My SLAP Journey...

[Troy Peterson]

Good luck. I wish I had a recliner to sit & sleep in...laying down for a the first couple nights was uncomfortable sleep. Those that had recliners sounded like they fared better. I constantly had a pack of ice on the shoulder for the first few days and feel that helped tremendously.

I only took 2 of the pain pills they gave me the first night...hated them. Was fine after that. Had my surgery on a Friday, back at work on Monday (desk job) with few issues. Mine was left (non-dominant) hand so that helped.

Rest, ice, watch what you eat and you'll be good to go.

[Michael Dries]

Troy, what was your repair and how long were you out from athletic activity.

[Gravel Brown]

Originally Posted by Michael Dries

Troy, what was your repair and how long were you out from athletic activity.

I was gonna ask the same thing. Troy did you have anchors put in?

I'm heading to the hospital now, 1 hour to go.

Thanks for your input thus far. Talk soon guys.

[Troy Peterson]

Dec '10 artho SLAP repair, 1 anchor. Also bone spur removal (shaved down the bone to allow for better movement in the joint???), inflamed tissue removal. 4 holes/points of entry with stitches (which were removed in 4-5 days). No pain meds after 15 hours or so.

Still getting back to it. ROM is coming along, ortho is happy. I have no pain at night when sleeping (which was present prior to surgery). Ortho knew I want to resume athletic activities, not just be functional (work, household stuff, sleeping) which he said some are OK with. 1-2 times per day working on ROM, both overhead (flexion) and external rotation.

Doc said may take up to a year (?) to maintain full ROM. Key is steady work with some PT at first and then do your homework.

I'm able to do quite a bit now @ 6 months, almost everything but overhead work.

[Gravel Brown]

Day 1 Post Op..

Surgery all done and early reports suggest all went well. Apparently total surgery time was approx 50 mins. Woke up in recovery in quite a bit of pain so was quickly topped with Endone which was a huge relief. I also have a tube inserted inside my joint, the tube is attached externally to a ball that releases Morphine at 5ml per hour. This gets removed tmrw.

Everything was fine post op, i could walk around, eat, drink etc and managed to get a bit of sleep until 0400 hrs when the nerve block wore off... wow! The pain could best be described as 9.5/10.. if 10 was total agony. Another dose of Endone + Panadeine Forte took care of that though.

The physio has already had my arm out of the sling doing ROM movements.. not a very nice feeling but has to be done i guess. I was suprised they started it this early though... 15 hours post surgery. Has anyone else started ROM this soon??

Back home now, the drive home sucked... speedhumps / potholes hurt like hell.

Off now for some more TV time... might aswell get used to it!!

[Michael Dries]

Get walking as soon as it's tolerable. The more physical activity you do, even just walking, the better off you'll be to recover. Sitting and watching tv will not be on my list. Though I can imagine the pain must be pretty restrictive right now

I have my appt with the doc on the 30th. We'll see what he says going forward.

[Gravel Brown]

Yep even the momentum of walking hurts right now so its certainly a very restricted regime at present. As mentioned getting in and out of bed hurts quite a bit so if i ever did this again, god forbid, id hire a recliner for the initial stages.

The hardest thing with this is coming to terms with the fact that for the first period you cant do much yourself... especially if the injury is your dominant side. Im sure once the pain goes away it'll be better though.

Pain at present is probably a 5/10... so not too bad. I like to think i have a fairly high pain tolerance.

I have the nurse coming over today to remove the 'morphine ball' and also the dressing covering my cut, be interesting to see how big the cut actually is.

Im feeling positive though, down to 1 x Endone per day at present just to take the edge off the pain. The removal of the Morphine may change things a bit though.. we'll see. Also begin iceing today, im sure that will help.

Off to get it out of the sling and do my ROM exercises now. Also plan to have my first shower post op today. Its all these little goals that help keep things positive i think.. 1 more step back to 100%.

[Gravel Brown]

Day 3:

Last night was a tad rough. I had the morphine tube removed yesterday so by 0200hrs this morning i was in a fair bit of pain. Ive been doing my best to stay off the meds but last night i was left with no option. The meds solved the problem pretty quick.

Also got my first look at the cut yesterday when the nurse changed the dressings. Its approx 20cm long, extending from the top of my shoulder all the way down into my armpit, so much bigger than i expected.

Apart from that things seem ok. Going to ice again today and more exercises out of the sling.

[Jared Paiva]

Gravel,

Good luck my man!

I think I'll be experiencing similiar pain and all hey.

At the end of the year, I'm gonna have operation and just chill out, would've accumulated so much leave and all! SO the pysio is helping you in the hospital? Interesting I will find out about that pre surgery.

Keep us posted, helps people like in knowing what to expect!

[Gravel Brown]

Hey Jared.

Glad to hear youve accumulated enough leave to have yours fixed.

The physio showed me the exercises before i left hospital, i was only in hospital for 1 night. Now i just do the exercises myself at home twice per day. The exercises are very simple, tiny circles, bending elbow, clenching fist etc, just to keep some ROM in my arm. The biggest thing is making sure i dont extend my arm too far away from my body as the shoulder then becomes too involved. I see my surgeon again next week to discuss the finer points of the surgery and to see where im at.

I must admit taking my arm out of the sling this early does feel weird, it feels very weak like everything is about to collapse... im sure it will have its benefits in the long run though.

The 'general soreness' around the shoulder is all but gone which makes things much easier. I only took standard paracetamol meds yesterday (headaches tablets) which is a sign of how much it has improved... goodbye Endone.. thank god as those things make me feel like crap.

Overall im feeling really positive about the whole thing at present. I must admit, before i had it done i did think these early stages would be much worse.

Pretty confident ill be able to begin active (fitness) walking in the few days which will no doubt help things progress even further.

Talk soon guys.