I'm having surgery on my shoulder next week. I didn't realize all the stuff I have to do before then since I'll be invalidated for 2 months or more

done so far:
cut up 3/4 of an elk
put the snow tires on my wife's car
winterize our camp trailer
buy wife's Christmas present

to do before Wed:
put snow tires on my van
change oil in the pickup
cut up last 1/4 elk
mount snowplow on Razor (takes a while to bolt mounting plate under it. Have to remove it each spring as it hangs too low)
clean and put away all my hunting stuff

I'm sure I'll find lots more to do in the next few days. It never ends.

Pray

Praying for your list to be done as well as can be, that your surgery has no complications, and your rehabilitation therapy gets you back up to speed quickly!

Make sure your will is up to date.

Jim

Had inguinal hernia surgery yesterday. I didn't finish everything I wanted to. Glad to have the holidays to heal up. All the best to you for a successful surgery, and successful healing over Christmas.

My 15 year old daughter had surgery yesterday. She was worried about keeping her room clean and getting all of her stuff ready. She was less than impressed when they made her take a pregnancy test before they’d operate. She commented something about unless Baby Jesus showed back up there’s no way she’s pregnant.

I had my stomach removed last week. Best to get stuff done before surgery because I can hardly do anything now. To weak and the pain doesn't help. But I'm dropping pounds like crazy.

Bb

Eat lotsa fresh pineapple.

Reduces bleeding and swelling, helps post surgery nausea, promotes healing.

I think the word your were looking for was "invalided"

Just saying, but "invalidated" is too fuuny!

First off good luck with your surgery. Although not shoulder I have had 13 vascular and Kidney surgeries in 30 months. Although I have no suggestions on what to do before hand I am glad to learn of the fresh Pineapple. I am scheduled for a Kidney surgery next Wednesday and will have the fresh pineapple.
Good Luck!
Rick

That was on purpose for just that reason. I'll need all the humor I can get.

Had my left shoulder rotator cuff done in July. Way easier than the right shoulder in 1990, but still no fun at all. Get the Cryo-cuff thing and make sure they send you home with the big painkillers. When the pain blockers wear off (sooner than they say), and your fingers start waking up, take the big drugs, cause it’s gonna hurt. I wore that sling for 5 weeks. Slept in a recliner during that time. If you don’t have a comfortable recliner, let that be your pre-op task. Good luck!

I slept on "The Warden"s reclining couch after my shoulder surgeries.
Right side for left shoulder, and vice versa. Put blankets and towels under the "victim" arm to suit.
I've skipped the nerve blocks on every surgery since the 1st. They tear me up, and make me mean!
That is asking to be killed around here - she won't put up with THAT attitude!

Oxy is your friend (to a point) and PT is your long-term best buddy. DO it, but don't overdo it.

RickinTN,
Please don’t do that. Pineapple contains Bromelain, good for some things but not good to have pre or immediately post surgery. Please read about it or ask your doctor first before injecting pineapple the next 3 days.

Ingesting… sound like Trump suggesting disinfectants on that one.

Bullshit.

Bromelain can be used to treat a number of conditions, but it is particularly effective in reducing inflammation from infection and injuries.

https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/supplement/bromelain

Read your own article…. Get down to precaution section.

Bromelain may increase the risk of bleeding during and after surgery. You should stop taking bromelain at least 2 weeks before surgery.

You could also choke ta death whilst eatin it, same level of concern.

I'm still on liquids so no pineapple for me. Thry told me to avoid pineapple and citris for several months. Next week I get to start pureed food for a few weeks and then soft mechanical. I'm really missing food. It's been 11 days since 8 chewed anything.

I've heard shoulder surgery can be painful. Stay ahead of the pain and don't wait too long to take your meds the first few days. My first few days were hell.

Bb

You payin attention, son?

Good luck with your surgery RC; keep after the rehab.

Drink plenty of beer.

did you notice that the wife's Christmas present is on the ALREADY DONE list?

Last night the tv screen started getting dark. I'm afraid that might mean a new Christmas present for both of us and I need to do that before the surgery. I'll be needing it.

I’m in the same situation right now. I’m have surgery this Tuesday to reattach my pectoral to the bone. I just found out yesterday. Got lots to do, especially with Christmas around the corner!!!!

I did.. That's why everything else is struck through.


None of that other stuff matters.

