that rotator cuff injuries typically happen from eccentric movements – the negative contraction when your rotator cuff is trying to slow down the motion of your arm. It’s when the muscles are lengthened while under tension.

It’s why pitchers often have rotator cuff injuries, as well as people who brace their falls by holding out an arm.

Honestly, I don’t remember him telling me how to avoid this. I think that’s where the physical therapy and strength training come in.

He said that it’s rare to re-injure a labrum after the type of repair we did – bicep tenodesis. Because the bicep is relocated to the shoulder bone, it’s no longer pulling on the labrum, which is what leads to a labrum tear.

That information gave me a lot of peace of mind.

I go back for my next follow up in a few weeks. I’ll be monitored closely for several months until the doctor is sure that our goal – full recovery – has been met.

I really appreciate your patience with all of these posts about my surgery. This is incredibly helpful for me as I process all of this. I want to have something to reference later because the smaller details will slowly fade from my memory.

I like looking back and seeing how God carried me through each trial in my life.

Filed under: This-n-That | 2 Comments »

And just like that, it’s Sunday!

The Mr. and I had stayed home from church the past two weeks and had watched each service from our living room.

Today was our first week back.

The worship songs lifted my soul, and I had to make myself stop swaying because the motion hurt my arm.

What can I say? When the Spirit stirs you, it’s hard not to physically move in response.

The message, about waiting for God, was so relevant to me.

I’m a control freak. Not being in control of a situation makes me anxious. Trusting God in the wait time is a lesson I keep having to relearn.

For such an avid student, I sure can be stubborn and slow sometimes.

After church, I got down to the business of cleaning Gambit’s water tank and bowl.

The Mr. did the heavy lifting for me, and I took it from there.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and I am one determined person (I think I might have used the word “stubborn” above).

That’s all I’m doing today besides watching more of the College World Series and some reading.

I don’t have a preference for who wins. I should be rooting harder for LSU, the SEC team, but I honestly don’t care.

I’m ready for a change in sports. Bring on Wimbledon!

I hope y’all are having a good day and that the upcoming week finds you productive but not frazzled, joyous and not fretful, full of faith that God’s got you in the palm of His hand.

Filed under: This-n-That | 1 Comment »

The Mr. is not one for sitting still too long, so it wasn’t a surprise when, upon waking up and getting dressed, he asked the inevitable question, “Got anything you want to do today?”

I looked down at my pajamas and said, “Not really.”

But he decided to do laundry, and I wanted said pajamas washed, so being that I was getting dressed anyhow, we decided to get out and about.

My eyeshadow work needs some practice still.

The first stop was the dreaded Walmart for air filters. I cannot stand Walmart, y’all. I can’t tell you the last time I actually walked into one. One female customer was very rude and cut in front of five of us waiting to check out. So brazen. Grrr.

The next stop was to the library to drop off a book I finished last night.

It’s a biography of a female American spy who helped organize French resistance fighters during WWII and later worked for the CIA. It was an excellent read! I gave it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

Then, we popped down to town to grab some Toomer’s Corner lemonade. I’d been craving it, and the Mr. was happy to accommodate my request.

I carried it with me to while we perused a few local shops but didn’t make any purchases.

Then, we headed over to Little Italy, which is a hop, skip, and a jump from campus, where we ordered lunch. This place is a favorite haunt of both college students and locals.

The Mr. had to cut my sandwich for me. Eating with my non-dominant, left hand is still a challenge.

Oh, and an aside. Why do people loudly talk about their private business in restaurants or other places? I heard the life story of a mom of a high school student, who was eating lunch with her mom, and her mom’s boyfriend/husband.

I don’t do drama, people, and I don’t even like to listen to it, but this was unavoidable given the open seating in the restaurant. Good grief.

The Mr. ran into an ABC store on the way home to grab a bottle of bourbon. I don’t drink the stuff, and he has plenty, but I don’t complain because he knows he can’t say a word to me about anything I buy given the closet full of bourbon bottles that he keeps stocked.

After a quick detour to Kroger to use some of our fuel points to fill up my car with gas, we headed home.

