I ended up spending the majority of the day not wearing my sling.  It is just more comfortable that way.  I even made a quick trip to the bank without it on.  It was nice to actually wear a coat in 20 degree weather.

Today is picture day.  12 days since surgery (since I started numbering days at 1 rather than 0), and here’s what my shoulder looks like:

 For comparison sake, here’s the “before” picture:

And one more picture.  The cat sleeping next to my black belt is D’Hoffryn, who gets his bizarre name from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Health

Today was my first painkiller-free day since surgery.  No real need for drugs when there’s no real pain.  Right now the thing that is bugging me a lot is the pull of my sling against my neck.

My quads were pretty exhausted today, so no workout.  Coupled with pizza for lunch (and dinner last night), and I’m falling off that particular wagon.  I need to get cracking on my fitness, but I do love unhealthy good.

Tonight was a student promotion exam.  8 students testing, and we had 10 black belts watching them test.  It was a very good test.  6 yellow belts and two green belts.  4 adults, 2 teens, and 2 in the 9-10 age group.   The exam lasted around two hours; blocks, punches, kicks, poomsae (forms), free sparring, one-step sparring, self defense, and board breaking.  A good test all around.

Health

Today was my first doctor’s appointment since surgery.  And, if you may recall, I was apprehensive that I may have hurt my shoulder last Friday.  They took two more X-Rays, which I think brings the grand total of shoulder X-Rays to at least 15, and the doctor took a look.  The X-Rays were perfect, the collar bone is exactly in position.  No more big shoulder bump!  The doc was also very pleased with the way the incision is healing.  No infections or anything, we’re right on track.  So, everything is good!  He removed my stitches (apparently there were two of them), so I have no more bandages on my shoulder.

I stopped at the physical therapy place that I used a number of times in the last year.  I not only used them to try and help this shoulder separation issue, but I had used them earlier in 2008 to try to help with a condition called “scapular winging“.  The genesis of that issue was apparently Lyme disease, which I had gotten in September of 2007, and which paralyzed a nerve that helps rotate the shoulder blade.  For over a year, I didn’t have full muscle control of my right arm — for the first few months, I could barely even lift my right arm.  I separated my left shoulder right around the time my right shoulder finally healed.  Back at the Physical Therapy office, they were kind of surprised at the extent of the damage to my shoulder as well as the recovery time estimate, but they are nice people who were happy to see me.

I rode the exercise bike again today, and did my other assorted exercises.  And then I took a long shower, which felt glorious, since I no longer had to keep my shoulder dry.  Tomorrow, maybe I’ll take a couple of pictures.

Health

There was a big snow storm in our area today.  Actually, the storm wasn’t as big as expected, but schools still closed, and my coworkers and I didn’t go to work.  I worked from home, which made it an easier day for my shoulder.

Wednesday is the day I teach an intermediate class.  Today I led the warmup with one of the few things I could do along with them: holding on to a bar and working leg strength in kicking position.  We held side and front kicks for a while, as well as some small circles and bouncing up and down.  Some hip and leg stretches, then some partner work doing a hubud drill.  The rest of the class was spent free sparring.

Friday is a gup (student) promotion exam, so that will be the next time I’ll be going to the dojang.

I took a break from the exercise bike.  My quads can use the break.

Health

I made it through another day of work without issue.  And I got a card signed by a number of TKD students in the mail, which was nice. 

Tonight was the first time I went back to the dojang since the surgery.  Normally on Tuesdays, I have “ownership” of the class — I’ll lead the warmups and, if my instructor isn’t there, I’m the one to break down the class into smaller groups and set the direction for the class.  Tonight, my instructor ran warmups as well as breaking the class into groups, so my teaching duties weren’t as large as normal.  I worked with a couple of the youngest students on back kick, back side, jumping back/back side, and spinning back hook kick.  The kids were around 9 or 10, and did pretty well, I kept them interested in class, and they showed some improvement.  So, that was a win.

At the end of class, I did a few reps of a Kali single-stick exercise with a partner, called a long box.  For anyone who might know Kali strokes by number, it is a partner drill in the sequences of 8-1-4-3-2, with complementary deflections.  The box drills screwed with my mind for a while, but I really enjoy them now.

So it was great getting back to the dojang.  I threw a couple of kicks, and got back into the ambiance.  One of the adult students apparently had the same surgery years back.  If my progress follows his, it’ll probably be 18 months before I feel completely normal.  Guess we’ll see.

