Shoulder surgery

In case you missed it, I had shoulder surgery on Monday, February 3rd. In September I hurt my left shoulder while swimming. They did an MRI and found a ton of inflammation and a cyst. We tried about ten weeks of physical therapy, a failed steroid injection (got what's called a steroid flare instead of it helping-very painful!) and finally realized that surgery was the only answer at that point. The day I finally came to terms with the fact that I needed surgery was after a full day of photographing and coming home in such pain that I just said, "that's it, I can't keep living in constant pain." I emailed the Dr the next day and she gave me the name of several surgeons. I asked around and was told to use Dr Hobbs, who is the chief of orthopedics at Mother Frances here in Tyler. I met with him the morning after Sadie and I got back from Arizona. He is one of those doctors that you can tell knows a lot and is all business. There was no chit chat-it was basically like, ok let's get you fixed! I think the visit was maybe 5 minutes total! All I really knew was that he'd decompress the cyst and then look around to figure out what else needed done and fix it. He had a spot that had just opened up for Feb 3rd (just a mere week and a half later!) and I said, "let's do it!" I was ready to just get it over with before wedding season started. With just a week and a half, it didn't give me much time to google like I'd had prior to my nose surgery in 2011. 

We called my mother in law and she said she would be able to come up to help with Sadie. Everything just kinda fell into place. I was doing great and not googling at all until the Wednesday prior to surgery when I called one of my clients who reminded me that his wife passed away from staph infection following surgery at the same hospital. I started to have a minor ( ok major) freak out and started googling like crazy. After some calming down from dr and nurse friends via Facebook, I was ok again and stopped googling. 

The Saturday before surgery I got a haircut and did a little shopping with Sadie. The pre opp nurse had suggested that I get a zip up Walmart moo moo for after the surgery and I was like ummm no, not going to happen. I went to Soma as I still had gift cards from Christmas and instead found a size extra large super soft button up long sleeve shirt for $18 on clearance. Much better than a moo moo! Ha! 

Sunday I wore myself out cleaning every nook and cranny of the house. I washed duvet covers, sheets, towels, blankets, cleaned the floors Cindarella style, wiped down door handles, etc. I wanted to make sure the house was completely germ free! When that was done I went to Fresh and got food for the week. I decided to meal prep for myself (even though I knew Adam and my mother in law would feed me). I wanted to make sure I had healthy, fresh food that were high in antioxidants and that were good anti inflammatory food choices. I baked chicken and then cut it up into bite size pieces (since I knew a fork and knife would be a tad difficult with just one arm) and then had Adam vaccum seal them into 4 oz portions. I then cut up bags of broccoli, carrots, and red pepper. I also cooked some quinoa and portioned that into 1/3 cup ziplock bags. I bought a lot of fresh berries as well and got them all cleaned and dried in portioned bags. 

All day long I drank a TON of water since you can't have anything after midnight the night before even if surgery isn't till late in the day. 

The morning of surgery I slept in as late as I could as I didn't want to have to sit around thinking about how thirsty and hungry I was. At one point I heard the house phone ring but didn't bother to get up to answer as pretty much only telemarketers call it. I got up around 9:30 and slowly got things together, washed my sheets so they'd be nice and fresh when I got home. Pam (mother in law) and I got Sadie off to school then headed to the hospital. I checked in and they took me back quickly. Even though it was 11:40 and my surgery was not until 2, they said they were ready for me! WHAT?!! Apparently they had a last minute cancelation and they said they tried calling but they didn't have a good number for me ( um ok I've only had the same cell for 7 years and they always call that, but then I realize they asked me the Friday before in pre opp if I had a home phone so I gave it to them-why they weren't smart enough to try my cell is beyond me) Anyways, they said get changed and we will get things going. Yikes! Great news that I didn't have to wait around but my husband wasn't even out of class yet! Eek! I gave them my mother in law's cell for them to communicate with her, and before I knew it they gave me the versed and a couple different anti nausea meds and we were headed to the OR. The next thing I knew, I was in recovery and in immense pain. They had done a nerve block, but I guess it didn't work. The anthestiologist came back and did another block and they shot me up with pain meds. The new block worked for maybe 20 minutes then was useless again. That was a bummer considering it was supposed to help for 12-24 hours! It took another couple doses of meds and I was finally not in as much pain. They told me that Adam had arrived but that I'd have to wait to see him until a room freed up in the other recovery area. It took forever! I slowly drank some cranberry juice and it made me pretty nauseous so they gave me more nausea meds. Finally we got news that a room was available so off we went. They said I had to eat a cracker and use the restroom before I could go home so I took a few bites and immediately proceeded to puke all over myself. That was awful. Adam had tried so hard to grab something, but I couldn't hold it and he couldn't find something quickly enough. So not fun. They got me cleaned up and got some 7up and let it get flat and that helped. I was finally able to eat a cracker and use the restroom which meant I could go home- yay! We got everything together and Adam pulled the car around while they wheeled me out. We swung by CVS on the way home to drop off my pain med prescription. As soon as we got home I took some phenagren that we luckily had at the house already. I was sooo nauseous! Adam got me settled in bed and then ran back to the pharmacy to get my meds. I took just one as soon as he got home with them, as two seemed like a lot. I soon regretted this, and took another. I ate a little dinner and wound up puking again. I took more phenagren and went to sleep. The night was rough, but I was naturally waking up around the times for the next dose, so I'd wake up, take more meds, and then drift back off to sleep. The last time I woke up in the night was at 3 am and then I accidentally went the full 6 hours until 9 am. This set the tone for my day of being in pain and I still don't feel like I've caught up on it. So not fun. I've got an alarm set for the next time I need to take them so that I can stay ontop of it tonight and tomorrow. I gave Sadie her shower as she was really missing me, thus taking it out on my mother in law and acting out. She was better once I was with her and Adam was home. It can't be easy for a 4 year old to comprehend how mommy can be home but can't really play and do the things we normally do. 

Update as of Wednesday morning: I did a tad better last night. I set the alarm for every 3 hours and took one pill every 3 instead of two every 6. I still feel like I can't get ahead of the pain though. It's rough. :( 

On the upside, I'm very glad I meal prepped! I've been able to quickly grab a healthy bite to eat. I got to play with Sadie this morning so that was good. She came in my room and sweetly cuddled with me and then we went out to the kitchen and had cereal together. After that we played horses and I enjoyed a little coffee for the first time in a couple days. Sadie has had a hard time not spending a lot of time with me so it was nice to sit and play with her. Now I'm back in my room and ready for a nap. Hopefully I'll just continue to get better as the days go by. Definitely harder recovery than I imagined! 

Oh and the phone call from the dr to my mother in law was very quick so she didn't get much from it, but apparently I had a frayed bicep tendon that he repaired in addition up decompressing the cyst. So glad it was not torn! Can't imagine how much worse a test would have been!