I’ll be taking it easy the rest of the day. Today’s outing was my longest since my surgery, and I can feel it in my shoulder.

I’m pretty sure it’s going to rain soon – I just heard thunder. A little rain shower will be lovely accompaniment to the snoozle I have planned.

Filed under: This-n-That | Leave a comment »

Good morning, friends!

Happy Friday!

It’s 8:30, and I’m sitting here enjoying my last weekday home during what has been a blissful and restful week of recovery.

I’m struck by the beauty I’m sitting in the midst of.

No, it’s not a clean house. This surgery and the caretaking involved has left us with dregs of energy and little motivation to pick up after ourselves.

I’ll spare you a photo of my infamous kitchen island. Trust me. It’s bad. Real bad.

The beauty I speak of is the clear blue sky peeking through my living room windows. After a week filled with cloudy days and thunderstorms, my sun-drenched back yard is a welcome respite.

So is the cup of tea I’m slowly sipping on, along with the presence of my beloved Gambit beside me.

Oh, and I am extremely happy that Gambit decided to let me have my lap to myself. He stretched out across my lap last night while I watched TV.

He had never done this before. We could not believe it. He even snored the whole time.

The Mr. is still snoozing – a blessing for him because he’s up a lot in the middle of the night with his Crohn’s.

If you know, you know.

It won’t be long before he arises, though, and we get down to the busyness of the day . . .

A bath for me, which is akin to bathing a toddler, except that I don’t splash water everywhere.

An attempt at making my face presentable for the day because makeup is everything for this getting-older face of mine.

A round of at-home PT exercises while my arm is still warm from my bath.

I’m. So. Excited. 😜

A follow-up appointment with my surgeon where I believe my stitches will come out, and he will pull my arm up and out, and it will hurt despite him telling me that, “It looks good.”

Yeah, buddy. It might look good on the outside, but it doesn’t feel good on the inside. 🤣

An afternoon of meal prep, if I can get the Mr. to acquiesce. He balked and actually wore gloves to cube my tofu yesterday (before we realized that I’d left off an onion from the grocery list last week and had to delay cooking the dish I’d hoped for).

Surgery brain. If you know, you know.

I think I’ll start a new book – on my Kindle – today. I’ve got several preloaded thanks to the ability to check out books from the Amazon Kindle bookstore (don’t ask me how because I can’t remember) and free monthly downloads from the Prime First Reads offerings each month.

The Mr. is eating dinner with a friend tonight. Our friend’s wife is on a trip with her mom and sisters, so I told the Mr. to make it a guys’ night. I’ll stay home and watch more Survivor. I recently began Season 2 (The Outback), and I’d forgotten how much I dislike Jerri, how precious Tina’s accent is, that Amber was on this season – the Amber who married Boston Rob years later, and the eye candy that Colby provided that season.

If you know, you know (and if you don’t, you should).

So yeah, that’s my day in a very big nutshell.

Oh my, but the Mr. has awakened. That’s my cue to end this post and get moving.

Y’all have a fantastic day and weekend. Please pray for me as I mentally prepare to return to my regular routine on Monday. I’m excited to return to my people at work – we are truly a family – but I will miss sleeping in each morning and moving about at a slow pace.

Filed under: This-n-That | 2 Comments »

Happy Thursday!

It’s kind of hard to believe that it was one short week ago when I was back home from having my second shoulder surgery.

It’s crazy how quickly time goes by.

I’m doing really well, y’all. I’m sure it’s because of your prayers plus the hands of my gifted surgeon, through whom God worked through to bring relief to my torn body.

My incisions are healing nicely, I think.

I have three holes around the top of my shoulder from the arthroscope and a long scar down my arm from the open repair of my labrum.

I have my first follow-up with my surgeon tomorrow. I think they’ll probably remove stitches at that time. I’ve got to get him to look at one spot where either the skin was pulled too tightly when they sewed me up, or something is infected. Back when I had my second ankle surgery in 2017 (or was it 2018?), one of my stitches got infected, and I had to drain it myself since my doctor’s office was two hours away.

