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.