Hey all!
Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the Spring flowers.
Been trying to type up how my recovery's been going but the arm flares way too much if I type 2 handed and typing 1 handed with my left hand ain't cutting it at all. Trying to find a cheap copy of iListen but so far no luck. Gotta figure something out soon. Need to get back to work.
I'm 5 1/2 weeks post surgery. Been doing PT 3x/week for the past 2 weeks. PT's going pretty well. ROM is excellent. Starting into strength part. Swelling is biggest prob. Still have that nasty band of pain along back of arm just above elbow which kicks in after too much arm use. Not figured out if that's from swelling or muscle damage from surgery. Anyone else had similar symptom after their surg? Into final nerve regen stage. Keeps this pace & hopefully will have full feeling back in couple of months, maybe less.
Winged scapula's not gone yet. Hand function/strength much better. Finger snapping exercises helping a great deal.
Even tho no where near healed, have noticed some improvement from presurgery probs. While scapula weakness makes it difficult at this point, am now doing better at keeping arms at equal level in the 90 degree hands open close test. Right arm would always drop noticably before 1 min. Now can keep (with muscle effort) both at same height for 2 mins. Headaches have also dramatically decreased freq. Course I'm still taking a bunch of meds so that may be helping there but presurgery headaches would still kick in even when on pain meds. Have even had a handful of nights where slept pretty well (those were absolute bliss!). Overall,, so far, fairly pleased with surgery & progress. 1st 3 1/2 weeks were a bit rough but last 2 weeks have been showing marked improvement. Am still an impatient patient but considering how much was done during the surgery, the after effects weren't anywhere as bad as I'd imagined they'd be.
Once I get something set up where I can type faster, I'll see about posting more on what each week felt like & what helped my recovery.
Sending happy thoughts, big hugs, and prayers for pain free days to everyone!
Mary