The long incision was glued together. The glue will come off on its own in a few weeks. There’s an anchor attaching my bicep muscle to my humerus bone below the incision, so I have to be a little careful not to put much pressure on it. The anchor will dissolve in couple of years. I’ve got another anchor at the top of my shoulder where my rotator cuff was repaired. It, too, will eventually dissolve.

Go ahead and start calling me the Bionic Woman. Ha!

I have been sleeping so much better than the first surgery. I’m in my recliner and only wake up when I get a little cold. The throw blanket I’m using isn’t quite big enough.

I discovered I sleep better when I take a muscle relaxer, prescribed by my surgeon. I forgot to take it one night, and I was awake, in pain, until sunrise.

I’ve been going back to sleep on the couch for a couple of hours after taking Gambit out to potty at 5:45 each morning. He’s the one waking up that early – not me. He’s used to my regular, workday schedule, bless his heart.

The extra sleep I’m getting is doing wonders for my body.

The Mr. helped me get a bath this morning in preparation for a hair appointment this afternoon. My hair is nasty, y’all. The last time it was washed was last Wednesday – the evening before my surgery. Even though the Mr. and I figured out a way to wash it at home after my first surgery, I’m just not up to the physical contortions required, so I texted my hairdresser and asked for an appointment to let her wash and style it for me.

Here’s my before photo:

I did my physical therapy exercises after I got dressed since my sling was off, and my shoulder was already warmed up from my bath.

The simplest exercise – the scapular retraction – is the most painful. Even putting my right arm in the position it’s supposed to be in hurts. I know that this will get easier but right now, I absolutely dread doing it.

I practiced applying makeup one-handed. I need to get better before Monday when I return to work.

Lunch consisted of my newest cravings of bagel, vegan cheese, and tomato slices.

Last night, I painted my nails with the new polish I recently purchased.

I added a third coat today.

I’m kind of surprised I managed to apply it with my recovering arm.

My left hand is still bruised from where the nurse put in my first IV. It will probably look like this for weeks.

The interruption to the Mr.’s retired routine has been a lot. He’s needed a nap most days and has, more than once, told me that he was going to take me back to work early. I think Gambit is tired of having me home too . . .

My appointment with my hairdresser was wonderful. Having my hair washed and styled by a professional made me feel like a new person.

We stopped by Kohl’s on the way home and picked up a few things that were on sale.

I’m not sure I’m feeling that dress much. We will see if I keep it once I try it on.

So, it’s been a good day – I mean how could it not be with all of that pampering – and I’m much better right now than I had expected going into this second surgery.

Filed under: This-n-That | 2 Comments »

Happy Wednesday, y’all! It’s hard to believe that we are halfway through the month of June already. Time flies when summer is afoot.

Here’s the latest round of Joyce’s questions, along with my answers to them.

Joyce, as always, thank you for hosting these fun, weekly, get-to-know-you shindigs.

1. Summer officially begins this week (in the northern hemisphere)…what was your favorite thing to do in the summer when you were a kid? What do you like most about summer now? 

When I was a kiddo, I relished the slow, lazy days of summer. I spent many a day watching the morning game shows and then tuned in to a couple of soap operas that followed. Days of Our Lives was my favorite! If I was lucky, my mom drove me and my sister up the road to the state park, where we would swim the afternoons away.

During this empty-nest-not-quite-retired phase of life, I spend my summer weekdays at work and evenings on the front porch watching the sun set. We occasionally get invited to the lake. Another friend couple of ours just bought a tritoon boat. We are hoping for an invite soon!

2.  Something you’ll celebrate this summer? 

The Mr.’s birthday is the end of this month. Our celebration of that will be very low-key.

We will celebrate the 4th of July with our son and his family. With the 4th landing on a Friday, I’ll have a three-day weekend, which will be lovely.

3. Summer tastes like? Smells like? Sounds like? 

Summer tastes like watermelon, lemonade, and fresh tomatoes sliced up and sprinkled with salt.

Summer smells like barbecues grilling and afternoon rain showers.

Summer sounds like children playing in a pool, the thwack of a baseball making contact with a bat, and the ooohs and aaahs of a crowd after a well-placed return on a Wimbledon court.

