Just to catch everyone up and not to forget the topic of this blog...how am I?
I am happy to report that my hair has stopped falling out. At eight months post op. It started shedding at about six weeks post surgery and kept it up until just the last week or two, maybe lessening over the last month. Also, I think it is back to normal growing again. For a while it just did not seem to get any longer and, since my hair is so short, it is pretty easy to tell if it is not growing. I don't think my doctor ever appreciated how disturbing hair loss is to a female. It just wasn't an issue he addressed.
My chief post operative discomfort complaint has always been muscle pain in the bicep and tricep areas of the arm. The doctor explained that is where the deltoid muscle was reattached to the bone to enable it to lift the arm. He said it would take a long time to stop hurting, if ever. The pain the front forearm, what I am calling the bicep area, mostly disappeared at about seven months post op. I still have some discomfort in the back of the forearm, the tricep area, but it is definitely diminishing. DID I SAY FOREARM?.I MEAN UPPER ARM.
My right arm, the operated shoulder side, is not as strong as I would wish. I still have trouble pushing and pulling with it. Opening or closing the bottom freezer drawer on the freezer is too hard. The push and turn maneuver with childproof medicine bottles defeats me. But I am now able to open and close doors, even our back door that sticks a little. Rotating the car steering wheel is very much easier and only tweaks me on the very tightest turns now.
My range of motion is fabulous. I can stretch and reach with the operated side arm very nearly as good as with the uninvolved left arm. Putting away dishes, hanging up clothes, picking up dropped items, replacing the shower massage head...no problem.
Lifting weight of five pounds or more slows me down. I just don't have the strength yet. It is certainly improving but not where I expect or hope to be. So lifting and pouring a gallon of milk is still a left handed job.
Ah, dressing. The ultimate bugaboo. I get so frustrated. I ought to, need to, be able to dress without help! There is nothing easy about putting on the top half of my clothing. Still. Thank goodness for front closure bras, a real necessity. I do pretty well putting on or removing shirts now but jackets and coats are a struggle. Unless the item is rather loose fitting or stretches a good bit it is a battle. I've even thought about asking to go to occupational physical therapy once or twice to see if a therapist can assess what I am not doing or what I am doing wrong. For one thing, I can't do that little shoulder shrug that lets you drop a jacket off your shoulders to remove it. And once I do get it off shoulder, I can't reach behind my back well enough to let one hand grab the sleeve off the other hand and pull the sleeve down and off. I am just beginning to be able to get my hands to touch behind my back so things may be improving. We'll see. Pulling on tight, stretchy tights, leggings, is doable but a bit of a battle. And pants that zip on the side or in the back are to be avoided. Skirts can be zipped and rotated, thankfully.
About the pneumothorax, the collapsed lung, I had post operatively secondary to the nerve block...I believe I am healed. I recently saw the pulmonologist and had a CT scan. He said everything looked fine. But I am often a bit breathless in a way I never was before. I know it is not my imagination. I can climb stairs and do many times a day. I can walk and chatter away for two to three miles. But those things did not used to make me breathless and they do now. I was never a "mouth breather" but I catch myself doing it commonly now. I have read on the web that folks say it takes a year after a collapsed lung to feel perfectly normal so I am hopeful. Tincture of time.
I last saw my orthopod in December, six months post op. I see him next in June which will be one year after surgery. I think by then I will have very little to complain about. This whole experience has been tough. Not easy to go through or get over. But the result has been all I had hoped for. It is easy to forget how handicapped I was pre surgery and how much pain I was in. Everyone warned me that recovery was a long and difficult process. It's certainly true. Writing this blog has been a great outlet for all the angst and frustration one goes through dealing with any ongoing medical situation. Thanks for being "out there" listening to me complain!
I said I would do this for one year. Four more months to go! Can we make it?