You didn't mention the pre op circus they send you through. Blood work, EKG, covid and others. Just went through a hand surgery and I had 4 appointments prior to the event. Standard to pass you around from one to another to jack up the bill. Best of luck for your surgery.

Buy some bigger shirts ect after surgery so you can pull shirt over your shoulder/arm

Mine was pretty simple. The bleeding and EKG took 45 min. The covid test (this coming Monday) takes about 10 min. The worst part was the MRI to determine the damage. Lying in the tube with my sore shoulder twisted into a brace to hold it steady got old really fast. Luckily it was only 30 min.

Had the knee replaced, and I was glad I did things like put deck on tractor etc. Get the live situated, then get ready to have reduced autonomy. I was back getting tests etc for a good while. It was like having a part time job.
I also kept all the receipts and records in a binder. I got over billed, or double billed a lot.
I think with PT it cost me 5K out of pocket.

My wife had a meniscus in her knee repaired 18 months ago. Our out of pocket was about $2k. So far, my MRI was $240 and a few orthopedist visits. Insurance picks up most of those.

If you don't have a recliner, get one.

This^^^^^. Trying to sleep upright in bed sucks. The recliner is key to making it through the first 6 weeks.

Buy a Berg Polar Care Wave with the shoulder attachment. I'm sitting here now at the computer icing my post op shoulder. Recovering better/quicker than I thought, most important factor I attribute that to is the care my wife has provided.

Good Luck with your surgery.

I just happen to have a Breg Kodiak model that my wife had for her knee surgery 18 months ago. I don't have the shoulder attachment but her knee attachment lies nicely over my shoulder and the velco strap fits fine. I'll just have to have help getting it on as I can't reach behind my shoulder to grab the strap. I need to start freezing ice so it can keep up. I baby sat her for a couple months after her surgery so she owes me.

I have a recliner. It's 40 years old but quite comfortable.
I got the oil changed on my pickup and the rest of the elk in the freezer. The only must-do I have left is getting the snowplow on the Razor. It's supposed to be a nice day tomorrow so I should be able to get it done.

We did have to run to Costco today and buy a new TV. Ours suddenly started going dark. I'm sure I'll be spending a lot of time in front of it. The old one is about 6 years old and long out of warranty. We wanted a bigger one anyway. Merry Christmas to us.

Do the rehab. It’ll pay dividends.
Trim the toenails. You probably won’t want to do that with a sore shoulder.

Holy crap.
230 yesterday I kicked the sweeper on a late-night piss trip.
Broke my little toe. It looks like a Brazil Nut😁 now.

You all make me feel lucky.


Hope all you old farts get to feeling better!

I slept in a recliner after my first shoulder surgery. This time I rented a simple, adjustable hospital bed ($130.00/mo). I STRONGLY recommend the hospital bed.

You make a habit of this, do you? Some people have strange ways of amusing themselves.

I guess I got lucky and only had the bottom of my big toe removed this morning. Don’t know how much mobility I’ll have for the next couple days but I guess I’m due for some downtime whether I want to or not.

Lol. This was my third shoulder surgery. The surgeon and the folks at rehab remembered me by name.

My shoulder problems have all been caused by bone spurs, and that seems to be a result of doing a lot of heavy lifting around the farm and in the gym.

One of my sons has had surgeries on 1 shoulder and both knees, all from soccer injuries. His shoulder had stretched ligaments and the humerus would pop out of joint as he ran. He'd have to stop and twist it to pop it back in. Besides being quite painful, it's was a PIA. He finally had it fixed

You’ll probably have a cold water pump. My wife had meniscus and rotator cuff surgery a few years ago and I found using ice cubes, etc in the ice container was a pain in the butt.
I found some of the little Zip Lock plastic containers for leftovers, etc. with screw on lids about 4” in diameter would make 2” thick ice cylinders small enough to fit in the ice/water container and they lasted MUCH longer than crushed ice or ice cubes. Fill ‘em about 3/4 full and after they’re frozen you might have to run a little water on the bottom to pop the ice out. Three or four will stack in the ice container. With six or eight you can be freezing half while the other half are either frozen or getting there.

This surgery in July, I had a cryo-cuff that pumped ice water through a shoulder shaped bag. It worked good, but if I wanted to get out of my chair, it took a bit to unhook me from the tubing. Finally I decided to use the frozen slurry type packs from CVS that fit in a Velcro outfitted cloth shoulder attachment. I preferred that to the pumper. But I had to get a couple more of the frozen slurry packs. However the OP decides to ice it will work fine, but ice it he must.

