rotator cuff injury/surgery

[ob_rnkim]

I fell the day after Thanksgiving during a bootcamp workout at the gym injuring my shoulder. After several xrays and an MRI later I was found to have a partial tear and a complete tear of my rotator cuff. Needless to say I'm in pain all the time, some times worse than others. I am meeting with the surgeon on Wed. and even though I'm nervous I'm also anxious to get on the road to recovery. I'm a nurse, so I'm not working. The last shift I worked was Dec 12, so it's important to me to get back to work asap.

Has anyone had rotator cuff surgery and willing to share their story/experience? I want the good, the bad, and the ugly!!!

 

[Luv2Roam]

I had the surgery in 2001. Long story, but the surgery was postponed by the doc. By the time I had the surgery I had lock arm very bad.
Post surgery I was wearing a sling for awhile. Then PT.
Due to the lock arm, it took longer to recover. But I did and never had problems again.
From my experience the worse part was moving my shoulder for the first time in PT. However certainly was not horrendous.
Unfortunately I also developed sciatica from resting after surgery. That was worse than the torn rotary cuff issue.

I was off work 5 weeks. The doc wanted 6. My place of work wanted me back ASAP. (Treated me like crap anyway, so I should have taken the full 6.)
The reason the doc wanted 6 weeks is so his work would not tear open. That is a risk, And even a simple movement, like putting on a shirt or blouse, can do that.

 

[Jennasis]

DH had a torn labrum and required surgery. He made a full recovery in about 8 months. He was in a LOT of pain post-surgery and wore the sling for 6 weeks. Sleeping was hard for him too. But he's glad he did it.

 

[Mellie2162]

I had an 80% tear and had surgery to repair it in September. It was probably one of the most painful surgeries I have ever had, I did not expect it to be so painful. Im a transcriptionist and work from home and I was off from work for at least 2 full weeks after and then only went back part time until I could handle a full day. I have been doing PT 2-3 days a week since surgery and only recently at the end of December stopped on my own due to a busy schedule. I can now get my arm over my head fully and wash my own hair. Progress was slower than I expected it to be, but Im told it was normal. I still dont have full strength in that arm and still cant fully extend to reach things out of range, but am much better than before or just after surgery. YOu will get there just make sure you have someone to help you right after surgery with putting on clothes and bathing.

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

I have torn both of mine at different times. Recovery is hellish at best. 6 months of PT and I still don't have full range of motion or 80% of the strength back in my dominant arm.

My surgery was more involved than it was supposed to be because of complications and I ended up admitted overnight with a lovely 6 inch scar as a souvenir.

The only piece of advice I can give is to start PT as soon as the doctor tells you to and don't wait. Good luck!

My left arm is still torn and I refuse to have the surgery again until it gets absolutely unbearable.

 

[ob_rnkim]

Thanks for the replies. Looks like everyone is a little different in their experiences. I'm just so anxious to get things rolling. The doctor I was seeing was a sports medicine doctor that my trainer referred me to. He was great, but now feel like I've wasted a month going to him only to be sent to a shoulder doctor for a surgical referral. I see her Wed and seriously can't wait to know what is going to happen. I'm not even 100% sure I'm having surgery, but I know something has to be done as I can barely lift without pain and with my job we do alot of lifting of patients, epideralized patients, so like lifting dead weight sometimes!! Thanks again for the replies. Hoping some others can share their experiences.

 

[Snoozan]

My DSis had this surgery and did find the post-op pain extremely bad, but she's glad she went thru the surgery as she is now fine and back to mucking her daughter's horse's stall. Just take the pain meds and try to stay on top of that. I think her not knowing how painful it was going to be afterwards was almost worse for her - her neighbor(a physical therapist)didn't tell her this was normal until afterwards.

 

[plutolovr]

Not rotator cuff, but had surgery in September for a torn labrum ligament and torn bicep tendon. All the surgery was laproscopic so I only have 5 little scars about 3/4" each.

Pain following surgery was bad, but you have to put it in your mind that the pain you're going to feel afterward is positive pain and will only get better.

I was in a sling for 4 weeks but was back at the gym in about 2 weeks working out on the elliptical and taking spin classes. PT was tough at first and I'm still doing it twice a week but will cut down to once a week very soon. I have access to most of the equipment used at PT either at home or at the gym so I can continue on my own.

Sleeping at first was the absolute worst thing. I don't sleep well on my back and have just recently been able to sleep on my shoulder.

Good luck.

 

[Buckalew11]

My DH had this surgery several years after tearing it while fighting a house fire. He has an extremely high tolerance for pain but will say that rotator cuff surgery is hell. He was in the best shape of his life when it happened, thank God, which helped in his recovery. He's had other shoulder surgeries and 3 elbow surgeries--he need an elbow replacement! He bears the elbow pain for now because the Mayo specialist says they make great strides every 6 months with that sugery. He's into his 4th year of waiting now--so he is no wimp when he says rotator cuff surgery is rough.

If you have it done, I wish you all the best!

 

[Luv2Roam]

Mine was a tear, and I went from May to August before the surgery. My right shoulder was in pretty bad shape by the time I went in. From my elbow on down I had full movement. But to lift my right arm, I had to left it with my left. There was no motion from the right elbow to the shoulder.

The doctor I had specialized in this. I think that is about all he did.

I have a difficult time with any kind of pain killers beyond OTC. I don't recall anything bad, as long as I did not take pain killers. But that result was unrelated to the surgery, other than what they gave me after the surgery.

However, I did develop sciatica so bad I could not get out of bed without literally a 45 minutes head start and a lot of pain.
So I was taking PT for the sciatica and the rotary cuff surgery.
And the sciatica was far worse.
I just did not have any issues post surgery with the rotary cuff.

Did the PT and anything else as instructed.
I did have a lot of popping in that shoulder for probably 4 years. But it did not hurt, and the doc said it was scar tissue breaking up.

But even that went away. I have had no issues what so ever.

At the same time I had the surgery, another Dis-er on the collectors board had gone through it three times. (He played a lot of baseball or softball.) The third time his arm/shoulder was put into some sort of contraption that made his arm/shoulder completely immobile.

That is the caution afterwards -- don't do anything to screw up your arm again. One of his tears post surgery was weeks later when he just getting dressed.

I did have the full cut, not the laparoscopic. Back then, if they could do laparoscopic the recovery was around 2 weeks, as opposed to 5 - 6 weeks off work.
My scar is probably 2 inches long.

Maybe I was lucky (other than the sciatica). I did really well after the surgery and since.
I do recall the first time at PT the therapist wanted me to move my arm. I thought he was nuts. But part of that was mental as I had not been able to move my arm from the shoulder for months.

However maybe post surgery seemed like a breeze because I was in such bad shape going into it.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I had my surgery about four or five years ago. I was really worried about it because everyone I talked to said how painful it would be. I was surprised that it wasn't that bad. I had the pain pump for about 24 hours after the surgery and I came home pretty quickly. I didn't use any pain pills afterward.

PT was good. I think I was off work maybe three weeks full time, then returned to work on light duty for another three weeks. It had been horrible trying to sleep before the surgery, I could never get comfortable. I was glad that I had the surgery and it was over.

Now the total knee replacement that I had was much more painful with longer recovery and longer PT. I think it was six weeks before I could drive.