Setback

At the 3-month mark post shoulder replacement surgery, the pain was still interfering with my range of motion. Then I had my follow up appointment with the surgeon. He asked where the pain was located, touched the different areas I mentioned and found a sensitive spot at the back of the shoulder. That is when I heard the words no surgery patient wants to hear, “let’s take some x-rays and then we will talk.”

Although the x-rays did not show any problems, the doctor started talking about stress fractures, indicating that this can happen with the reverse shoulder replacement, especially in older women with osteopenia. He then put a stop to all the assisted range of motion exercises I was doing (pulleys, cane exercises, etc.). I was restricted to completely passive range of motion exercises, like table slides and wall slides and instructed to use the sling if necessary. I always found the wall slides a bit painful, so the jury was out on that one. I was back in four weeks, so my thought right now was just s**t, my recovery was set back at least 4 weeks.

So, what was I doing to cope? I had to put the cross-stitch project on hold, since that seemed to bother my shoulder. The weather had improved a bit, so I did get out for a few walks, but not as much as I would like. I did notice we had a few new visitors to the bird feeder. We did not usually see purple finches, but several pairs were hanging around. I had my husband set up my camera with the long lens by the window. Since I could not get my arm high enough to take pictures, I was using a camera utility that let my camera talk to my laptop. The package included a remote shutter release.

I was also still reading a ton of books. This month I enjoyed a nonfiction book about the pianist, Van Cliburn, called Moscow Nights by Cliff Nigel. My book club book was an historical novel called Skylark by Paula McLain. It switched back and forth between two timelines. One followed a woman in the 1600s who wanted to create clothing dyes and was put in an asylum for daring to take on a man’s role. The other follows a doctor who works in an asylum in 1939 and helped Jews escape through the tunnels of Paris. Finally, a light read to lift my spirits, a book called Twilight Garden, by Sarah Nash Adams, a story about two neighbors who do not get along but share a garden space. When they receive photos and fliers about what the garden looked like before, they join forces to restore the garden to its former glory.

Progress Continues…Slowly

I passed the 8-week mark from my reverse shoulder replacement surgery. I would like to say that at that point I was out there doing handstands and cartwheels. But, alas, that was not the case.

At six weeks (on New Year’s Eve) I came out of the sling, and the doctor cleared me for driving. My thought on this was, “you have got to be kidding!” At that point I couldn’t lift my hand above my waist, never mind put it on a steering wheel. With very little range of motion and the weather leaving icy conditions on the road, I decided to wait a bit longer before getting behind the wheel. In fact, I didn’t begin assisted range of motion exercises until they removed the sling.

Shortly after the New Year, my husband and I came down with whatever respiratory bug had been going around town. Between the illness, my shoulder and not getting out for local walks because of the weather, I went into a deep funk. Finally, my husband got me outside and kept a tight hold on me so I wouldn’t fall, and we took a stroll through our woods. It certainly made me feel a bit better. Still, I was getting bored. There was only so much reading and cross stitch I could do!

At week nine, I continued going to Physical Therapy twice a week, still working on assisted range of motion. I was able to move my arm above my waist but not to shoulder height yet. I also found out that at least during the pulley exercises, I was quite obviously lifting with my shoulder instead of letting my arm do the work. I needed to learn to consciously keep my shoulder down while doing these exercises. All this while not tensing up. Sigh! It was going to be a long, slow process.

Speaking of reading, I have finished about 10 books since my surgery. If you like art, I would highly recommend Mona’s Eyes by Thomas Schlesser, a story about a man who takes his granddaughter to the museum every week when her family fears she is going blind. I also enjoyed a retelling of the Greek tragedy, Clytemnestra by Costanza Cosati. My fluff book was Ghost Cat by Alex Howard, about a cat who dies of old age during the Victorian era. When he arrives in the afterlife, the cat in charge is horrified that this creature has not lived nine lives, so it is sent back nine times to accomplish this, taking it from Victorian times to 2022.

Progress Report

I am now almost 4 weeks out from my shoulder replacement surgery and doing well. The surgery was the week before Thanksgiving, so in my husband’s words, I spent the time sitting on the couch like a queen, giving orders. That was really nice! My husband as usual did the cooking, while I directed the rest of the family in putting out the Christmas decorations.

I thought I would be able to walk around the neighborhood more, but the weather did not cooperate. This was the first time in the last few years that we have had snow before Christmas. To top it off the temperatures were single digits or in the teens. With ice on the street, I contented myself walking a figure eight around the house. At least, I got some steps in!

After one of my Physical Therapy appointments, we went to get a small tree for the holidays. One of the workers agreed to take a photo. Oh, my goodness! This sling and my husband’s coat really did make me look fat! Hopefully, the sling will come off in a few weeks, and I can wear my own coat and at least look a little thinner. After we got home, my husband put up the tree with the lights and beads. I was able to put on the ornaments with one hand. We were now ready for Christmas!

