It has been a while (like 4 months) since I have updated on my progress, so here's an update about what has happened in that time. I was officially discharged from physical therapy in early June. It was a little earlier than planned, but I had a full summer ahead of me, and I did not have time to be driving to Boston and back. By that time I had reached nearly full range of motion (I was off by a few degrees), but was still working on strength and endurance. In mid-June, after a week long family trip to Ireland, I started my summer job working at an all boys overnight summer camp.
There is no better strength and endurance training than working at an all boys overnight camp. On top of my normal physical therapy, which I continued on my own, I was doing everything from making lanyards to frog catching to archery, and even some heavy lifting (wooden war canoes are not light). The only thing I didn't do that I might have done I had 2 perfect shoulders my whole life was to help lift the giant dock sections out of the lake, I decided that was a little overkill. Instead, I stuck to moving cinder blocks and making sure the docks in the water didn't float away. Of course, stories had to be told about how I got the scars. It turns out I was once a professional MMA fighter. My shoulder wasn't perfect the whole time, there were a lot of days that I was pretty sore and very happy that ibuprofen existed. But sore is okay, I mean, I basically took a year off from physical activity and threw myself into a situation where that is all I did. To be honest, there were plenty of days where my shoulder was not the only part of my body that was sore.
After camp, we drove back to Colorado (our new home base) where I spent a month getting to know the area. There, I also had a check up and two physical therapy appointments for both shoulders. I now have some new exercises to further strengthen some of the muscles in the back of my shoulders and ensure that both shoulders are in perfect condition. They have been working very well in eliminating the few small issues of random tightness and mild pain that I was having in both shoulders about once a week before starting them. Since then, I have started school again, with a slightly revised schedule because of not taking 2 classes last semester. This basically means a heavier class load this semester, but it's not to bad, and I like all my classes. Overall, my shoulder is doing really well and doesn't really affect my life much anymore apart from the at home physical therapy, and in my opinion, those 15 minutes a day are definitely worth it.
I just got rhomboid reattachment done by Kibler today! I'm in tons of pain, obviously, and could use some reassurance. How are you feeling now, 7 (is that right?) months out?
ReplyDeleteI am now nine and a half months out and feel great! The first week or two were definitely some of the hardest. I still get sore easier than in my right shoulder (obviously, after 7.5 years of no use, it is weaker), and its a little less coordinated (again, I'm not even a year out so its like having a nine month old shoulder sometimes, but most of the time I don't have any issues). It is hard, but don't give up on it! I have also seen that a lot of people suffer from pain and stiffness in the front of their shoulder, but I went to the Physical Therapist at about month 6 and did some external rotator cuff stuff which really helped it, and now I rarely have problems. But keep positive
DeleteHi, I also had my rhomboid & trapezius reattached by Dr K in KY - in Feb 2012. Mine was after an accident, but I'm still dealing with other associated shoulder issues. I was really interested to find your blog, I blogged about it on mine - I hope that is ok (it's here: http://outofthelymelight.blogspot.com/2014/01/inspiration.html ). It sounds like you have had a great recovery from the surgery, although I know it's a long path.
ReplyDeleteTo asemerson above, I hope you also see fast improvement. I have lots of associated shoulder issues that all happened when I fell (June 2011) and I've written lots about my surgery on my blog. I was in a lot of severe pain right after my surgery too, and it did last for longer than they expected. I hope yours is already feeling much better, but you are still only a few weeks out (still in the sling, yes?) - I still had a lot of pain at that point, it did get better, but for me it was very slow. I know that's probably not the best reassurance, but hopefully it helps a bit. Please feel free to contact me if you want. Good luck with your recovery.
Elizabeth, I hope you keep making that progress, it sounds like you have had quite a journey. Good luck with your recovery too.
I'm glad you guys found this useful! Sorry I don't update more often, but life kind of gets in the way (which I am very happy about, by the way). I'm not sure how you guys found this blog, but I initially discovered Dr Kibler and the surgery on allexperts.com (yeah, I know that sounds super sketchy, but I checked with my other doctors before getting a referral). Anyway, there is quite a large community there (10-15 people), all in different stages of recovery. Here is the link: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Orthopedics-980/2008/7/f/scapula-muscle-pain.htm
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