Shoulder Surgery

My husband has been needing shoulder surgery for years, possibly since he flipped over the handle bars on his bike as a boy.  Since he hasn't been very active since his USNA days, however, he's managed without surgery all these years.  When he started Tae-kwon-do with the kids, however, he realized it was time to finally do something about his shoulder, so he went to a doctor.  That statement alone is small miracle and proves to me how much his shoulder must have been bothering him, for I'm lucky if I can convince him to see a doctor once every decade.

After his initial consult, he was ready to get the surgery over with right away, but there was no way I could get him to all his appointments, drive him to/from work during his driving restriction,  continue teaching and tutoring, and get the kids to/from school and their gazillion activities, so he patiently waited until summer. The surgery was scheduled for the day after we got back from Naples, and I lined up childcare, lawn service, etc. accordingly.

Then right before we left for our trip, the doctor's receptionist called us back to say that the hospital where the doctor does surgeries that day isn't in-network for our insurance, so the surgery would be rescheduled at a hospital in an adjacent county two weeks later.  He was bummed by the delay, but I was glad to have two more weeks of his help around the house with projects.  :-)

Then while we were in Naples, we received word that the doctor had worked out his schedule so that he could drive to the nearest in-network hospital (45 minutes from our house) after his last surgery on June 4th and complete my husband's surgery before he left for an extended vacation.  So, all the paperwork had to be faxed back and forth between the Ritz-Carlton hotel where we were staying and the doctor's office so that he would be ready for surgery the day after we flew home.

We got there at 12:55 for the 3:00 surgery.   My husband had been fasting since midnight the night before, so he was hungry.  They got him dressed for surgery, inserted all his tubing, gave him a shoulder block, and began administering medication which would eventually knock him out during the surgery.  He fell in and out of sleep during his time and whenever he nodded off briefly, he dreamed about eating, so his mouth would move as if he were chewing.  Then he would wake up again.  He didn't seem any different on the medication except that he was drowsy and dozing.  When the nurse asked us how we met, I shared our story, and after I shared how the midshipman I most wanted to stay at our house was indeed assigned to our family's home for the weekend, he chimed in, "And I was the envy of the entire glee club." My husband is complimentary, but that line was too smooth for him, especially to be used in public, so if the worst thing the medication did for him was make him more smooth of tongue, then I'm loving that medicine!

I held his hand and flirted a bit, but the block continued to run down his arm until he could not feel my touch even at his fingers.  He was getting sleepy, but by 3:20 p.m. the doctor still had not arrived.  So, I asked the nurses to follow-up as we were getting anxious to get this surgery started and wondered if he was still planning on driving over there from the other hospital.  She learned that he had not left the other hospital yet, so I settled in for another hour of waiting while trying not to let the beeping of all the monitors drive my hypersensitive nerves crazy.

Meanwhile, I joked with my husband about how he was all dressed up with no place to go." His smiley face hat sure was snazzy.

His snazzy hat

I also watched the nurses in action.  I was disturbed to see an elder doctor flirting inappropriately with our nurse.  She brushed it off as no big deal, but she could have filed a suit against him for harassment.  It was probably no big deal to her, but he should know the laws well enough to avoid that kind of behavior.  

The surgeon finally arrived around 4:15pm, and he was a sight for sore eyes.  I guess I was just anxious for the surgery to be done, but I looked at him as if he was some sort of angel as I was so relieved he finally came.  I felt the same way about each of the ER nurses when they magically took away the immense pain I was experiencing either by medication or by catheter.

His doctor

I had been disappointed that my husband did not get the doctor that everyone recommended, but I felt much better about him after I met him in person and read his bio.  He did his undergraduate work at Princeton where he played football and his graduate work at the nation's top orthopedic school & hospital.  He did his residency work at Duke and while young, he had already gotten some great experiences.  He's an advocate of staying active after surgery which meshes well with my philosophy and just seemed knowledgeable overall.

Soon my husband was completely out, and he doesn't remember anything from the time they moved him to the operating room until he was back in the recovery room.  