4. June 18th is National Splurge Day…what’s the last thing you splurged on? What might you splurge on today? 

The last thing I splurged on was nail polish from Lights Lacquer, a little, Miami-based, woman-owned company I discovered through an Instagram ad.

They regularly put out seasonal colors, and I fell for the most recent promotion.

I love to sport a light pink during the spring and summer months.

Their nail polishes stay on without chipping for days!

I doubt I’ll splurge on anything today. I’m at the point in my life where if I want something that’s not too expensive (or it’s not too close to Christmas), I go ahead and buy it for myself. I don’t especially enjoy shopping in brick and mortar stores. I just don’t have the patience, so if I splurge, it will be online.

5. Share a favorite summer quote, saying, song lyric, or meme. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I’ve mentioned the show, The Chosen, before. Do you watch it?

They are slowly releasing episodes from Season 5; the first two are currently available for viewing on Prime Video.

They are doing a sneak preview of episode 3 on YouTube tonight at 7 p.m. Central, and it’s free to watch!

Episodes 3-5 will be on Prime Video June 22nd, and the last three episodes will be released a week later.

I can’t wait!

Filed under: This-n-That | 10 Comments »

Yesterday was my first day of physical therapy on my right arm. It feels like this shoulder saga is playing out in two parts, much like a play with different acts.

Right Shoulder – Take 2

It seems so crazy that it was only Thursday that I had that surgery. My surgeon likes to get his patients into PT as soon as possible after he operates on them.

I’d managed to sleep in, even after the Mr. let Gambit out of the bedroom around 5. I let him out to potty, climbed on the couch, and once I got comfortable slept until 8!!

The Mr. helped me dress. He had to cover my incisions with bandages to protect them from the physical therapy. He removed them when we got back home.

I even put some makeup on. This is my setup for the time being.

Applying makeup with my left hand proved challenging. If you see me out and about, don’t be judging.

I tried to straighten my hair a bit – again a challenge given my limited arm use.

The Mr. had an apple waiting for me so I could have a little something on my stomach during PT.

Gambit was also waiting for me.

He knows he’s going to get bites because he’s old and gets almost anything he wants.

Take a look at my left hand this morning. That bruising is spreading and so ugly!

Physical therapy was rough but because this is my second round of it, I was mentally prepared.

We only did a few exercises – things I had done for my left shoulder – but the reminder of the limitations I am now facing, albeit temporarily, was sobering.

My physical therapist gently stretched my arm out. He told me it was moving well and could see it was doing better than my left shoulder had done during my first visit back in December.

We worked out a PT schedule. When I rehabbed the right arm, I immediately began with two visits a week.

My insurance allows for a certain number of visits every six months and releases those visits on a rolling basis. I’m about a week ahead of getting my visits back, so I had to self pay yesterday morning. Can you say $$$? Yikes!

Going forward, I’ll be doing PT once a week for the first six weeks and then will amp things up to a couple of visits each week.

The first six weeks after shoulder surgery are all about healing. Any exercises have to be passive with the good appendage supporting the bad one, so doing PT more often doesn’t necessarily speed up recovery.

In addition, this schedule will stretch out my allowed visits and allow me to have more in my back pocket for later.

By the end of my session, I was ready for the ice and TENS unit. TENS is the electric stimulation, which helps in pain management.

I got sent home with homework – exercises to do each day.

The only one I don’t like out of these is the table stretch. It has always been my least favorite, and I doubt I’ll be able to do it with much flexibility. The pain it brings about is something else. We shall see if I can do it.

I appreciate your kind comments and continued prayers.

I have a hard time sitting around waiting for things to heal. That’s what this week will be about, and it’s going to be all I can do to be a good patient.

But I will because I am ready to put this saga in my rearview mirror. I don’t want to do anything that will cause a setback.

If you need me, I’ll be fighting for space in my recliner, reading a lot, and catching up with very old Survivor episodes, if I can get the Mr. to share the TV.

Filed under: This-n-That | 5 Comments »

Hey y’all!

I hope your Monday is finding you refreshed and ready for a new week.

Let’s do a weekend recap, shall we?

---

Friday

I’ll start with Friday since I was off of work recuperating from Thursday’s surgery.

