Remember, you can stretch your pain meds by taking a half dose with a couple shots of bourbon or vodka.

quote:

Originally posted by PD:
Remember, you can stretch your pain meds by taking a half dose with a couple shots of bourbon or vodka.

Block wore off between my 0200 and 0600 pain med times, and it aches, but not bad at all. I am using the chiller a lot too though.

LOL....yeah, I remembered my first two hour afterglow.

My advice....Never go to PT without taking you pain pills beforehand for the first month.

And do the therapy exercises religiously.

Just a question: what do all you guys do that makes rotator cuff surgery necessary?

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
Just a question: what do all you guys do that makes rotator cuff surgery necessary?

First of all, the shoulder is the most complex joint in your body. It has to move in ways that your knee, elbow, or hip can’t possibly move. The shoulder can be damaged by long term wear such as swimming, benching, dips, etc. or it can get damaged in an accident, fight, or a simple action such as pulling or pushing. If the tear does not heal properly the rotator cuff just continues to tear and atrophy.

Eventually you’ll get to the point where you can’t throw a ball to your kids, can’t grab a container from the fridge, can’t work out in the gym, throw a suitcase into an overhead, push a door open, have sex, turn a steering wheel, wash your back, or function at work. I’m sure I left out a few more things.

A good surgeon and rehab can get you back to various degrees of normal.

Trip. Fall forward and catch yourself with your arms straight out.

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
Just a question: what do all you guys do that makes rotator cuff surgery necessary?

flashguy

Well, one shoulder happened when I picked up a riding mower and loaded it in to my pickup truck. I snapped the tendon/muscle at the top of my shoulder completely into where it ran over a bone spur. They repaired the tendon and removed a couple bone spurs.
I have also torn both biceps doing similar stupid stuff.
All were done on cold days with cold muscles, no activity to warm up.

The other shoulder was damaged in a motorcycle wreck.

For me PT doesn't work when I faithfully do it every day as instructed. It just stays too sore. When I switched to working hard one day and letting it recover one day it goes a lot faster.

Glad you are feeling good after surgery. Modern surgical procedure have been vastly improved over the last decade. I too am recovering from shoulder surgery at the moment. It is my third shoulder surgery and second on my left shoulder. I find that the ice machine is your best friend and if you are truly lucky, you'll get a gameready machine. It's one of the absolute best machines out there. Sad to say I'm not using one now, but the gel packs are working just fine. Listen to your Doc and physical torturer, ass they really do know what is best for you. I am not a fan of pain meds and do not take them unless I really need them. Ice and whisky/bourbon does wonders for me, so does the gel pack I hope your recovery goes well.

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
Just a question: what do all you guys do that makes rotator cuff surgery necessary?

flashguy

This is my 3rd surgery in 10 years. My first surgery (2008) on my right shoulder was the direct result of being doored (Bicycle officer at the time) by a passenger that needed to exit the taxi while in the middle of traffic.

2nd surgery was just about two years ago. Fought a guy who decided he didn't want to go back to prison.

3rd and current surgery is the direct result of a car accident. This one was not directly job related though, but I was hit by an on-duty SWAT officer. Perhaps this job really is trying to hurt me

quote:

Originally posted by Klusk2:
Glad you are feeling good after surgery. Modern surgical procedure have been vastly improved over the last decade. I too am recovering from shoulder surgery at the moment. It is my third shoulder surgery and second on my left shoulder. I find that the ice machine is your best friend and if you are truly lucky, you'll get a gameready machine. It's one of the absolute best machines out there. Sad to say I'm not using one now, but the gel packs are working just fine. Listen to your Doc and physical torturer, ass they really do know what is best for you. I am not a fan of pain meds and do not take them unless I really need them. Ice and whisky/bourbon does wonders for me, so does the gel pack I hope your recovery goes well.

It's a Breg Polar Care Cube FWIW

What everyone else said - keep the ice on it and minimize the Meds.

Good luck on a quick recovery !

quote:

Originally posted by Poacher:

quote:

Originally posted by Klusk2:
Glad you are feeling good after surgery. Modern surgical procedure have been vastly improved over the last decade. I too am recovering from shoulder surgery at the moment. It is my third shoulder surgery and second on my left shoulder. I find that the ice machine is your best friend and if you are truly lucky, you'll get a gameready machine. It's one of the absolute best machines out there. Sad to say I'm not using one now, but the gel packs are working just fine. Listen to your Doc and physical torturer, ass they really do know what is best for you. I am not a fan of pain meds and do not take them unless I really need them. Ice and whisky/bourbon does wonders for me, so does the gel pack I hope your recovery goes well.

It's a Breg Polar Care Cube FWIW

That's a solid machine. I have an old Deroyal which is similar and it does the job. Pre-freeze small water bottles and use them instead of ice cubes, they last longer.

Take it easy till they tell ya to get on it, then follow their advise. It's gonna hurt, no way around it.

9 ripped tendons (total) repaired in my shoulders. The 2 surgeries were 18 months apart. It's been a couple years on and I still do my PT and am still getting stronger. You should too.

Well, four days in and I took my last oxy at 0600 this morning and doing well on Motrin and the chiller machine.
Pretty dang happy.

I had a chiller for my last one. My ortho doctor had me in therapy the day after surgery, except for the replacement.

I just learned what they mean by opiate "blockage". I took a total of 26 325 oxy's over six days. Which I thought was not too bad--wrong. If you get put on them, start taking Miralax or whatever you prefer. Trust me!

On the lighter side, the worst thing I have to do left handed is brush my teeth! I swear I look like a guy brushing his teeth while having a seizure--gag myself, stab myself in the cheek, you name it. Its pretty sad really.

I've been practicing left-handed living. After a nasty right-shoulder flare-up which is either bursitis, shoulder tendonitis, or a torn rotator cuff. It all starts with putting on a robe in the morning left arm first. Typing left-handed is not too bad.

Slicing banana thin over my oatmeal may be the hardest so far. That, and right-brain speling issues.

quote:

Originally posted by Poacher:
I just learned what they mean by opiate "blockage". I took a total of 26 325 oxy's over six days. Which I thought was not too bad--wrong. If you get put on them, start taking Miralax or whatever you prefer. Trust me!

On the lighter side, the worst thing I have to do left handed is brush my teeth! I swear I look like a guy brushing his teeth while having a seizure--gag myself, stab myself in the cheek, you name it. Its pretty sad really.

Yup, been there, done that. The wifey insisted I take “softeners” when I took oxy. Being backed up isn’t any fun. Doing everything left handed was a real treat too. Heal up safely my friend and don’t re-injure it. Too easy to do.

quote:

Originally posted by Klusk2:
Glad you are feeling good after surgery. Modern surgical procedure have been vastly improved over the last decade. I too am recovering from shoulder surgery at the moment. It is my third shoulder surgery and second on my left shoulder. I find that the ice machine is your best friend and if you are truly lucky, you'll get a gameready machine. It's one of the absolute best machines out there. Sad to say I'm not using one now, but the gel packs are working just fine. Listen to your Doc and physical torturer, ass they really do know what is best for you. I am not a fan of pain meds and do not take them unless I really need them. Ice and whisky/bourbon does wonders for me, so does the gel pack I hope your recovery goes well.

Pain ball helped on the last one I had.