OT: Rotator Cuff Surgery

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DH has been having pain in his shoulder and now cannot lift his arm up past the shoulder. so went to the Dr /had an MRI and has been told the tear is so bad that it is totally separated from the bone, and now must have surgery
Cannot do arthoscopic/ but must open the shoulder and put a pin in to anchor
the cuff back onto the bone.
Has anyone had this Surgery??? Please let me know your experience and recovery time.

Thanks for any advice on the subject and please send good thoughts on the recovery

 

[southcarolinagirl]

I wish your husband and YOU the best of luck with his surgery. My DH had an arthoscopic repair of a labrum tear in his right shoulder in Oct 08, so his was not as severe as your husbands but they did put in two bone anchors to hold everything in place. It is rough surgery and his recovery time was over 6 months. He had physical therapy three times a week for about 4 months. My best advice is do the physical therapy religiously or he will not regain full use and motion in his shoulder.

 

[squirrlygirl]

I feel for your DH. I recently had shoulder surgery and I still don't have full range of motion and can't lift more than three pounds with that arm. The one thing I really wish I had understood beforehand was that in addition to no use of the arm while in the sling ...the arm muscles atrophy so much that you can't do anything once the sling is off even if you wanted to! I go to physical therapy three times a week, and have exercises I do at home twice a day. I'll likely be in therapy for about 8 more weeks.

Slaptear.com is a great source of information.

Here's some good thoughts for you and your husband

 

[J'aime Paris]

I had surgery on my shoulder last April. My tear was not too bad, but the recovery is not fun. Physical therapy is the key!
Even now,my shoulder is still not 100%. (And may need another surgery for my biceps tendon)

Good luck to him!!

 

[Stephres]

I have heard that too, the recovery is not fun. I have two small tears and tried a couple times to rehab with physical therapy when the pain got bad and it was NOT fun and I still don't have the full range of motion. Good luck to your husband!

 

[ginnymack]

Sorry to hear that! My dh had a significant tear as well a few year ago. It is a rough ride for the first few days post op. My advice - If they offer a sholder block - TAKE IT (think epidural for your arm). The effects lingered for 18-20 hours after surgery, which really helped. Ice, Ice, Ice post op. It really helps with swelling. PT is a must - be religous about it and follow all directions exactly - push to do exactly what they say, but no more. Think of things that will help you dh function one handed for awhile - easy meals that can be eaten with one hand. If he is going to be left alone while you work, think of easy things for him to prepare himself or to heat and eat. Buy dental "pick" flossers so he can floss on handed. etc... Like all surgeries, the next day is the worst, and it will only get better from there. My hubby was up and vaccuuming 2 days post op. Also, make sure he stays on top of pain meds for the first few days - take it when it it "time" to take it not when he feels pain - it is much harder to get on top of the pain once it sets in. After a few days, start to stretch out the pain meds and then take them only as needed. The good news is aside from the first few days and the pain of pt overall my hubby was feeling much better VERY shortly after then surgery than before!

HTH and good luck!

 

[jimandami]

I haven't had personal experience with shoulder surgery, but I do provide anesthesia for them fairly often. I cannot help you with the recovery option, but I definitely recommend you ask his surgeon and anesthesia provider for a nerve block (it is called an interscalen block) prior to his procedure. It is usually done under light sedation before you are taken to the OR and it will cut down on the amount of anesthesia/pain medicine he requires both during surgery and for the first 24 hours after. I wish you guys the best and hope he has a speedy recovery!

 

[SarahKate]

My FIL had this surgery a little over a week ago, he's in his late 60's. So far he's doing VERY well. We really thought he'd have a lot of trouble with recovery. He couldn't keep anything down the first 24 hours after surgery but he tends to have troubles with that after surgeries so it was normal. But once he was able to start keeping things down, he bounced back pretty quickly. We saw him yesterday and he's doing GREAT.

They have told him that it could take him up to a YEAR to get full motion. For the first 3-4 weeks, you have to keep that arm totally, 100% immobilized and not make that muscle work. Luckily, you do have the forearm which is movable at the elbow - and they recommend using it so that the elbow doesn't get stiff.

He has to do daily dressing changes for the first week, or til he has his followup and gets the stitches removed. Can't get the area wet til after stitches are out. He's been able to manage pretty well, using a handheld shower. He's even driving, which I have mixed feelings about (not really supposed to til after the first followup), but there's really no point in telling him no because he'll do it anyway! It's his right arm so he's able to do the turn signals with no problem.

The PT aspect of it is key. FIL has a cousin who had the surgery and didn't keep doing the PT and he never fully recovered range of motion.

It's a pretty intense process, but if you follow the post-op instructions and keep up with the PT, it's definitely doable!

 

[ckdsnynt]

It's interesting the different kinds of therapy mentioned. I had open rotator cuff surgery about 18 months ago and other than having to sleep upright for about two nights, I didn't think it was too awful. It did take about 4 months to get the use back completely,tho. But the key truly is physical therapy. My doctor sent a physical therapy chairf to my house when I came home. I had to sit in this chair about six hours a day with my arm on a shelf-like device. I didn't do any work but the shelf was motorized and it raised, lowered and rotated my arm so the muscles wouldn't atrophy. I think it meant the difference in my arm having the full range of motion now and not having it. Now, I need to have the other shoulder done!

 

[dismiss]

A Big Thanks to all who responded. My dh Has Surgery this Thursday March 4 So at least we are prepared with some additional information.

For all the Men who had surgery- What did you wear when you went back to work that would make you look presentable while in a sling? Were you able to wear an undershirt?

My Dh is supposed to wear shirt and tie

Thanks for all the well wishes

 

[SarahKate]

My FIL had his surgery around 1/27. He had to wear that sling that held his shoulder into place - he was able to take it off a couple weeks after the surgery - it started getting very uncomfortable. I don't know the normal length of time for wearing that, but the doctor's office made him promise them he wasn't going to move it....and so far he's done great.

He's been in PT for about 3 weeks and is feeling VERY good......he's in his 60's and we were very worried that he'd still be having a lot of pain. But he just takes a little pain meds right before PT and he does great.

So he hasn't really been wearing anything since the couple weeks post-op. He can move that hand around up to the elbow, he just can't use that shoulder muscle, move his arm over his head/shoulder, etc.

The sling he wore was very prohibitive.....he wore zip-up hoodies those first few days.

 

[luke6417]

I feel for your husband. Three years ago I had surgery to repair two tears in my rotator cuff, a torn labrum, torn bicep tendon, and had multiple bone chips removed. The doctor also wound up shaving my collar bone down. I am a very active person. I got full range of motion back within 3 months of surgery and actually did not get sent to physical therapy, but I still can't really throw a baseball or do any heavy weight lifting. I used to bench press right around 300lbs, now I'm in pain if I try to lift more than 135. To make things worse, I have really bad arthritis in the shoulder now. The doctor wants me to have surgery on the other shoulder now, but until I reach a point where I can longer function, he's not going to touch it.