6 Months Out

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.

Follow-up Appointment

I am two months out of surgery. Yesterday we flew out to Lexington for my follow-up appointment this morning. Though I definitely still have a lot of work I do, I am doing better than they expected! I still have trouble with properly raising my arm above my shoulder, but I knew that, and am just starting to work on it in Physical Therapy. My strength in the muscles attached to my scapula is very good, and impressed Dr. Kibler (my surgeon). He says that this indicates a very good, strong attachment of all my muscles in the area. My AC Joint was also very stable. The challenge now will be learning how to do more with my shoulder, strengthening it, and then building endurance. I got permission to swim now, though not freestyle or back stroke, and in another month I am allowed to canoe, paddleboard, etc. This is very exciting as previously, I was only walking/hiking, which is fun, but it will be nice to be able to mix it up some.

They did say that people tend to get frustrated that they can't do things around month 3 or 4, because of lack of strength/endurance, so I will have to continue to be aware of my situation and know that it will get better as time goes on. In other exciting news, Dr. Kibler and Aaron's (program coordinator) study on scapular muscle detachment was approved for publishing. This is very exciting as their work is now recognized and legitimate to the medical world, helping them and people with these injuries. Overall, it was a very exciting and uplifting appointment.

Sling Freedom Day

Disclaimer: I am usually not one to take "selfies" in the
 mirror with my phone, but I was excited,
so you are going to have to forgive me.  

Today was my first day going to Physical Therapy at Boston Children's Hospital (they have been following me throughout the years and have excellent Physical Therapists). Every thing went very well. Most importantly, today is the first day in 14 months that I can stop wearing a sling with out significant pain or worry about my shoulder! For this reason, I am calling it Sling Freedom Day. Basically, it is one of the best and most exciting days in the past year. Now, I cant really do much with my arm, I can't raise it, or lift much of anything, but I can use my elbow and hand (if I remember that I have them). Before you think that I can basically do nothing, remember that my previous brace was very bulky, and I had to wear it 24/7. So, here is a list of things I can do as of today:

Type normally
Double thumbs up
Wave (though awkwardly) with my left hand
Walk around with out getting stared at or asked about my shoulder
Plug both ears when the firetrucks/ambulances go by me on the street
Fit into a normal public bathroom stall (my brace was to bulky to do this)
Change by myself!
SLEEP! (Without my brace on, I'm sure tonight I will sleep better than I have in five weeks)

Okay, so, I know, those all seem pretty easy, and it may be unusual to get so excited about these things, but I haven't been able to do this stuff in over a year, and this is just the beginning.

Back to School

This Tuesday, three weeks after surgery, I returned to school. I am returning home this weekend as I am not fully independent yet and it is Easter weekend. Next Tuesday, I should be able to take off my brace, allowing me to be more independent, this way, I will not have to go home Friday-Mondays. I hope to be caught up with all of my school work by next week.

Doing Well

Everything is going really well. I was only on narcotics for 4.5 days, which for this surgery is really great. I got my staples out Monday (I had 30) and was able to start very light PT Tuesday (the staples came out a little early, so we had to wait another day to make sure everything was good to go). Tuesday I was also allowed to shower for the first time after surgery. It was a very long wait and I was very excited to be able to. Now it's just a lot of sitting around and waiting until I can actually do stuff, which can get incredibly boring. There is definitely a time where watching TV is no longer entertaining no matter what you're watching, but school starts back up soon, so I should have something to do once that happens. At the moment we are trying to see if I can start going back part-time, but we have a little more planning to do for that to take place.

Days 1-4

Day 1 - Surgery

Arrived at the out patient surgery clinic at 6:30 and got prepped for surgery.In surgery, they tightened my AC Joint and removed a bursa from the joint as well. They also cleaned up a lot of scar tissue on and around my shoulder blade, which seemed to be what was causing it to get stuck. They removed scar tissue from my rhomboids lower trapezius and reattached them in a better position on the shoulder blade. they also found some active bleeding in my shoulder. Waking up after surgery I was very uncomfortable, but once I was on a good schedule with my drugs, I did much better. I remember talking to a few friends and my sister coming back with her ears pierced, otherwise, I don't remember too much from that day.

Day 2

Wednesday, I just hung out watching TV and doing a lot of sleeping. This was the first day I really began to feel my incisions, which was not easy at first, and meant a lot of resting. we tried to regulate my medicine schedule a little more by waiting to take some of the meds, but the plan back fired.

Day 3

Thursday, we went for a follow up with the doctor, to overview what is to go on within the next month or two. They also removed a pump that was pumping numbing medicine in to the incision on my back. When they did this, they had to remove the dressing on my AC Joint incision, so I got a look and picture of that (don't worry, I probably wont post it). After the appointment my mom and I started driving (my dad and sisters took a plane home) and made it to Allentown, PA without many problems.

Day 4

Friday we drove from Allentown all the way back to VT. Arrived home at about 4:30 pm. Relaxed and ate dinner. Record awake time (around 5 hours).

As of now I am only allowed on the computer for 10 minutes an hour and am supposed to avoid any repetitive motions with both hands (including texting). This means I can only talk on the phone if I want to communicate for long periods of time and that texting/updates take a really long time to type. Talking on the phone also has been difficult as it is hard to stay awake that long, soon I hope to be good to go as far as calling/Skyping goes but don't worry if I don't respond immediately. I do still need help changing among other things, but that may still be the case until I am allowed out of the sling in April. Waking up to take meds it also an annoyance, but hopefully I won't need to do that much longer.

Elizabeth Out of Surgery

Elizabeth is out of surgery. All went well. She had her AC joint repaired and the muscles to her scapula detached and reattached. She also had scar tissue on her scapula cleaned up. Now the recovery and rehab begin. I'm sure she will post more as soon as she feels up to it. In the meantime, thanks for all of your support.

Surgery Today

First surgery today, will post updates here.

School and Rescheduling

The date of surgery has now been rescheduled for March 5. This way, one of the weeks that I would be out of school for recovery will be March break. However, even with this, I will be missing up to 3 weeks of school. After talking with my adviser and the Department Chair of the Biomedical Engineering Department, it was decided that I will take a reduced class load of 12 credits rather than 20 and make up the other two classes next year. If I get back from surgery earlier than planned, the Department Chair has agreed to give me a project or some extra work to do at the end of the semester. Since the surgery is being delayed for a month, I will be doing some basic Physical Therapy before which will hopefully help me towards a more speedy recovery.

News and Surgery Scheduling

As it says in the description, this blog will be used for updates on my shoulder. You can see my full diagnosis and history in the "About My Shoulder" section. In case it is needed in viewing my updates, some pictures showing the anatomy of the shoulder can be found on the left. As of now, I have surgery scheduled in Kentucky the 22nd of January. Our most recent discovery is that the time that I am expected to be out of school is four weeks, which is a lot, especially having only 15 weeks of school, five classes, and four labs. At this time we are considering my options, hoping to find a realistic way for me to attend school next semester, which will probably require rescheduling the surgery.