It's hard to describe. First, I am very pleased.
I have great range of motion. One website I read stated that a patient with my presurgical situation, an injury that resulted in a shattered proximal humerus with full thickness tear of the supraspinatus ligament and malunion of the healed joint, could not expect more than 90 degrees of elevation of the replaced joint. My surgeon downplayed the possible positive potential of the surgery for my situation. In spite of those predictions I have nearly as great elevation with my "bionic" arm as with my "original parts" left arm.
Elevation isn't the only result to consider. I have very good extension. In other words, I can reach out and down or out and up to pick up something off the floor, pull the chain on a ceiling fan, adjust the wand on the vertical window blinds or even hang up the handheld attachment on the shower head. That last one surprised me!
I don't know what you call that circular motion that you make with your arms as you turn the steering wheel overlapping hand over hand, but I can do it now. The circular cleaning motion one uses to wipe up the kitchen counter or scrub the floor of the bathtub is similar and I can do both.
But, Willet, how does it FEEL?
Oh, feel! It does not hurt at all in the resting position properly supported, like with a small pillow under my elbow. If I didn't do my physical therapy exercises, I don't think it would hurt at all. But it does hurt some. Amazingly, it does not hurt where the prosthetic parts are. I don't feel where the glenosphere, the artificial ball, is attached to the scapula. It doesn't hurt where the top of the humerus was cut off or where the bone was then reamed out and the titanium shaft was fitted into it. It hurts where the deltoid muscle was attached to the bone to facilitate lifting the arm. The muscle or ligament is tight. It feels like there are two wide large rubber bands in my arm that pull or resist motion and stretching. That should improve with continued use, exercise and time, my doctor says. It's weird but activity (exercise) makes it hurt but not doing the exercise makes it hurt more. If I am inactive it tightens up and feels worse. When I wake in the morning, the first thing I do is stretch my arm up, up and out. One ibuprofen relieves the discomfort very well.
I cannot lay on this side/shoulder yet. And lifting much weight makes it hurt. I am only up to 2 lb weights in the little curls I do and that seems like a lot. Tonight I made a pot of chili in a heavy Le Creuset pot. Pot and chili both probably weighed ten pounds and it hurt to pick it up and was
probably the maximum I could have carried from stove to sink. I have a ways to go in strength but I obviously can do so much more every day.
The scar looks fabulous. I attribute that to the kinesio tape I wear on it most all the time still. When I massage it deeply it feels somewhat tender and sore. The skin still feels superficially numb but almost like when the novacaine is wearing off. Hard to describe. But I certainly have no complaints about the cosmetic appearance of the scar.
Even when it is at its most uncomfortable, the "pain" is nothing like as bad as before surgery. That pain was totally different, sharp and stabbing and quite debilitating. Nothing relieved it, not even a narcotic type drug. And I had very little functional use of my arm. I think it is called pseudo paralysis, where you cannot lift the arm but it is not really paralyzed. It is due to a damaged rotator cuff, in my case, secondary to a fracture.
So yes, it does still hurt. I have a way to go. But I think I am doing well and will continue to improve. I'll keep you up to date.
http://youtu.be/SzlpTRNIAvc
Archive timeline: 2014: May and June - preparing for surgery, July - surgery and post op problems, August - recovery and physical therapy, September - thinking medically.
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