I got a big positive boost today when I saw my surgeon at 5 weeks out. He thought I was doing wonderful even though I was starting to wonder. He said, heck no.....I had just been in the "resting" phase and now I would start the "healing" part. Funny since he told me I couldn't hurt my shoulder and to do whatever felt okay. Of course I'd been trying to do everything (nowhere in his previous advice did he mention "resting"!!) and wondered why it still hurt. He just laughed at me and said "Americans always want it done NOW. If you were in Canada or Europe, you wouldn't be in such a hurry!" Where have I heard that before?
So there wasn't anything I could do to hurt it and it's not unusual to have pain, loss of movement and discomfort for quite some time if you're doing daily things like I have been.
Turns out in addition to the two big bone spurs he removed, he also shaved the clavicle in two places to open up the joint a bit and make it work better even with the mis-shaped ball. He said those shaved bones were at least part of the discomfort I was having and that it should just now start to get better. Would be nice if that could all be explained up front, though.
In fact, today right before I went to the appointment with him a friend's husband and I packed a queen mattress and box springs up in plastic and moved them down a flight of stairs to our garage. Granted, Paul did the heavy parts, but it was still a good workout and my shoulder felt it. My doc just laughed at me and said that meant I was doing great. He made my day!!
So, now he wants me to begin therapy sessions to strengthen my arm, shoulder and back muscles. I see him again in 6 weeks and he promises there will be vast improvement. I'm excited because I had come to think this was how it was going to be until the joint was replaced. Now I'm really hopeful looking forward. And I absolutely LOVE my surgeon!
United States
and before summer you'll be 
and other fun things