Friday morning, I woke up when the Mr. let Gambit out to pee at 3:45. Yikes! So early! Our little guy is old, so he just cannot hold it as long as he used to.

The first night, post-surgery, wasn’t as terrible as I’d anticipated. I set timers to stay on track with my medicine, which kept the pain level tolerable.

These pain meds always make me itch, so I found myself scratching frequently throughout the night.

Take a look at the bruise on my hand. This is from the first iv the nurse put in – the one that wouldn’t allow fluids to drip because it was near a valve.

I have bruised easily for most of my life, and with the skin being so thin on the top of my hand, I was not all that surprised. It looked worse than what it felt.

Here’s what it looked like Friday afternoon . . .

After I got up, I read my First 5 devotion. We are studying Jonah right now.

Then, I got started on my NY Times games.

I don’t pay for a subscription, so I only play the free games. The Mr. and I like to compete against each other. With the recent app update, they created a Friends option. Rebecca and I are friends on all of the apps, so naturally, I invited her to join me.

I love puzzles and word games. These are great ways to keep my brain engaged.

With some of my games started (I have to ruminate on them sometimes because the answers don’t always come to mind quickly – if at all), I set them aside and listened to a couple of podcast episodes.

I also made my first cup of tea since Wednesday. It was delicious.

The Mr. had prepped Gambit’s food bowl for me, so when he let Gambit out of the bedroom around 6, I fed him. We spent the next hour or two watching the sun rise.

I also texted with Rebecca. We’ve been friends since 2006. She’s one of my dearest friends. She’s also an early riser like I am, so texting at that time of the day was perfectly acceptable.

I dozed in my chair a lot Friday. Pain medicine always makes me so sleepy. I can’t wait until I don’t need them so I can free myself of the cloudy funk I’ve been in since Thursday.

I iced my shoulder and neck all day following the 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off routine as instructed by the discharge instructions. I had a nerve block, which was administered into my neck. I remember being unable to turn my head without pain for almost a week after my first shoulder surgery. I wanted to see if I could cut down the length of time of the soreness, so my timer was constantly going off with reminders. Good thing I’d discovered how to label each one because I would have driven myself crazy trying to keep everything straight.

I watched another episode of the first season of Survivor while the Mr. was at the grocery store. He does our big weekly trip each Friday.

You know the saying, “It takes a village . . . “?

Well, Friday, it took a village to care to my needs.

Super Sis stopped by to bring me a package of fresh dill. It’s been difficult to find because everyone in town is making pickles. Tis the growing season!

Then, later in the day, I got a hankering for sliced tomatoes, which I intended to put on a bagel with melted vegan cheese. The Mr. called his mom, who has a garden, but she didn’t have any. She was headed out to Kroger and offered to pick up a couple for me. She brought those by an hour later.

With people texting me all day, I felt very loved.

The Mr. and I watched the opening games of the College World Series. Now that Auburn is out of it, I’m not very interested, but since I was stuck in my recliner, I didn’t have much choice.

The rest of the day was spent fighting sleep. I don’t know if my body was getting rid of the anesthesia, if it was finally releasing the stress brought on by months of pain from the injuries I got back in September, or if it was the pain medicine I’d been taking every four hours, but y’all, I felt rough.

I kicked the Mr. out of the den around 8:30 p.m. and called it a night.

---

Saturday

I slept as well as one can expect post-shoulder surgery wearing a sling, sleeping in a recliner.

I itched all night long – probably a side effect from the anesthesia as well as the strong pain medicine I’d been on since Thursday.

The Mr. let Gambit out before sunrise, and then he (Gambit, not the hubby) grumbled at me for two hours – begging me to feed him.

I was too groggy to get out of my chair until 7:30. Lol.

I actually did feel refreshed when I finally started walking around. I may have gotten caught up on my sleep.

I got him fed, my morning meds in, and saw a text from Rebecca, who was checking in on me.

Friendship, y’all. This is friendship. 🩷

My hand looked a little better.

The Mr. was still asleep, so I made a cup of tea. Caffeine, y’all. Priorities!

