Torn rotator cuff.

[THAT Gurl]

Is this a surgery contest. Both elbows, nerve release 6 weeks apart with carpal tunnel surgery.View attachment 425131View attachment 425132

If were having a contest I'm gonna guess I have you ALL beat. Last time I counted I think I was close to 20 ... I'm not very coordinated ... Lol

 

[THAT Gurl]

View attachment 425115View attachment 425116

My bruising wasn’t near as bad, but my incision was just a wee bit larger.

Broke the actual shoulder socket 60/40. Carried it in a sling for over 30 days while they practiced on a couple of cadaver shoulders and then had some screws made to pull the pieces back together. My labrum was torn from 2 to 10 o’clock. It probably dislocated 3-4 times a day in those 30 some odd days. It was excruciating pain. Brought tears and retching several times, and I’m pretty tough. All the other soft tissue was fine, but they had to take everything loose to fix the socket bone and then reattach. 6 months before he would let me even crawl back on a horse and 8 months before I could compete again.

That rehab was the absolute worst.

All that was 10 years ago this past July/August. It’s time for it to be replaced but because of the rehab of the injury I’ll never have it replaced unless it tries to fall off. Pain alone won’t cause me to replace it. It will have to become non-functioning.

My surgeon told me shoulders were the worst, more than even necks or backs. I’d prefer to never know for sure because of personal experience.

Man I dunno. I'd do my shoulder surgery over a thousand times before I'd do another kyphoplasty. But ... I have to say my neck fusion was a damned walk in the park. I felt so good in recovery I didn't even need pain meds. At least not until the next day when I had a cluster headache hit me. The nurse thought I was having a psychotic break. Lol He was like "why are you getting out of bed?? Why are you pacing all over the place?? STOP!! It's "JUST" a migraine!"

I looked over at Grumpy and he had this look on his face . I think he thought I was gonna choke the guy out with my IV tubing. Lol I just told him to go google "cluster headache" and get back with me. He came back 10 minutes later with a horse syringe full of medicine and said "I apologize for not believing you. If you will get back in bed I will fix what ails you." To which I replied "You are a GOD among men!" Right before I dozed off I heard Scott tell him "You aren't the first to not believe her. I didn't either until we'd been together a while. But at least she didn't draw blood this time." ******* ...

 

[Two Gun Warrior]

I’m going to tell you the exact process since I’m going through it for a labrum tear….1) make an appt with PC who will refer you to get Xrays and MRI (ortho will not see you without those 1st) 2) you will get referred to either PT or OT (ortho will want you to go through this prior anyway) 3) and this one is the most annoying, your PC will refer you to ortho after your imaging and you wait for ortho to call and schedule an appt, which once they do call could be weeks or months. 4) depending on your mri result and if ortho believes you have an injury they’ll refer you for an arthogram with contrast 5) you wait for ortho to call you to schedule an appt to go back and discuss your arthogram and schedule surgery.

I have dealt with this for a year now and the 1st time I went to ortho they just gave me a steroid injection and then my follow up was cancelled and never rescheduled. You really need to stay on ortho

If that is with the VA, when they send a survey feel it out and let them know that that kind of service is unacceptable. Let them have it honestly. You them should get better service. I do not know how Indian health works.

 

[JokerofDeath]

If that is with the VA, when they send a survey feel it out and let them know that that kind of service is unacceptable. Let them have it honestly. You them should get better service. I do not know how Indian health works.

Lol at this point it’ll only go into a queue of complaints, they know there are issues and I will say the VA has gotten better BUT as with all medical care it has its issues. Probably doesn’t help that there has been an influx of transplant vets recently for the OK VA either while the staff shortages remain. I can only imagine the problems and waits in countries with “free” healthcare.

 

[JokerofDeath]

Damn dude ... Not to add to your troubles but I saw a news article that the OKC VA was dealing with a bad case of bed bugs right now.

