Shoulder Operation Nov 12th 2009

Firstly thank you everyone for all your get well wishes I received.

Its been a week and 5 days since I had my shoulder operation.

I started with starvation at 7am and didnt get operated on till 7pm

which a long time to be off all solids and liquids,

consequently I was dehydratedwhen they tried to find

veins for all my intraveneous drugs, so they had to put me on a drip.
I didnt get back to my room till 11.30pm that night

and was drifting in and out with the effects of the anaesthetic.
The lovely night nurse for got to give me the

nurse button which lay hanging on the floor,

I was tethered to a drop that would not let me leave

the bed so between 1am and 3am I was in a dilemma,

needed to pee desperately and was in need of painkillers.

My desperate thoughts were that I would just pee in the bed LOL ,

she also left the light on which shone brightly right above

my head and kept me awake, anyway luckily they had

the phone to my left side so I tried dialing any number

I could and finally someone answered and I told her my dilemma.
She came running in apologetically,

meanwhile I was still off with the fairies otherwise

I'd have given her a piece of my mind or what was left of it.

She had the hide to ask me if I'd tried climbing out of bed

HELLLOOOOO!!!

I'm attached to a drip that is tethered to my cot

The side of the cot were up like a jail

I was drugged to my eyeballs and SORE

Next day I had had hardly any sleep and was dying to get home

so I could sleep properly with no interruptions or bells ringing

or someone shining a torch to see if you were awake.

Threw up breakfast and lunch and managed to sign myself out of hospital,

only to find that I could not keep anything down including water,

so it was back to the hospital that night on a drip and morphine

and discovered next day the painkiller endone that they gave me

was sending me off my face so I have been trying for the last week

to get those painkillers and the anaesthetic out of my system.

I've been doing my 3 exercises faithfully,

found out I was doing it too much, was supposed to be

3 times a day and I was doing it every 3 hours hahaha,

I guess I was bored.

The arm is pretty stiff and throbs when I least expect it and itching,

so I think it is getting better.

My surgeon had to repair the rotator cuff which is the tendon

leading from top to bottom and mended a bicep muscle and cleaned up.

Medical terminology is arthroscopy, bursitis, tenotomy was done on me.
My brain is alert LOL but I get exhausted easily and I'm not a very patient person LOL

especially when it comes to exercising my brain and doing stuff,

I need to be constantly doing stuff so this recuperation is killing me.

I am able to type with two hands only with my laptop

hoisted up on a box as in the picture to waist level

and I have to stand up to type.

Dressing and stitches still on

these were pretty sore days

Not to mention the sore throat they gave me.

Now I understand why they say you cant be sick

when you have an operation.

From the dry wretching which totally did something

to my whole insides as if someone had

hammered it so coughing was out of the

question

So the stitches came out on Thursday and I was pretty surprised at how neat it was,

only 6 holes in my arm and shoulder,

and to think that a camera,

some tongs and what else went in those holes is pretty amazing.

I cant use my right hand too much for daily stuff,

they say I need to be in my sling for 12 weeks,

I leave it off at home so I can move and exercise my elbow.

It's pretty damn hot here so the sling is very uncomfortable.

I wear it when I go out so people dont bump into it,

I accidentally leaned against a wall on my right side and it hurt like crazy still.

Can't drive for 8 weeks.

I am finally able to sleep in my bed after 8 days

I was finding that I wasnt heavy enough to keep

the recliner horizontal so each morning

I'd find myself in an almost sitting position.

So I leave you with a photo I took of all the Christmas cards

I made for the troops during the two months

when my first operation date was scheduled to the

real day.

After 7 years and my yearly New Years Resolution

of wanting to make 200 cards I finally did it!!!