Before

 

• Practice using your non-dominant hand for more things:  such as brushing your teeth, opening doors, brushing your hair.  You get the picture.  The more things you can start doing with your other hand the better off you will be after your surgery. 

 

• If you’re a woman, get a sports bra, a front hook bra or plan on not wearing a bra for a couple of months. The bottom line is you just can’t reach behind you to hook the bra.  Also, the straps land right on your shoulder and it is too painful.  If you are large busted, it can be a real problem.

 

• Get your support team together. Who is going to help you?  Who is going to take you to the hospital for surgery?  Who is getting your prescriptions filled?  Who is taking you to your follow up appointments?  Who is going to drive you around?  Who is going to do your food shopping?  Who is going to clean your house, take care of your dogs, laundry, etc?

 

• Make sure you have pull on pants and slip on shoes. You need both hands to tie bows, pull up zippers, button buttons. 

During

 

• The day of your surgery: have someone take you to the hospital and stay with you (advocate).  The doctor will talk to you afterwards and you won’t remember any of it because of the drugs.  Your advocate will take notes and make sure to tell you what the doctor says after you are lucid again.  Plan on someone staying with you (or you staying with them) for the first week.  You will be on some serious pain medication.  It’s a good idea to have your advocate give you your medication as prescribed for the first 48 hours and to keep a log of it.  I was given Oxycodone and OxyContin simultaneously for pain.  If you are like me and don’t take drugs, then you’ll be pretty much out of it and not cognizant enough to track what you took and when.

 

• When you wake up after your surgery, you will be in a hospital gown with an immobilizing sling on your arm. It has a big pillow part that leans against your waist/side and keeps your arm at an angle slightly away from your body.  The sling wraps around your waist, neck and back and can be fit to your body.  Make sure your advocate helps you to adjust all of that after the first 48 hours to make sure it fits you correctly.  You won’t care the first few days.

 

• You’ll need a coat or jacket that you can wear without putting your arm in the sleeve. I borrowed a cape from my advocate.  That way it could just go over my shoulders and sling and keep me warm from the wheelchair into the car.  You’ll probably sleep in and out of things until you get home and right into bed.  Plan on sleeping most of that day and the next.

 

After 

 

• You will basically be sleeping sitting up! If you have a recliner, GREAT!  That is where you’ll be sleeping and spending most of your time. However, know that it is hard to get out of a recliner with one arm/shoulder.  If you don’t have one (like me) then you can do a few things:
  • Get one of those big sitting up pillows for your bed with the armrests.
  • Use large yoga pillows. I had two huge meditation pillows and they went on my bed with 6 others to basically make me sit up while sleeping.  If you lay down, it might feel okay for about 5 minutes and then it will start throbbing.  If you put pressure on your shoulder or arm once, you won’t do it again!

 

• The first 48 hours you need a caretaker. You need someone to cook for you and make sure you are drinking lots of water and fluids.  They need to check your temperature and help you to stay on top of the pain.  DON’T let it get away from you!!  Take your prescribed medications. Your caretaker will be available to hang out with you when you are awake.

 

• After the first 48 hours, you’re going to want to bathe. They won’t let you before this.  There is no way you can do this alone.  My dearest friend and advocate got in the shower behind me and washed my hair because there was no way I could do it.  She helped me with my balance and washed my back.  The good thing is you can take off the sling to shower.  The bad thing is you are in a LOT of pain and can’t use that arm at all.  It throws off your balance.  Everything takes twice as long to do and is exhausting.  I think I slept for 4 hours after my shower! 

 

• Don’t be discouraged by this. If you have ever had surgery, it is all normal for the first few days to be like this and the first week to be rough.  It gets better after that.  You can expect to feel more like yourself by the 3^rd or 4^th day as you aren’t taking the combined heavy duty medications anymore.  You should be down to one prescription by the later part of the first week.

 

• By the end of the first week you’ll be feeling better, except for not having the use of the surgical arm. You might even think you can drive.  I suggest you don’t do it.  Your reflexes are slower.  You are still on medication.  All you need is to grab the wheel the wrong way and you will hurt yourself.  Your doctor will probably tell you not to drive.  They are correct.  Don’t expect to drive until you have been released from wearing the sling by your doctor.

 

WHAT ABOUT WHEN YOU GET OUT OF THE SLING?

 

Usually about one week after your surgery, you will start physical therapy.  Don’t let them tell you it doesn’t hurt.  It hurts like hell.  They want to check range of motion and to make sure your shoulder doesn’t freeze up.  Take your medication before you go!!  If you don’t, you’ll get muscle spasms that will inhibit your therapy.  I did.

 

OKAY, HOW LONG?

 

By now, you might be wondering how long before you get your arm back?  Or will you get your arm back?  I think if you have a good surgeon and depending on what was wrong with your shoulder in the first place, you can get your full range and strength (or close to it) back.  It WILL take time.  At the very least 6-9 months after your surgery; and up to 12-18 months in some cases.

 

I loved to play golf, fly fishing, swimming, sailing, canoeing.  You need your dominant arm for all those things and that overhead swing motion.  That’s the hardest for me.  I’m getting a membership to get in the pool.  I think that will help a lot to get that range of motion back.  Your insurance won’t give you physical therapy or massage for the whole time.  This is how you can continue your recovery.

 

Do yourself a favor…be your best and strongest cheerleader!!  Make a commitment to your recovery and full healing and you will!!

 

I took an online class while I was laid up.  It helped to keep my mind occupied.  Find something you are interested in and plan to do it while you aren’t able to do much else.  If you can find something you are interested in, it will help with depression. 

 

The sooner you can stop taking medication, the better off you will be in spirit.  As soon as you can stop taking narcotics and change to an anti-inflammatory or Ibuprofen the better off you will be.  Doctors don’t talk about the side effects of narcotics.  They do affect you much more than you think, energetically, emotionally and physically.  It takes a while to work out of your system too.  When you add the effects of anesthesia in on top of that, it makes a big difference. 

 

If you do energy work with someone, it can help to release some of these side effects.  If you want to know more about how that can work, please contact me.  That is something I can help you with the work I do.

 

This post, comments and/or suggestions are based on my personal experience over this past year.  I hope you found it helpful in some way.

 

If you have any questions or comments, please leave me a post and I’ll get back to you.