My doc is a retired Colonel in the Air Force. I asked him how many of these has he done. He said 4500. Good enough for me. I had a nerve block before the general anesthesia. Good thing too, because that took a few days to wear off. I got decent sleep those nights. The next 9 weeks, not so much. I quit taking hydrocodone a week out. Not because I'm some sort of masochist, but it didn't do any better than Tylenol. The key was a recirculating ice pump that pumped ice water through a sleeve around my shoulder/bicep. I would almost demand that they ask for this to be done post-op.
I did the PT working up strength through a series of progressing exercises. It was a slow deal. I had the surgery in early April. I could barely swing a golf club by August. Hunting was okay that season as it was my off arm. I shot winter league trap and skeet the following Jan. I could get through 75-100 rounds, where before I struggled to finish a round of 25 and 50 was agonizing. But like I said in an earlier post, I'm 2/3rds strength in that arm and have occasional pain that's enough to wake you up. There is also a noticeable divot on my shoulder. I would still do it again because like you, I couldn't even put a coat on. But I'm not sure I'd have another on that arm - if that makes sense.