Wishing everyone a happy holiday and a healthy new year. After this year of surgeries and health issues in our house, we are so ready for 2026. Let’s hope it is a healthy one!

Maiden Cliff 2025

After my husband’s surgery, he began to walk around the neighborhood. He had slacked off on the hiking front for some time, so he was trying to get back into a routine. Over time, he expanded his routine from the corner to the beach at Barrett’s Cove to crossing Route 52 and going a little bit up the Maiden Cliff Trail.

Of all the trails in the Camden Hills State Park, this had never been my favorite. Despite the beautiful views from the summit, I had never found any beauty in the hike itself. Over the last few years, it had been overused to the point that it was so badly eroded, the path had to be re-routed. I suppose as a result of the traffic, the ground was hard dirt with a variety of challenging conditions. Still, on September 20^th, I joined my husband on the walk to see how far we could get.

Perhaps we might have reached the summit, if we started from the beach. Instead, we walked the mile from our house to the trailhead. Of course there was quite an incline from the road to the parking lot. At the far end of the parking lot we entered the woods and began our hike.

This section of trail consisted of loose gravel and roots, lots of roots. Some areas were interspersed with ledge, and I had some difficulty determining where to step without falling. We maneuvered around these obstacles and finally made it to the first significant erratic. I rested a bit by this large boulder before continuing on our journey.

As we continued, the rocky terrain increased. We made our way around a number of small boulders, as we continued uphill. At some point, we reached a small bridge that crossed over a wet area. Maine had experienced a drought this year, so there was no wet spot here now. It was around this point, that we reached the rerouted trail.

Our goal for this walk, was to reach the second erratic and turn around. After all, my husband was still building up his endurance. Looking up the trail, I noticed we seemed to be heading into an area of ledge that might prove difficult. Instead of continuing, we decided to turn around and try to reach the second erratic and the summit at a future date. Maybe on our next attempt, we should drive to the beach parking area and shave off a mile to improve our chances.

Note: At this point in my own recovery from a shoulder replacement surgery, I am walking around the neighborhood but have only succeeded in walking halfway to Barrett’s Cove. Not too bad considering the surgery was only 2 weeks ago. We have had snow and single digit temperatures which has slowed me down since the only coat that can get around the sling is one of my husband’s coats.

New Quilt Design

It seems I have always been a klutz while hiking. I would frequently trip over roots and rocks on any given trail. More than 10 years ago, I stumbled on a trail and landed on my right shoulder. It hurt quite a bit for a short while but then the pain subsided and I did nothing about it. I continued hiking, sewing and kayaking as before, not giving a thought to that shoulder. Than 4 or 5 years ago, I could not get too far while kayaking. After all that time, it turned out I had a torn rotator cuff, now irreparable. Since I wasn’t in too much pain, I opted to get injections instead of a shoulder replacement, knowing that at some point that day would arrive. Just before my husband’s surgery, in August, the shoulder got considerably worse and I thought I might have a problem driving him home. I was able to get us home, made an appointment with the surgeon and have now scheduled a shoulder replacement for the week before Thanksgiving. In addition to having difficulty driving, I discovered many of my activities were difficult, including sewing.

This was a problem since I had just finished my Harmony quilt and was ready to start a new project. In fact, last year when I bought a new sewing machine, I also bought a bunch of fabric for my next project. I was contemplating a log cabin quilt in blues and whites. For this log cabin, my thought was to arrange the blocks so that they formed a star.

Although I was at a point where I couldn’t sew, I thought that at least I could still design quilts. Once I copied the fabrics into my quilt design software, I arranged the blues and whites into the desired pattern. Unfortunately, there were times when the star didn’t seem to stand out. I needed something to make it pop.

I looked through my stash and pulled out a selection of reds to add to the design. I thought that If I replaced the blues with the reds in the corners, that would help. I still wasn’t sure, so I added the red to the border, but I was worried that might be too much red.

Finally, I consulted my daughter, who was also a quilter, what she thought. She had the same thought that I had. The design with the red border really made the star visible but neither of us was sure we liked it, leaning more towards the blue border. I decided to ask a third person in order to make a final decision. She agreed that the red border made the star jump out, but she liked the blue border. That was it, red corners with a blue border it would be. Now, I would just have to wait a few months for my shoulder to heal before I can sew again

Note: There will be one more post before my surgery and then I will take 2 weeks off, hoping to continue posting after Thanksgiving. After my husband’s surgery, we went out exploring quite a bit, hoping to get back into a regular pattern of exercise. As a result, I have stacked up posts that should get me through March, with a break here and there. I wish everyone a nice Thanksgiving.