When the hubby got up, he brought me a bowl of watermelon. The goal for Saturday was to get me to poop. I’m know . . . TMI . . . but that’s how I roll around here so, um, yeah.

Anesthesia and pain medicine do a number on my body; getting back into a “routine” is always challenging for me.

Before reaching for constipation meds, I wanted to try to handle things naturally.

I tried eating another half bagel with the toppings I’d been craving . . .

I made a Watermelon Mint Mocktail . . .

It needed a lot more mint because it tasted like watermelon water.

I even made a batch of Homemade Dill Pickle Gatorade.

It was quite good!

I had mentioned, a few days ago, seeing this recipe on Instagram. I’m resharing the screenshots.

The Mr.’s mom was out and about and picked up the apples we forgot to purchase yesterday.

What did I say about a village?

I dozed a little Saturday afternoon while the Mr. watched baseball. Then, it rained. Hello summer!

I did a sink full of dishes since the dishwasher was full of clean dishes that the Mr. hadn’t had time to put away. Washing dishes with my left hand was interesting and very slow-going, but I got the job done.

I watched one more episode of Survivor before turning out the lights.

---

Sunday

Sunday morning, my medicine reminder went off right before 5 a.m.

I decided to stay awake. I really love sunrise.

I texted a Father’s Day message to Chicky’s husband. He is the sweetest young man. I also texted Rooster. We are incredibly blessed to have both of these guys at the helms of their little families.

Gambit was more than happy to snuggle with me once he got up.

Then, I settled in for some game playing.

I made myself a cup of matcha. It was the first I’d had since before my surgery. Doing everything with my left hand was a lot slower, but I managed! There’s not much that will stand between me and my matcha.

The Mr. cut and peeled an apple for me after he got up. I love a good honey crisp apple.

Then, we watched church from home. I was nowhere near ready to brave an excursion outside of the house.

I munched on another half a bagel.

The sermon was so good. I took notes in my app.

After church was over, God blessed me by allowing my plumbing to finally start working! It may not seem like much, but this was yet one more hurdle to overcome – one I definitely counted as a win!

I’d decided to try to stay off of the strong pain meds to further clear my system.

Ugh. The pain really started revving up, but being the stubborn person that I am, I dug my heels in.

Before baseball got started up, we decided to remove the thick bandaging from my surgery and get me into the bathtub. The last time I’d showered was Thursday morning before my surgery. I had been instructed to wait three days before resuming bathing.

The padding extended down my arm past my bicep.

I grabbed my waterproof sling and my foam bath.

The Mr. had to help me with everything. Fortunately, we are pros now, so we didn’t have a bathroom full of water and bubbles when we finished.

We got our first look at my incisions. They were almost identical to the set I sported on the left side. I think the bicep tenodesis incision is a little longer. It was done as an open incision instead of via arthroscopic means.

I felt like a new person after putting on a pair of clean pajamas.

The rest of the day was spent reading and watching baseball. I have my first physical therapy appointment Monday morning. I’m dreading it because I remember the first one after December’s surgery. I nearly threw up from the pain. The surgeon, however, is very insistent with his protocol. Waiting longer isn’t part of his regimen.

Good thing I’ll be home all week. I’m going to need this time to gain my strength back and get used to the discomfort that will company being up and about again.

What’s on tap for your week?

Filed under: This-n-That | 8 Comments »

24 hours ago, I was preparing for shoulder surgery on my right shoulder. I guess you could say that today is officially day two of my recovery.

First off, I’d like to thank each of you who left a comment telling me you were praying for me. Even if you didn’t comment, but you prayed for me I thank you. I definitely felt the prayers.

I thought I’d do a little recap of surgery day. This will help me remember it in the future and make you more knowledgeable in case you have to go through this one day.

10 for 10 don’t recommend though.

As you might remember, I was up at o’ dark 30 because I couldn’t sleep. The hubby and I left the house around 6 AM and got to the surgery center about 6:15.

That place is a well-oiled machine, let me tell you. They had me checked in very quickly, and before I knew it, I was in the back getting prepped.

By the way, the lady who checked me in was the same gal who checked me in back in December. She was so sweet!

I put on my gown and cap because fashion is super important for an event such as this.

