fenchurch | Surgery

So, I mentioned that I'd gone to see an orthopaedic surgeon over on the other side of the state... there's a pair of them in Colfax (which is, quite literally, in the middle of wheat fields -- you really have to want to go to Colfax to get there) who specialize in the sort of shoulder injury I sustained in the car accident (for those who may have stumbled across my LJ recently,

rackham and I were in a fairly nasty car accident at the end of December 2005 (I've got links, if you're interested, to several entries about it in my memories, including the entry I made the night of the accident)). The ortho I was seeing here locally was actually quite good, but his specialties are knees and hips... and since he couldn't see anything obvious in the MRI of my shoulder, he'd switched to what I call the Hunt & Poke method of diagnosis (which I understand is a perfectly legitimate way to do it, just not my favorite -- basically, sticking a needle into the shoulder joint and injecting cortisone, then moving to a new location if that doesn't help... once you find the place it helps, then that's where the problem is). So, on the recommendation of my step-dad the physical therapist, I made an appointment with one of the orthopaedic surgeons in Colfax (I should point out that there are plenty of good orthos here in our area, it's just that these guys are among the best at treating this type of injury... good enough that they can stay in Colfax and have people come to them).

To back up a bit, in the accident I broke my right shoulder in three places. Considering the amount of pain I was in from that (to give you an idea, I had a piece of glass sticking out of my foot that I never felt and only found because I noticed a hole in my sock a few hours later in the ER), the bruises, strains, and the general achiness and stiffness I experienced afterward, I wound up not noticing how bad my left shoulder was until about a week after the accident. We'd finally made it home and the first time I went to grab a plate out of the cupboard, I discovered I couldn't lift my left arm anywhere near shoulder level, much less high enough to reach the shelf. I had several months of PT where the main concern was the broken shoulder, but we did do a bit of work on the left one, getting to a point where I could mostly use it for everything... except for this annoying catch and pop it did whenever I lifted it above shoulder level. Or pulled something toward me. Or tossed something away. And my shoulders kept getting tired easily and achy (to be expected at first, but it just wasn't going away). This led to an MRI and the aforementioned Hunt & Poke.

I was really impressed with my new orthopaedic surgeon (I did like my old one as well, just... this is not his area of expertise). She spent about an hour with me, all told. Not just going over the various x-rays and MRI results, but doing a rather in-depth hands-on examination. At one point, to test her theory, she had me lay down on the table with my shoulder off the edge and she was able to pull my shoulder in and out of joint with pretty much no effort at all. So, the run-down on what's going on: torn labrum (the tissue around the ball-joint of the shoulder), possible torn rotator cuff, frayed ligaments and/or tendons (I'm afraid I don't remember which). Essentially, the things that would normally hold my shoulder in the joint are not able to do so... and it actually slides forward out of the joint, which is why it catches and pops when I use it. This is also putting a lot of strain on everything else attached to the shoulder, which is why the shoulder gets fatigued easily and why I have some problems with the area where the clavicle meets the sternum (because it's being tipped out a bit). This is also likely the source of the rib that keeps getting dislocated.

The answer? Surgery. And yes, I meant every iota of the "Yay!" in the subject line -- I am so ready for this to be *OVER*.

So, on September 18th, I get to head across to the other side of the state again for my pre-op appointment, stay overnight in Colfax and then get up bright and early the next morning for my surgery... which is generally an outpatient procedure. The ortho is going to go in laparoscopically and fix the tear in the labrum, anchor the frayed tendons/ligaments and check the rotator cuff for tears, fixing them if they're found. It'll mean no driving for a month (which is probably going to drive me insane... it nearly did after the car accident) and around three to four months of recuperation. But then (and I can't even begin to contemplate how wonderful this will be) it should done. Over. Finished.

We actually would have scheduled the surgery sooner, except I'm leaving next week to visit

nmissi and to drive down to Atlanta to visit

rosiewook and go to Dragon*Con.

It seems like I remember someone on my flist mentioning having had shoulder surgery... was it

ayinhara? Anyway, mostly I'm curious about anyone who might have had experience with anything like this... so far, the few people I've talked to who've had similar surgeries have all raved about how effective it was (and warned me it's going to be painful afterward, but really... I highly doubt it'll be more painful than a broken shoulder/acromion process).