I would have sworn I tore my right one. It hurt ALL the time. Slightest movement would nearly put me on my knees. MRI didn't show a tear. Ortho argued with me. I said either you can go in there and look or I can find someone who will because I've been dealing with this for a year and I'm done. He was right -- no tear. I was right -- I had an impingement (thanks big boobs) that had shaved cartilage off my bone and had a bunch of shavings floating in the fluid that surrounds your joint. Drained, rinsed out a couple of times and refilled with saline and shaved off the impingement. I've been good for 20 years now.

You’d think that bed bugs would be a big deal but it’s pretty common in hospital settings

 

[THAT Gurl]

You’d think that bed bugs would be a big deal but it’s pretty common in hospital settings

Yeah ... I can only imagine. When I worked for hotels we were ALWAYS chasing those nasty little things. They just move from room to room -- like cockroaches ...

 

[Chuckie]

I feel your pain, that’s how I tore the left the second time. Slipped on ice working in your old home state, tried to catch myself on the truck beside me as I was falling backwards.

I appreciate the insight, and the full recovery really sounds promising.

Yeah, registered with the VA, have a primary care. Not only is my shoulder SC, but I’m P&T, so im pretty much set on free medical care as long as im ok with waiting my turn and the random occasional issues with incompetence.

Good idea on the resident thing, I had no idea and likely would have checked into it without knowing.

Suggestions on things to tell the social worker? I have no idea what they have to offer or what I’ll need?

Well that sounds like a bad deal. I think all of mine have been partial tears, so I hope. That things aren’t too bad under the hood.

" Suggestions on things to tell the social worker? I have no idea what they have to offer or what I’ll need? "

If the Social Worker you get is anything like the one I had when I went through physical therapy for my rotator-cup injury, she will ask you all kinds of questions, then recommend the things you will need. I ended up with:

a 'shower chair'
a 4-pronged cane
a second 'regular' cane
a non-wheeled walker
several grab-bars for wall mounting
a shower 'wand' to replace my fixed shower head
a rope & pulley exercise thing that fit over the top of a door for arm/shoulder exercises
several 4" wide elastic bands of different tensions for exercises
a sheaf of printed physical therapy exercise instructions complete with [how to] photos
a huge wedge-shaped foam pillow to help me sleep more comfortably
a gazillion 800mg Ibuprofen caplets

I'm Service-Connected so the total cost to me was an $8 co-pay for the Ibuprofen. Say what you want about the VA or about 'socialized medicine' but I wouldn't trade my VA medical care for anything.

 

[Chuckie]

Lol at this point it’ll only go into a queue of complaints, they know there are issues and I will say the VA has gotten better BUT as with all medical care it has its issues. Probably doesn’t help that there has been an influx of transplant vets recently for the OK VA either while the staff shortages remain. I can only imagine the problems and waits in countries with “free” healthcare.

I Googled the number of veterans in the Oklahoma City area that are registered with the VA Oklahoma Medical Center and the answer of 144,000 comes up, which does not include those that are brought in from other localities from across the State for care that is not available at VA facilities in their 'home' area. Further research shows that the OKC VA Center has 1,000 doctors assigned to it, and of those, only a fraction are Primary Care Physicians.

 

[El Pablo]

Feel for ya, 7 cuff shoulder, 3 labrum surgeries, one clavicle removal and one replacement. Hope you heal up fast and they don’t find a worse case once they are in there. They quite often do so. Enjoy the recliner for awhile as you know!

I’m going on 30 years with a torn labrum. They couldn’t tell me if I’d be immobile for 3 days or 90. I’m a bit sick of it and should just get the surgery already.

 

[OK Corgi Rancher]

I’m going on 30 years with a torn labrum. They couldn’t tell me if I’d be immobile for 3 days or 90. I’m a bit sick of it and should just get the surgery already.

The surgery is really easy. The rehab isn't really painful, it's just painfully slow. But it's extremely important. The repairs are very delicate for weeks so you have to take it easy. Usually you can't actively use your shoulder for about 4 to 6 weeks. Any movement above the elbow has to be passive.

Even though my rehab was long it was worth it. My shoulders feel great now.