Nov 06 2009
Long Time No Post
Hi all… I haven’t been here for awhile, but I am now facing a different type of surgery…rotator cuff repair. It’s been 16 months since my achilles rupture repair, and now this 
anyone have any sites to recommend for this type of surgery? I am hoping to find a supportive site like this one to help me get through. I was the 45th persone to sign on to this blog and it was a lifesaver…
Marianne - so sorry to hear about the rotator cuff. For what it’s worth, you made it through the ATR successfully….you’re more than prepared to take on the rotator. You’ll be back to new in no time. While I don’t have a site recommendation….I suggest you may want to stick around here for your journey. There’s some great supportive people on here!
I had rotator cuff surgery 5 years ago. Compared to this one I had 5 weeks ago, it was a piece of cake.
Two torn rotators and impingement, and two disolvable anchors. At least you are mobile with the shoulder. You can get up and around. Sleeping a little difficult.
Physical therapy was pretty tough–lots of pulling, pushing, manipulation, etc. But today, the shoulder I had surgery on is better than the other one.
Thanks so much to limmerz and pendersnitzel for your positive posts regarding my rotator cuff surgery….still waiting for a date…most likely within the next couple weeks. I guess the mental fear is overtaking me because of what I suffered going through the achilles rupture and healing process. I just hope I can deal with the pain of the rotator cuff surgery better than I did the achilles !! I thank you both for your support, and will keep posting if no one minds that I am an achilles “veteran”.
Marianne- forgive me if I add to your anxiety, but as an anesthesiologist, I view shoulder surgery as one of the more painful surgeries. If you experienced a lot of pain w/your ATR, I would strongly recommend that you discuss post-op pain control with your surgeon well in advance. If you were my patient, I would recommend an Interscalene Brachial Plexus block with placement of an indwelling catheter (sorry for the long technical term). Before moving to Denver 2 1/2 years ago, I used to place these catheters rather frequently in order to help with post-op pain management. The catheters would stay in place from 3-7 days, hooked up to a pump device that would deliver a continuous flow of local anesthetic. Now, depending on where you are (I have no clue about health care in Bakersfield) and the opinions of your surgeon, you may find significant resistance. I had several surgeons who were a really hard sell when I started suggesting the catheters and a few who I was never able to win over. Surgeons have several arguments against nerve blocks: they prevent post-op assessment of neurovascular integrity, they wear off in the middle of the night and the patient wakes up in significant pain (something that is described not too infrequently here), and they take to long to place - thus slowing down the surgeon’s already busy day. To nearly all of the above I say rubbish! The only one that I think has some weight is the post-op assessment, but that should really only be a concern with fractures (and even then it is only a relative - as opposed to absolute - contraindication). The waking up in the middle of the night problem is solved by placing the catheter and having the continuous infusion and the time issue can be dealt with by having a second anesthesiologist place the block and catheter pre-operatively. Good luck and if you have any other questions, let me know. Ron
Marianne, a good friend of mine had that surgery about a year ago. One thing I remember her telling us about was an ice device that became her best friend at home after the surgery. As best I can recall, she had some sort of cooler device that was full of ice that sat on the floor, and piping that pumped cool air or water through a contraption that fit around her shoulder. (This is a horribly pitiful description but best I can remember her description.) I heard her telling another friend to DEMAND that device for post-op recovery at home for rotator cuff surgery.
She said the PT was tough, but, she did the exercises dutifully and she felt that helped. She asked me to drive her to the one-week post op visit, but she ended up driving herself (probably against doc’s orders knowing her!).
Good luck with it.