Thanks DZ for taking your time to post the info and I hope you're Catholic Parish is growing well. Any chance that you might consider changing which side you shoot from? Other than having to change to Left handed rifles if you are right handed....or vice versa? I suspect you had a Rotator Cuff or Labral repair, sorry it did not produce better results whatever it was for you. Not that you want, but if you doubt the surgeon's skill considering post-op outcome, there is sometimes a good case for going back for a 'revision' by another surgeon....if you wanted to do that, just a thought I wanted to pass on - not knowing if you had contemplated it. Techniques and Implants used, as well as Surgeon skills vary widely.
Good luck to you on all endeavors, enjoyed your comments.
6.5,
Yup, Christ the King Catholic Church is thriving. It's a relatively small neighborhood parish, but growing by leaps and bounds; we have a fabulous priest and a parish community that is friendly and welcoming. Karen and I totally love being part of the CTK community and being super-active in it.
Last evening's Ash Wednesday Holy Mass was packed. Tomorrow evening will be our first Stations of the Cross and Parish Soup Supper of the year. Lent is such a great liturgical season.
My right shoulder is OK for work around the house, where I can rest it when it runs out of power. I've killed stuff for so many years and been so physically active in the field that I know it would fail me if tested heavily. There is no way, I could lug a critter out of the bush, load it in the truck, pull it up to skin it and load it back into the truck to come home.
I had a 90++ percent tear of the superspinatus tendon. It was fairy dramatic; I simply pulled it apart while dragging an antelope that Karen killed. Heck it was only a little over two miles back to the truck (by GPS), but by the time I got there, I simply could not lift my right arm above my beltline.
Almost a year later, I had it reattached. The surgeon also removed a one-inch bone spur that stuck forward out of my shoulder (body's attempt to protect itself from recoil). The ortho-surgeon, one of Portland's finest, said that it was obvious that I'd experienced the recoil effects of shooting hundreds of thousands of rounds of rifle fire. My ears also resemble that remark
Today, I'm 3-years post-op; my shoulder is strong and I have full range-of-motion, but the endurance is lacking. Hey, at 66, it's good enough. Having said that, I totally overhauled our main bathroom over the last two months. It required lots of heavy work, but I paced myself, working perhaps one to two hours each day. It's amazing what an old fella can do when he does it in small work sessions.
To be honest, after a full year of rehabilitation, I got so out of the tradition of chasing deer, elk and antelope that I probably will not go back in the field. It hurts to shoot and I've come to realize that I'm no longer tough enough for the bush. Even more honest, I simply have no desire to hunt any more; I might have one more antelope in me, just for old times sake, but that's about it.
The crazy thing is that I'm not even sad about it. Ain't that weird???
Hey, I'm 66 years of age, have killed hundreds and hundreds of big game animals and am ready for something else.
Another factor is that at our age, we find ourselves eating less and less red meat. The last several years, we basically gave away at least eighty percent of the meat we killed. That seems kind of silly.
The cold, the four o'clock mornings and the beating of my old rapidly-aging body holds little allure, so retiring from the field is not a totally sad event. The manic 1,000 mile drives to Montana, while wonderful at the time, no longer draw us.
Having said that, I love helping others with their hunting plans, handloading problems and giving freely of experience I've gotten in the field.
I'll never write again. Having been screwed-over twice in the writing field and a couple of times in the firearms industry, I've totally divorced myself of writing or design work in the industry. Basically, screw them and the ugly frickin' horse they rode in on.
The Campfire is for me. I'm delighted to help anyone at any time; freely, quickly and at no cost.
Steve
PS. Now, if I could figure out what to do with my last truck, I'd be set. Believe it or not, I own a 2006 Chevrolet 2500HD LT Duramax/Allison Crew Cab/Short Bed in Graystone Metallic with Charcoal Leather. I bought it new, exactly three years ago and it has less than 5,000 miles on the odometer.
Don't need the truck, don't use the truck and it should be out there with someone else having fun in the field.
What to do, what to do.
ST
