Hi all-
Well I finally had my A/C joint surgery on May 29th at the VA in Iowa City. At about
the 2 week mark I had way more mobility than I have gad for about
10 years. I am roughly 5 weeks or so and am able to sleep on that shoulder again, though limited time wise. Good news was that my rotator cuff looked great, but the a/c area was a mess.
It was done arthroscopic and I had 4 incisions. 2 .5 inches on the back area, one about
an inch on the top outer area, and one about
1.5 inches on the front. Pain was pretty bad post op in recovery and the 1.5 hours ride home. I dumbly denied the nerve block in the recovery room even with them making the suggestion several times. But hey, don't ask some one on IV dilaudid if they want a nerve block....DUH!
Had to keep the big bandage on for a week, but I am allerfgc to what ever industrial strength glue they use on that tape. So I had to removed it later the second day. OH, just a heads up. If you ever have that crazy glue, epoxy, or whatever they use on that tape, expect to need kerosine or a sand blaster to get it off!
Took me over a week to rub and peel it off. No soap, alcohol, peroxide, nor anything else I could get my hands on would take it off.
I was very shocked at the lack of strength I had and still somewhat have in the shoulder post op. Amazing how hard it was to lift something that weighed only a pound or 2 straight up stiff armed. I am slowly getting the strength back and have been released to do whatever I feel like as long as it doesn't hurt. This was at the 2.5 week check up.
I had a little over 1 cm of the end of my collar bone removed due to arthritis and for the 1st time in 20 plus years my shoulder doesn't make weird clicking and popping sounds. I am even lightly pitching windmill to the travel softball team I coach again.
For me this was a great surgery and when my left gets worse I'll have that side done too. With all the troubles with the VA lately I wanted to let everyone know that the Iowa City VA is top notch and I have been treated very well there.
Take care,
Bill