I am officially putting the One Armed Sabbatical into retirement. Today I had my last follow up with the surgeon. He is really pleased with my progress and said I'm a bit ahead of the usual recovery curve. Range of motion is really good and strength is coming back nicely. He said to expect a few more weeks of some minor soreness in the shoulder joint, and about another six months before things are pretty much "normal" or better.
I thanked him and let him know that I am very pleased with the services provided and how things turned out. It's great to be pain free in that shoulder and be able to do normal things again.
We considered putting the sling on the Christmas tree or mantel in place of a stocking, but I decided that I don't want to be reminded of having to wear that for six weeks in summer's heat. Best to move on to bigger and better things.
So, this is the last entry in this blog. Thanks for following along.

Can I Please Get a Break?

I guess the One Armed Sabattical has officially ended, but the blog lives on.
First things first: Tuesday night I decided to have some last-evening-before-going-back-to-work-full-time-fun, and jumped on the Vespa to ride down to the softball fields and watch my team from the last couple of years play their last game of the season. The route takes me through downtown Columbus, and as I was approaching an intersection, a guy who didn't see me coming made a left turn directly in front of me. I'm pretty sure that I swore and hit the brakes, or maybe I hit the brakes and then swore. Doesn't matter. I had to lay the bike down in the street and both the Vespa and I skidded into the bottom of this guy's car. Now comes the part where I talk about divine intervention. The scooter has a couple of minor nicks and scratches but otherwise looks OK although I'm having it checked out for internal damage. As for me, I had a conscious thought that I could not land on my recently surgically altered right shoulder. I ended up going down on my left side and have some pretty big abrasions on my arm, side of the knee, and ankle plus a couple of Technicolor bruises on my thigh. My shoulder was also sore for a couple of days but seems to be OK now. The wreck drew quite a crowd including a fire truck, medic, police car, cop on a bike, and my chiropractor, who happened to be out for a run when he heard there was an accident. I can also say that my helmet probably saved me a trip to the hospital or worse, as my head hit the ground first and pretty hard. All in all, I'm in OK shape. I can't have hard feeling towads the guy who pulled in front of me, as we all get distracted and make mistakes. I told him that I won't say "It's OK", or "Forget about it", but I won't hold a grudge. Life goes on and I consider myself fortunate that I was able to walk and ride away.
I went back to work full time this week, got caught up on email and a few things, and will start back into my projects next week.

That Boy Needs Therapy

It's been a while, so here is some catching up. I just finished week 2 of physical therapy, which involves a lot of stretching of the shoulder muscles, as well as exercises to strengthen and stabilize the shoulder. My therapist, Kelley, is great and has done a fantastic job. (Plus she is an Otterbein grad, bonus points, and her husband is a classic movie buff, extra bonus points!) While I still have a good amount of soreness, which will hang around for some time yet, I have picked up quite a bit of my range of motion. Last week, I was able to raise my arm in front of me to 100 degrees; this week it was 130, quite an improvement. Kelley says to expect about 12 weeks of PT and then I'll be better than bionic.
Going to therapy puts the song "Frontier Psychiatrist" by The Avalanches into my head, where they keep singing repeatedly "That boy needs therapy, b-b-boy needs therapy."
I also started back to work last week, part-time four hours a day, and tackled a mountain of email. I go back full time on September 1. Will this bring about the end of the One Armed Sabattical? Stay tuned.....

No Slings Attached!

The sling is gone. After six weeks of wearing it day and night, I'm finally able to dispose of the Ultra Sling II. My six week check up was on Friday, and the doctor said I am doing pretty well and don't need the sling any longer. By this point in time, the expectation is that you can raise your elbow to the side at a 90 degree angle, and I can get mine a bit higher than that. I start six weeks of physical therapy on Tuesday, probably three times a week. I hear that it can be a bit "intense" to begin, but met the therapist who is a very nice, pettite young woman who looks like she won't hurt me too much.


The picture is probably the only one in existance of a middle-aged white guy in a sling singing "Funky Cold Medina" in a karaoke bar in Wilmington, N.C. We managed to get a visit in last week for Susan's birthday and had a nice time.

Ellen Comes to Visit

Ellen was here this week to visit and we had a lot of fun. The highlight of the weekend was on Saturday night, when I lucked into a ticket for the Ween concert at Lifestyles Community Pavillion and Ellen and I went together. There was no real seating, only standing in front of the outdoor stage and lawn seating. So, since I am still wearing the sling and didn't want to be in the middle of the mosh pit, we asked about handicapped seating and the very nice lady who worked there seat up two folding chairs for us in an area between the pit and the lawn, so we could sit and see over everyone's heads. Nice! I may keep the sling for future use even after I am better.

Three Week Report

Today is three weeks since surgery. I will say that I am starting to feel better, although there are still some sore spots in my shoulder especially when doing the exercises I have to increase range of motion. I am also finding that I get tired a bit more easily, which is interesting as I have not really been doing a lot of physical activities. The highly technicolor bruises that are on the upper arm have faded considerably.

The surgery bills are starting to roll in, and between the hospital and surgeon the total for two hours in surgery and about 90 minutes in recovery is close to $30,000 (at least that is what my insurance company has been billed.) But, for that price, I got some pictures that I can share with you (click to make them larger, then click again to zoom more). These are of the inside of my shoulder during surgery. I actually find it fascinating since most people won't ever get to see full color pictures of the inside of their body. The first set shows the red inflammation in the tendon and the tear in the rotator cuff, plus the tool that was used to shave away part of the bone. The second set shows the repair to the tendon, which was sutured to two small posts that were inserted into the bone. The sutures and posts are all made of a sugar compound that will dissolve in about 2 years.

Note that these pictures are not quite as graphic as the video I posted earlier of an operation- so even if you are a bit squeamish, you might find these interesting.

Today's Special Guest

Today I am featuring a special guest, none other than Loretta. Here you will see Loretta braving the heat to cut the grass on Sunday and she did a fine job. The curious thing to me, is that a lot of people have asked if there is anything they can do to help, which I greatly appreciate, but almost every one has asked "Do you want me to come over and cut your grass?" I offered the job to a 11 year old boy a few doors down from us, who said "Let me think about that and get back to you." Turns out he already has a few lawn mowing jobs for the summer.

So thanks, Loretta, for a job well done!