If you look closely, you’ll see a foam box behind my head. That’s actually the “pillow” on the bed.

The last surgery I had, I commented to the Mr. about how comfortable the pillow was. I didn’t realize it was foam. So I looked a lot closer this time.

I told the nurse how much I liked it, and she seemed surprised. I found it in my bag of stuff that I took home with me.

My nurse was the sweetest thing. She shares the same name as my sister! I loved that little God nod.

The warm blankets she got me were everything!

She went to start my IV and actually got one put in, but then my vein didn’t want to cooperate. The IV was too close to a valve, so when she removed pressure, it wouldn’t drip or do whatever needed to do. She even called in another nurse, but they couldn’t make it work. 

I told her that if she needed to do it again, even though I cannot stand needles, she could. That’s what she ended up doing and the second one took much better. It actually wound up being in a better spot too, so it worked out all the way around.

The bruised part of my hand (left side) with the red dot in the middle was her first attempt. It didn’t bruise up until yesterday afternoon. She wound up getting a good stick at the top of my wrist (bottom right).

While she did her thing, we had a a good time getting to know each other. I learned that her husband also works for the college. It’s very possible that I’ve run into him.

Another God nod.

Meanwhile, the hubby sat in a corner indicating, through married silent looks, that he was not amused at the amount of talking I was doing. He cannot handle much verbal interaction early in the day, and since he hadn’t had a cup of coffee, he was really struggling. Ha!

I was the second surgery for my surgeon yesterday morning. I heard him talking to the lady next to me. Her procedure was going to be short and quick. Then he stopped by my cubby and had a little check in. He was pretty confident that things would go quickly. He didn’t think that my right shoulder was as damaged as the left.

Then, he placed his hand on my left shoulder and prayed for me. This man can pray, let me tell you. He even prayed for my marriage – probably because he knows how hard physical challenges can be for a couple. I’m so thankful that he is a Christian and knows the Lord personally.

The anesthesiologist came in and administered the nerve block, which numbed me from my shoulder to my fingertips. Before he did that, the nurse administered a relaxing medication. That was also wonderful.

Then, they wheeled me back and I stayed awake a couple of minutes. I saw most of the surgical techs and even my doctor in there, but then before I knew it, I was out cold.

You’ll laugh at this next part. The first thing I remember was dreaming about blogging, and then all of a sudden I was awake in recovery.

My hubby came in and told me that I had a 50% rotator cuff tear, and my labrum was torn all the way around. Although I was a little surprised at the news, in a way, I wasn’t. I had been telling him that the pain was worsening.

Then, the surgeon came by, and he had pictures from my surgery. I didn’t get pictures when he fixed my left side.

He spent some time talking to us about what he had seen and what he had done.

He found arthritis. I think he might have cleaned that up. He seemed a little surprised with the labrum tear as well as the rotator cuff because the MRI had not shown the rotator cuff torn like that. He also fixed a rather large bone spur and opened up some space in the AC joint. So, essentially, he said we had done a repeat of the left shoulder – the same injuries- the same procedures – the same anchors – the same time I’ll be spending in my sling. Joy joy.

The procedures he performed: rotator cuff repair, bicep tenodesis, and distal clavicle excision.

Although I was numb down to my fingertips, I had a lot of pain on the edge of my shoulder where I think the bone spur was fixed. The nurse gave me more pain meds through my IV, and by the time I was in the car driving home I couldn’t feel that pain.

The nurses at the surgery center were absolutely amazing! They wouldn’t let me go home until I was 100% comfortable. I think it helped that they weren’t super busy too. I think most surgeries happen towards the end of the year when people are trying to finish using up insurance benefits.

Because the surgery took longer than what the doctor had expected, I did not get home until about 11:30. I think the surgery was a little rougher than the first one. We will see though.

Gambit was very happy to see us, and I think he’s happier because the surgery was on the right arm, which means he can still sit with me in my recliner because he sits on my left side.

One thing I’m having to watch out for right now is my arm dangling from my sling. Because my arm is still numb from the nerve block, I cannot feel when it slips out of the sling. So every time I have to get up, I have to check to make sure my arm is not hanging down, which is a very bad thing with the repairs I had done.