Once I got back from the dojang, I did 310 calories worth on the bike, a few lunges, squats, and some stretching.  It is feeling good to get to be more active again.

Health

Day 8:

Work wasn’t as bad as I had feared.  Driving one-handed wasn’t a problem.  I took one Percocet during the day, at lunch, though I think tomorrow I’ll take one with my morning oatmeal around 8 AM.  I was sore this morning, but as I said it wasn’t horrible.

One thing that wasn’t good was the fact that I didn’t fit into my khakis.  The fact that I can’t easily use two hands to button my pants makes it tougher, so maybe my weight isn’t as bad as all that.  Still, I don’t like being so heavy.

As a consequence, I upped my bicycling by 40% today.  300 calories on the meter.  Squats, lunges, ab work, side kicks, arc kicks.

The thing I’m looking forward to now is Thursday, when I’ll get my stitch take out, and will be able to take a shower without needing to keep my shoulder dry.

Health

Day 7:

Today proceeded much like the last couple of days.  Same workout regimen.  I’m adding just one or two things each day.  Today I did some arc kicks with a quick 3-steps in between, though I didn’t do a lot because it didn’t feel great on my foot.

I seem to sleep better on the couch, as I can get myself propped up more, so I’m going to start the night on the couch.  We’ll see how that goes.  Last night I had one of our 9-month-old kittens sleep on my chest for a while (in bed), and then had our biggest lump of a cat on my lap while I was on the couch.

Tomorrow I’ll be going back to work.  I have a new “boss” (should be very loose oversight), we have a software release this week, and there’s a moderately important meeting I should be around for.  Plus as a consultant, I don’t earn money unless I work.  So I feel that I really should go to work.  It’ll be a struggle, I’m sure, and I’ll give myself the option of leaving early if I don’t feel well.  Driving will be interesting with my 6-speed manual transmission.

I took 2 Percocet pills today; one at lunch and one at dinner.  I’m really feeling the recent one kicking in — I’m feeling a bit lightheaded.  I’ll probably be taking a Percocet at lunch (at work) tomorrow, and I should be fine for driving home several hours later.

Health

Day 6:

The shoulder was a bit more sore today than yesterday, after last night’s incident.  But nothing seemed too out of the ordinary, so hopefully that didn’t do anything except add some pain.  Sleep is still the bane of my existence; last night I slept 11-1, and then 3-8:30 on the couch.  Still doesn’t feel as good coming in chunks.

Today was another repeat of my exercise routine.  Each day, I’m adding 5 calories to my run; today was 210.  I did my side kicks and ab work, and added a couple of squats.

My martial arts instructor called me up today to see how I was doing.  He had hip replacement surgery the week before my surgery, so he’s also trying to get back.  So we compared notes on Percocet and discussed teaching attire.  When I go in next week to teach my classes, I’ll probably be wearing camo pants and a dojang T-shirt.  That’s our kali oufit anyway, so it won’t be too out of place.  I can’t tie a belt one-handed, and I don’t really want to ask someone to tie it for me.  He is fine with that plan, as his own wardrobe has been a bit non-traditional as well with his hip surgery.

Health

Day 4 (continued):

I did end up using the stationary bike for around 15 minutes, as I mentioned I might in my last post.  Actually, my goal is based off the rough calorie estimator, and I went for 200 calories.  So if I go more slowly, I’ll end up going longer.  I felt nauseous part of the way through the ride, so I stopped, rested, and finished it at a little slower pace.  I also did some warmup-type side kicks, holding on to a support and kicking out without locking the knee.  I added a little ab work and some stretching.  After that, the shower felt really good.  The shower is a bit tricky, but I managed to keep my bandages pretty dry.

Day 5:

I repeated my workout routine today.  I felt better all the way through, so that was good at least.  I upped my side kicks to 20 per leg.  I’ll probably start adding other kicks, as long as my broken toe doesn’t flare up.

Everything was going swimmingly today, up until dinner.  State Wife (does that work?) made a chicken/linguine dish.  As I was dealing with the chicken, I pulled the plate onto my lap.  I was eating while using the family room computer, which is on the coffee table, and I was sitting on the floor.  Fortunately for the dinner, the plate ended up right-side up.  Unfortunately for my shoulder, I gave a mighty twitch and felt my shoulder spasm.  I’m hopeful that I didn’t do anything to it other than make the pain flare up, but it still freaked me out.  Even while being cautious, I can still do worrisome things.  The sling got citrus sauce on it, so it is going through a delicates cycle, and I’m wearing a backup sling.

