Friday, March 16, 2012

Slow Progress



I am now more than three months post surgery. I am back to near full function as far as range of motion but my strength is still a bit off. The most annoying part is that the tendons in front keep snapping over something when I raise my arm, especially with any weight at all in my hand. There are still a few movements that hurt, like parallel parking. With my arm extended and my shoulders twisted around, the resistance of the steering wheel is painful. About the only thing I can't do yet is a push up position. Sometimes when I'm taking a low angle shot of something, I'm laying on my stomach with my elbows tucked in and when I go to get up, I look like a fish out of water, trying to figure out how to put my self up and not drop my camera.

I have a while to go before I'm 100%, but so far I'm not convinced to do the other shoulder yet, or at least not this coming December. Maybe I'll give it a year cushion to see how I feel with the left side and to see if my memory of the experience fades a little.

Recently, bought a book to help me understand the process of the surgery a little better and try and figure out what's going on inside. It's called "The Shoulder Patient's Hand Book", by Dr. Paul D. Roache. It was helpful but I think it touches on a lot of different types of injuries and surgeries, so when you narrow it down to your specific need it's only about a chapter long. I think I would have found it more helpful if I had the book before surgery than after. I think it would have put my mind at ease as to what they were going to do.