I am happy to report that my hair has stopped falling out. At eight months post op. It started shedding at about six weeks post surgery and kept it up until just the last week or two, maybe lessening over the last month. Also, I think it is back to normal growing again. For a while it just did not seem to get any longer and, since my hair is so short, it is pretty easy to tell if it is not growing. I don't think my doctor ever appreciated how disturbing hair loss is to a female. It just wasn't an issue he addressed.
My chief post operative discomfort complaint has always been muscle pain in the bicep and tricep areas of the arm. The doctor explained that is where the deltoid muscle was reattached to the bone to enable it to lift the arm. He said it would take a long time to stop hurting, if ever. The pain the front forearm, what I am calling the bicep area, mostly disappeared at about seven months post op. I still have some discomfort in the back of the forearm, the tricep area, but it is definitely diminishing. DID I SAY FOREARM?.I MEAN UPPER ARM.
My right arm, the operated shoulder side, is not as strong as I would wish. I still have trouble pushing and pulling with it. Opening or closing the bottom freezer drawer on the freezer is too hard. The push and turn maneuver with childproof medicine bottles defeats me. But I am now able to open and close doors, even our back door that sticks a little. Rotating the car steering wheel is very much easier and only tweaks me on the very tightest turns now.
My range of motion is fabulous. I can stretch and reach with the operated side arm very nearly as good as with the uninvolved left arm. Putting away dishes, hanging up clothes, picking up dropped items, replacing the shower massage head...no problem.
Lifting weight of five pounds or more slows me down. I just don't have the strength yet. It is certainly improving but not where I expect or hope to be. So lifting and pouring a gallon of milk is still a left handed job.
Ah, dressing. The ultimate bugaboo. I get so frustrated. I ought to, need to, be able to dress without help! There is nothing easy about putting on the top half of my clothing. Still. Thank goodness for front closure bras, a real necessity. I do pretty well putting on or removing shirts now but jackets and coats are a struggle. Unless the item is rather loose fitting or stretches a good bit it is a battle. I've even thought about asking to go to occupational physical therapy once or twice to see if a therapist can assess what I am not doing or what I am doing wrong. For one thing, I can't do that little shoulder shrug that lets you drop a jacket off your shoulders to remove it. And once I do get it off shoulder, I can't reach behind my back well enough to let one hand grab the sleeve off the other hand and pull the sleeve down and off. I am just beginning to be able to get my hands to touch behind my back so things may be improving. We'll see. Pulling on tight, stretchy tights, leggings, is doable but a bit of a battle. And pants that zip on the side or in the back are to be avoided. Skirts can be zipped and rotated, thankfully.
About the pneumothorax, the collapsed lung, I had post operatively secondary to the nerve block...I believe I am healed. I recently saw the pulmonologist and had a CT scan. He said everything looked fine. But I am often a bit breathless in a way I never was before. I know it is not my imagination. I can climb stairs and do many times a day. I can walk and chatter away for two to three miles. But those things did not used to make me breathless and they do now. I was never a "mouth breather" but I catch myself doing it commonly now. I have read on the web that folks say it takes a year after a collapsed lung to feel perfectly normal so I am hopeful. Tincture of time.
I last saw my orthopod in December, six months post op. I see him next in June which will be one year after surgery. I think by then I will have very little to complain about. This whole experience has been tough. Not easy to go through or get over. But the result has been all I had hoped for. It is easy to forget how handicapped I was pre surgery and how much pain I was in. Everyone warned me that recovery was a long and difficult process. It's certainly true. Writing this blog has been a great outlet for all the angst and frustration one goes through dealing with any ongoing medical situation. Thanks for being "out there" listening to me complain!
I said I would do this for one year. Four more months to go! Can we make it?
Again thank you for writing this blog. I feel we are kindred spirits. I feel that I should be writing this blog because I'm experiencing everything that you are mentioning in your texts. You have given me so much reassurance that this was the right thing to do for all the pain that I was in. I am experiencing a very good recovery at six weeks. Looking forward to reading some more, cheers Sandra.
ReplyDelete