It was a wild ride, but the surgery is now complete, and it was a success.  The doctor performed a torn labral repair and relocated his bicep tendon.  The doctor shared some very cool images with me to show the procedure in process and to provide a before & after.  How can anyone question God's marvelous design and creation of man when beholding the intricacies of a single joint.

The following is a description of the labral repair I found at sports-injury-info.com.

Using a small camera and small tools your surgeon will be able to probe the labrum and find the areas that are torn. Once they find your labral tear, they will debride the tissue, removing any damage and trimming it down to healthy tissue. 


Next, they will place small anchors into the glenoid (shoulder socket) bone. These anchors will have sutures attached to them and are what will re-attach the labrum to the bone. Most labral repairs require 2-3 anchors, depending on the location and size of the tear.

After the anchors are placed, the sutures are run through the labrum and then pulled tight to re-attach the tissue to the bone. The sutures are tied off and the repair is complete.

Your surgeon will probe the labrum to make sure that is is firmly reattached to the bone and then they will close your incisions with sutures or staples.

Here are photos the doctor gave me of his surgery step-by-step.

 

 

Seven hours after we arrived at the hospital, we were back at home, feeding his hungry stomach and welcoming back our kids whom we had not seen in a week.  They kids brought him awesome cards, fresh flowers, homemade brownies our daughter made at Nana's house, leftover pizza, and Whoppers.  It was a great reunion indeed.

We now have three recovering from homesickness (Muffin included), one on crutches (our daughter injured her toe the first day at Nana & Pops' house and could not walk on it all week) who went in for X-rays today, and one in a sling fresh out of shoulder surgery, but we are all back together again and feeling very grateful! We are so thankful for the prayers offered by friends and family, for my parents and their amazing support, and our gracious God who gives us so much more than we deserve.

Day 1 Post Surgery
The block wore off over night and the pain really kicked in this morning.  He has tried to stay ahead of the pain with his medication.  The meds are supposed to make him tired and loopy, yet he's been the perfect patient without any noticeable change in personality whatsoever, while I'm the one who has been ultra fatigued and loopy. Before his surgery, I asked all my friends to pray that I would be an empathetic nurse, but all this "empathy" is making me ineffective, so maybe I should have asked for prayers for energy and alertness? I'm so glad the kids are helping me with his meals.  God bless him for being such an easy patient.


Day 2 Post Surgery
His pain is much better today.  Today I took off all his bandages and helped him get a shower.  That made him feel ever so much better. As long as he doesn't move his arm the wrong way, he feels fine.  He's still taking all the pain medicine as recommended and running the tens unit four times a day.  It is amazing to me how much they did inside of his shoulder with only five small incisions.

Day 3 Post Surgery
His pain is down to a dull ache, but he seems to appreciate the down time. Our daughter is still on crutches but likes the attention they draw. All have recovered from their homesickness except this one who still needs lots of cuddling while getting her head scratched. And I am still feeling very drowsy and loopy from the meds my husband is taking.  :-)  Actually, I'm either experiencing a post adrenal crash from all the excitement over end-of-school activities, our fun trip, and the surgery, or I need to change up my own daily vitamin/herb cocktail.

Day 4 Post Surgery
The patient's first physical therapy appointment after the surgery was this morning at 8 am  He thought he might cry from the pain, but he seemed to be progressing as expected.  We came home.  He took a short nap, while I napped for 2.5 hours!  While he slept in the recliner, the kids quietly built a fort only a few feet away.  

I am having a harder time adjusting to the summer schedule this year.  Every time I walk into the kitchen there is a new mess to clean up and dirty dishes in the sink. I have to run several errands a day as the kids are eating like crazy.  The house is always so loud.  Only 8 more weeks to go, and the kids have some sort of camp (including grandparent camp in OK for two weeks) every week after this one, so I'm sure the summer will fly by quickly.

Day 5 Post Surgery
My husband attempted a walk along the greenway with me.   It was hot outside, so his sling got sweaty and needed washing.  How would we stabilize his arm while I was washing his sling?

The SI belt I wore to help support my basketball babies came to our rescue!