I wrote the first two paragraphs of this (below), while in my sling. Probably at about the two week mark. It took me about ten minutes of one-handed picking at keys, and to be honest, it frustrated me so much that I didn’t go back to it until now, about 4 weeks later. So here we go…
I don’t think this will be a long post. Not because I don’t have much to say, but because with one arm out of action, typing is something of a pain. Not physical pain - mental “argh could this be any more painstakingly slow doing this one-handed” kind of torture!
To ensure the best recovery, my right arm remains in a sling for 6 weeks with absolute minimal movement. I’m already well aware of the loss of muscle capacity in the fingers, wrist and elbows of my right arm, even with the daily Physio exercises I have been doing. I can’t imagine what the shoulder will be like and the work needed to get back to close to normal.
So that’s all I had to say at that stage. Fast forward to today, 6 weeks post-op and 3 days post sling removal. The shoulder didn’t magically just come good, and I never would have been able to predict how it would have come out the other side. While my shoulder is not “frozen”, the muscles need to be stretched and cajoled into doing their job, as they have lain dormant for all that time.
While I don’t have a lot of pain, there is a certain amount of discomfort that presents as a tightness in the shoulder and surrounding muscles. The exercises I do are designed to start getting that muscle fibre moving and supple again. Even after three days, I can feel the difference in the mobility and movement of the shoulder, and the challenge now is not to jump in too quickly with loading the joint. For another 6 weeks I am still unable to drive and any work done by the right arm needs to be passive movement.
It’s safe to say I’m usually a pretty non-compliant physio patient, but given that I am thousands out of pocket for this surgery, I have been diligently undertaking my home physio exercises and are committed to doing all I can to work towards a full recovery (which is usually at about the 8-9 month mark).
So if I see you in the next six weeks across the street, my apologies for not giving you a big wave - my dominant arm is in training and my non-dominant is probably carrying my handbag!