The shoulder is pretty much Ok by now, and I’m finished with the PT therapy, though the shoulder muscles aren’t as strong as I’d like (yet). It’s a long slow, and sometimes painful, process. I hope to never do it again.

RC, good luck with it. I've had major repairs done on both sides.

Have you lined up friends and relatives to help out? Maybe just to hang with you for a couple of hours so your wife can get away?

post surgery, I'll agree with the others. Take the pain meds BEFORE they become necessary, at least for the first week or two. And 20 minutes or so before a PT session, it'll make that go a lot easier. And then follow the PT routines religiously, and maybe a few times more a day if the PT folks/surgeon says OK to do it. Sure helped me, and they considered me a prized patient.

Shoulders and knees are a different game, but I did buy a nice quality exercise bike for my TNR and it payed back well.
If they have a PT machine/tool I would get it. Like everyone says PT gets you healed quicker.
I had ice bags, and for me they were better than the drugs.

Our daughter gave my wife a stair stepper a while back. It won't help the shoulder any but I can watch tv while I'm using it to keep from getting all stove up from lack of exercise. I set it up so the handles don't move back and forth with the pedals. That wouldn't work with the shoulder.

I had my knee replaced Wednesday. Some things have been rough. I'll still pizzed at all the doctors for making me jump through all the hoops.

I think most of the doctors would love to skip the hoops and just get on with it but they don't call the shots. It's decided by hospital boards and lawyers.

Hope things go well for you.

I hope it all goes well on Wed. I have a date for handball on Thurs.

Just for a followup...I always like to hear the rest of the story.

My surgery went just fine. It was a lot less invasive than the shoulder surgeries that many of you have had. It was a simple torn subscapular tendon. That one is on the outside so no other tendons or muscles have to be moved to get at it. Easy to get at or not, it'll still take 6 weeks in a sling to heal, then the PT. He had to shorten the tendon a bit so that will need time to stretch.
I'd read and heard horror stories about how much pain comes from the nerve block medication wearing off. I had none of that at all. Zilch. Maybe they have a new anesthesia that doesn't do that. I don't know. I haven't had any pain that high strength Ibuprofen can't handle so no opioids. They said it could take up to 48 hrs for the nerve block to wear off. It took 30. The doc also said that once it started wearing off, it would take about an hour to fully wake up. Nope. It took 8 hours. I woke up barely able to move my fingers a half inch and it was mid-afternoon before it was all gone.
The worst pain has been in my left knee, believe it or not. I woke up in my recliner yesterday morning with my right leg at 90 degrees over my left knee, kind of a strange position. The weight must have twisted a bone out of position or something. I could hardly walk for half the day, then was hobbling around with a cane. It hurt like crazy. Then suddenly, it was gone. I didn't feel anything but the bone must have slipped back into it's proper place. I don't miss that a bit.
So, now it's just a waiting game. I'll keep trying to sleep in bed but will probably be using the recliner for a few weeks. Lying down makes for a dull ache that keeps a guy awake when it's dark and quiet.

Great to hear Rock!!

Glad it went well. Just do what the doctor tells you…

Good to hear it went well for you.

Glad your surgery went well. Having had a shoulder done the one thing in addition to loose shirts which has been mentioned --- get some slip on shoes.

good to hear. they must not have had to use any screws into the bone. thats what i think caused all my pain. when he showed me the screws and anchors they sunk into my shoulder bones it about made me sick. looked like drywall anchors.

but 3 years later and i am good to go. you will be too i'm sure.

Hope you get your stuff done, and hope you're 100% in a very short time again.

Things just got complicated. My 95 year old MIL passed away this afternoon and my wife's on her way to WA for a few days. That leaves me as a 1 armed invalid fending for myself. Luckily, I'm not all trussed up like a Christmas goose. I have a good range of movement in my arm and hand as long as I don't lift more than 2 lb. I got a friend to come over and feed my llamas tonight since hay bales are way over my limit. We gave them a 4 day supply of hay.
These things happen.

I've been watching a lot of TV the last few days. An observation: How many times have you seen a cowboy shot in the shoulder? He wraps a rag around it, hangs it in his neckerchief for a few days and he's healed. Yeah, right. There are darn few places that a bullet can go though without your shoulder requiring major reconstruction.