I’ve found that the most comfortable position for me is lying on my back, with my arm supported by a pillow, and I’m not wearing the sling.  I can stretch out my elbow safely that way.  Sleep is still tough, and last night I made it until 3AM before I got up, going back to sleep at 5AM.  I’m trying to limit my nausea by taking the Percocet only with a meal.  That seems to have worked today.

Health

Day 1 (Surgery Day):

Day 1 was Monday, Jan 19, the day of my surgery.  I woke up, took a shower, using the surgical scrub brush I was given at my pre-op appointment.  We got to the hospital right about “on time” at 8:30 A.M.  Shouldn’t have bothered worrying about getting there on time, as they didn’t take me from the room until 10:30.  Got my I.V. set up (poorly, as it turned out), talked with the anesthesiologist, and waited around for an hour.  I think it was around 11:30 that I was put under.

I woke up in the recovery room around 4:00, feeling awful.  Not that my shoulder was extremely painful, but the anesthetic made me extremely nauseous.  They gave me two different anti-nausea medications, though I was still uncomfortable.  Eventually I was taken to my room, maybe around 5:00 or 5:30.  I was given a tray for dinner, but wasn’t feeling hungry, though I did eat most of a dinner roll.  Bringing the bed forward into a seated position was a very bad idea, though I didn’t end up puking.

I spent most of the next few hours trying to shake off the effects, doing nothing, just lying there, but the nausea didn’t go away until maybe 10:00.  I watched the 4th quarter of a basketball game, and started reading a book.  The night was dull, and I had a really hard time sleeping, partially because the automated I.V. drip controller thing made a lot of noise. 

Day 2 (Tues):

Overnight, I may have gotten around 5 hours of sleep, total.  It is hard to sleep in one position.  In the morning I did a couple of Sudoku puzzles, read some more, and started feeling more human.  I used a washcloth, brushed my teeth, used the facilities, and put on a pair of shorts.

The last antibiotic drip ended at around 2:30.  My wife came by around 2:00, so she wasn’t there too long before I could be discharged.  I was wheeled out and driven home, thus ending my hospital stay.  The drive wasn’t a lot of fun, as it was a hospital 35-40 minutes from home.  Stupid insurance company.

A couple of other notes about the hospital.  Boy, do they keep it warm there.  I was hot and uncomfortable (so was my wife — it wasn’t just me), and I used ice packs on my head to try to cool myself down.  Felt good to leave the hospital into 20 degree weather.  One thing I also found interesting were these blood clot preventer thingees — they wrap around your calves and periodically tighten and release (like a blood pressure cuff) to keep circulation going.  I was in a room by myself, which was great.

Now at home, I spent the rest of the day lying around.  My wife (I need to think up a themed nickname for her) got my Percocet prescription.  That stuff seems to work pretty well.

Day 3 (Weds):

The night was again pretty difficult.  I woke up around 2 AM, couldn’t fall back to sleep, so I came down and surfed on the computer.  I took a couple several-hour long naps over the course of the morning, but it still wasn’t quite enough.  It seems like after being in the same position for a couple of hours, my body just wants to be in a different place.

The most notable part of the day was taking a bath.  It felt good to clean up.  I’m supposed to keep my shoulder bandages dry, which makes showering tough.  The doctor suggested showering with cling wrap or something over the bandages, and I might try that later today.  The pain was fine for most of the day.  I’ve been taking one Percocet every 4-5 hours.  Not surprisingly, my broken toe is also not giving me any pain.

Day 4 (Thurs):

Last night I slept from around 10:30 – 3:00, then woke up.  I went back to sleep on the couch around 5:00, and stayed there until 9:00.  Felt groggy for a while, but that eventually passed.

I’m considering using the exercise bike for a little bit today, so we’ll so how that goes.  I’ve been taking my arm out of the sling periodically to stretch my elbow.  I’m allowed to rotate my wrist around, and I’m actually able to type this with both hands.  I am feeling pretty good.  In fact, I was expecting a lot more pain than this.  My surgery on the same shoulder 19 years ago to fix the problem of repeated subluxations (partial dislocations) was more painful.  This go-around, I had a lot of discomfort with the anesthetic and discomfort from odd sleep patterns.  Not that I want more pain, and I’m taking my drugs to continue feeling well, but I was really expecting that my shoulder would hurt more.  Of course, 6 weeks of nearly immobilizing the shoulder is going to lead to a painful recovery, but that’s a while in the future.

Health