I’m grateful that I didn’t wake up nauseous from the anesthesia. My throat was very dry and sore, though. The hubby had bought me vegan ice cream which he fixed me a bowl of after I got home.

Other than that, I’m just taking it easy, and we’re going to take it day by day.

We sat on the front porch for awhile.

This is Gambit’s favorite place, other than beside me on my recliner.

The nerve block started wearing off late afternoon – a mere nine hours after being administered. Rats! I immediately started taking pain meds, per my doctor’s instructions. By 8:00, the pain was rolling in.

Fun times, y’all. The first three or four days were the worst the last time.

I start physical therapy Monday, which sounds crazy doesn’t it? I have a follow up appointment with my surgeon next Friday.

I’m off of work all next week, and I’m really grateful for that. I know things are going to get a little bit tougher before they get better, but I’ve been through this before, so I know what to expect.

Thank you for all of your prayers! They mean so much to me. I know that God hears prayers. Please keep them coming, as I have months of recovery ahead of me.

Filed under: This-n-That | 9 Comments »

It’s 3:44 a.m., and I am wide awake.

Truth be told, I’ve been awake for almost two hours after a night spent tossing and turning.

It’s a good thing I turned in early, because sleep was elusive.

The five alarms I set before going to bed really were unnecessary.

This morning, I’m going in for my second shoulder surgery.

By all appearances, I’ve been calm and steady.

I spent the week preparing for my absence at work – leaving goody bins for Camp War Eagle ready for my boss and coworker, who will be answering all of the questions at our table while I’m at home recovering.

Yesterday, when I got home from work, I prepped a pot of Chipotle Black Bean Soup for post-surgery days. I even portioned it out to make things easier for the hubby, who will have to do everything for me for a short little while.

The recipe is in this cookbook – a favorite of mine.

I showered using the surgical scrub provided to me by my orthopedic surgeon’s office, and I get to do that one more time as soon as I drag myself out of my bed, where I’m currently writing this post.

The scrub is interesting. You shower as normal and then scrub your body with the cleanser-laden sponge. Then, you wait, without the water running, for five minutes, to let the cleanser do its thing before finally rinsing off.

I’ve gotten to be a pro at this, unfortunately.

I washed my hair while I showered as well. I know how difficult this task will be after my surgery, so I wanted to make sure my hair was clean – for a few days anyhow. I may enlist the assistance of my hairdresser the next few weeks until I get to the point where I can do this one-handed. It’s quite a comical event, let me tell you.

I put reminders in a couple of places to make sure I don’t eat or drink anything. I’m function on autopilot each weekday morning, so I didn’t want to mess anything up with this little hiccup in my routine.

My surgery folder and sling are in my car.

I’m wearing one of the new shirts I bought a couple of weeks ago . . .

I’m also sporting my Superman socks because a little superhero help never hurt anyone.

These tangible preparations mask the small bundle of nerves that lies underneath the calm exterior.

I truly won’t know, until I wake up from surgery, how bad the damage in my right shoulder is. I don’t know why that makes me nervous, but it does.

Maybe it’s because the recovery from my left shoulder surgery has been so long and difficult. I still have a ways to go to get that shoulder functioning normally.

Maybe it’s because I’m finally enjoying sleeping in bed again, so a return to sleeping in my recliner makes me sad.

Forgive me while I have a small pity party. I am all about keeping things real, though.

With all of that said, I am reminding myself of the positives.

I am grateful for modern medicine. I’m thankful that God allowed doctors to gain knowledge of the human body’s workings.

I am grateful for the technology that makes it possible to diagnose what ails a person, and for the skills He’s blessed medical personnel with to treat those ailments.

I am thankful for the healing that He has provided in my left shoulder – I’ve come a long, long way since I hurt it last September. What I’ve already gone through the past six months has prepared me for this next part of my journey. The first time around, I was scared out of my wits – unsure what to expect. That’s not the case this morning.

God’s got me, and He will use this for His glory. This knowledge is what, ultimately, gives me peace.

All will be well.

Filed under: This-n-That | 11 Comments »