Maryanne,

I am wondering too if they move us around like sides of beef...I have been reading and rereading my operative reports this week while trying to organize things. I think the first thing they do in securing our bodies to the operating table is tape our shoulders to a board of some sort. If they do that and they are twisting our bodies, I am wondering if they are not twisting and pulling on that area while it is secured...I am certain things must happen that we are not aware of when we are out too...They certainly do not do it on purpose, but it just happens ....Don't you wonder too how you get back into that bed when it is all over? I always ask them that and they just smile...but how the heck do you get back into that bed? I know for cetain I scooted over onto a hospital table and I wake up in a bed so there must be a lot of tugging and pulling on our arms...I often have bruises on my ankles and arms...

Jyes,

I have seen two upper extremity specialists now and both told me that the literature and studies show that the shoulder tear will not heal and will only get worse. They feel if I wait,I may make things worse so the sooner they get in there to fix it, the better. They were honest in that it is a brutal recovery and PT is not easy, but they feel I need to have it done so I think I am going to bite the bullet and have it done. I do not know though if I should have my thumb done first...My thumb and wrist are making my life more unbearable now. The steroid shots no longer work in that area, but the steroid shots did work for the shoulder, though the right needed two shots almost one right after the other.

The shoulders were so painful I hated to move in the morning and was having trouble with doing my hair, make-up, dressing, opening doors, just moving in general. I actually started to cry to my PM doc about the pain and he hates crying. They made me go to the trouble though of cervical MRI's first, thinking it was cervical in nature. There are changes there so it was good to look there, but I knew it was shoulder. I do not know why they do not trust us to know our own bodies.

I have put off my PT for the lumbar spine thinking I could combine the PT for the shoulder and spine at the same time, but I am thinking I will do aquatics for the lumbar spine and save what PT I have now for the hand and shoulder...What a pain! I am told if scar tissue develops it is the worst pain ever to live with and they will not operate on scar tissue and old tears. The specialist I saw in Philadelphia wanted to know if it was a fresh tear or an old tear...I have to think this might have been from surgery...or they way we log roll to move and get up...