I'm talking surgeries here. Steve was supposed to have his behind him by now and be doing his PT on a new hip. Instead it's been a busy week driving back and forth to a metro hospital for various cardiac tests. While he's feeling somewhat better, and most of the tests have come back with no issues, his newly diagnosed A-Fib has shown up on the monitor he wore for two weeks. I fully expect that will have to be corrected before hip surgery will take place. Based on my combination of experience and research, it could be any or all of medical, surgical, and pacing procedures. He's already on medication to prevent blood clots, so we're not worried about stroke as a side effect. From the reports we have seen, though not discussed yet, the hip may well wait till midsummer at the earliest. Kind of crimps the fishing season.
Meanwhile I'm doing well. I finished my last set of PT from the first shoulder, both the pre-surgical stuff to prepare the muscles and aid in range of motion, and now the post-surgery exercises which aid in movement now that I'm minus one of the rotator cuff muscles. At least the fixed shoulder is pain free without the bone-on-bone motion, so I'm just dealing with the lesser pain from muscle stretches where newly needed for getting the first arm back to useful. I can even dress myself most days, so long as I carefully choose the clothing to be loose enough. I also need to put my head through first, then each arm, one at a time. The old method was thrust both arms into sleeves and then stick the head in. The new method usually works but there are times when the head gets lost somewhere, especially if I'm doing two layers at a time, the exact reverse of how they got taken off the night before.
It's good to be able to laugh at yourself. It's even better to have willing assistance, for payment of a kiss or two.
Late next month I go back in for the second shoulder, and get all the fun again of six weeks of one arm only while the other heals. The problems dressing in winter clothing from the first time mean I'm expecting to be much happier with this one scheduled in warmer months. I'll still need Steve's help of course for a few weeks, possibly more. However I should be able to drive after three weeks with care, especially expecting not needing any narcotics.
The best news is my surgeon assuring me that the longer lasting nerve block should still be available for the second shoulder. It made recovery so much easier and less dependent on narcotics. I had heard from local docs out of the metro that it still isn't available in this area, so the 120 mile round trip is worth it, despite higher gas prices, and especially in a hybrid vehicle that my driver uses.
My surgeon also clarified why I needed to sign for permission to use the new long lasting block: if administered imperfectly it can paralyze one lung for a few days. The lung should recover, but it complicates things of course. My "worst" side effect the first time was not knowing where my arm was, getting the wrong signals from its location and not finding it there with the other hand. It was much more funny than problematic. I'm interested in seeing if that works the second time with the other arm. Of course, if they need me to sign anything at all for the following few weeks while it's in the "sling" contraption, it's lucky if I can make an "X". Even now, signing on a touch screen for using a charge card is a gawdawful mess and that hand/arm hasn't been touched yet.
I'm also getting information I hadn't had the first time around on the actual surgery itself. It's called a reverse shoulder replacement. Seeing the x-rays of the metal ball/socket pieces with their screws into bone don't quite give the story. It's the PT who explains why I can't quite do things I used to do. As she tells it, we normally have 4 rotator cuff muscles on each shoulder, giving us the ability to move it in all directions. This reverse surgery removes one of those muscles, at the very top of the shoulder. Moving it back and forth afterwards isn't bad, though they stress moving it behind you is to be avoided for a couple months, and likely will be a challenge afterwards even with PT. Moving the arm high, especially while holding any weight, will be the challenge requiring lots of PT and home practice. Eventually the three remaining rotator cuff muscles will take over the job...with work! In a lot of cases the fingers crawl their way up a surface and bring the arm along behind them.
Whatever works, right?
Right now I'm busy getting the gardens ready for showing off while both arms mostly work. The round one has had its scillas bloom, and already are producing seeds. The balloon flowers and peony bush just got their dead stems removed, with the last of the balloon seeds distributed to fellow gardeners who want to give them a try. I brought dozens to my PT this last visit and the whole office offered to help take some home themselves. I'm not sure if it's the name or the fact these get 4 - 5 feet tall that got them all excited. I shared a bunch with neighbors last fall who liked what they saw in my yard, and scattered more along the sidewalk. For such a tall plant the seeds look like grains of black pepper.
The daylilies' old flower stems got cut after flowering to prevent going to seed last summer, putting energy into roots instead. Now showing as grey sticks as they peeked up above emerging green all over, those got pulled with just the tiniest effort. The iris sharing their bed all survived and those leaves are growing much faster. I'm hoping for more blooms this year since only two varieties bloomed last year. I'm still thinking about replacing where rhubarb plants got dug out of a different bed with some of the circle garden iris but I want to see what blooms and mark each for color first, so maybe a fall project, while spending much of the summer eyeing that empty bed to make sure the rhubarb is gone for good. Today one of the holes from a dug out plant is showing a new bud ready to make a new plant. Its predecessor left a big hole but here it is. I'm thinking chemicals... provided it stops raining a couple days. There are still two plants left on one end for all my anticipated needs, and the friend who received the dug up ones is already drooling about her first recipes with her new plants. My plans for the remaining two are still for rabbit repellent for the asiatic lily bed. Everything except two tulips survived squirrels over the winter, but there are bunny nibbles on some early leaves. I still have a bunch of repellent rhubarb stalks in the freezer, so that will be doable with only one working arm as I recover. In the meantime the crocus and daffodils haven not disappointed as a first showing in that bed, but the rabbits are awake and hungry, so I have a task for this day, thawing and strewing pieces of rhubarb stalks from last year. It works.
Easy peasy.
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