Now it's my turn in the hospital

[Kolesar]

I am going in for outpatient surgery tomorrow. I am a little scared. I am going to have to learn how to "mouse" left handed because I am going to be sore and immobile with the right for a while.

[trotsky]

1. Rotator cuff? n/t

[Kolesar]

2. Very close!

Shoulder impingement. Using similar arthroscopic methods, the confident surgeon is going to grind off a bone spur and cut some vestigial fascia out of the way to make "more room" in the joint. He can inspect the rotator cuff to see if there is a tear. I am praying that he does not find a tear because it is a more painful operation and it may mean open surgery.

I'm not leaving the place without some good script!

[trotsky]

3. Best of luck to you.

Apart from the lengthy recovery time, I understand most shoulder operations are very successful. A former coworker of mine put off his rotator cuff surgey for as long as he could (2 years) and finally just got it done a couple of weeks ago. He's not enjoying things right now with his arm immobilized for 6 weeks but he said the pain prior to the operation had gotten unbearable.

[Kolesar]

4. thanks

My pain in slight, but it keeps me from doing certain things. This was a tough call whether to do it or not. I had 2.5 years to think it over. Your friends' situation was definitely more dire.

[Philostopher]

5. Hope everything works out okay.

My older sister had rotator cuff surgery several years ago. It was complicated by her Type II diabetes, it took her forever to heal though she only got a certain length of leave from work and had to go back regardless of whether she was in pain or not. Ultimately, I guess everything returned to normal -- just took her a little longer because she healed more slowly than they'd anticipated.

[fshrink]

6. The waking up part was the best for me!

The stuff they used on me was prime! Read you soon.

[Gelliebeans]

7. Best of Luck to you

I hope you are feeling fine and dandy real soon. Just a bit of advice don't eat the food ewwwww wait til you get home if you can.
Ask for the good drugs before you leave :)

[BeeBee]

8. All my best.

I hope everything went well for you...

[Kolesar]

9. I'm back and I'm bad!

"Bad" being that there was a tear in a tendon that needed a sutures. The tear was unexpected. This means a longer recovery and a bigger flesh wound to heal. Doc says I won't be XC skiing in 6 weeks after all. I have feeling that the recovery is going to be significantly longer, but the surgeon is "breaking it to me lightly". I'll be in a sling for three weeks instead of three days.

The pain isn't so bad. The first hellish day was not so hellish after all. They installed a pump dispenser that delivers novacaine at a constant rate through a tiny tube right in through the wound. He'll pull it out Monday.

So I have that, some codeine, and the remnants of general anesthesia medication making my day kind of "funny". If I type anything flame-worthy, don't mind me, it's just the fluorodane talking.

[fshrink]

10. Hey! Flame away! You're the avenger!

[Philostopher]

11. Yeah -- you'd have a right to be cranky.

I've always found it's good to use those opportunities whenever possible!