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[rose_cat]

My shoulder surgery is scheduled for the 16th. The doctor's office is setting up my pre-op appointment with the orthopaedist (also the surgeon), which will not be on the same day as the surgery. (They asked me for my preferred days and times

Comments

[cassandraterra]

Yay! Good luck with it! Be super duper careful on those meds. I get sick on them if I don't eat at the same time. I do not like those kinds of pain meds.

Why doesn't the muscle heal itself like the rest of out body does?

[rose_cat]

Oh, I don't take any meds on an empty stomach these days if I can help it. When I was in the hospital with a blood clot, on round-the-clock zone-out pain meds, I even made them bring me crackers :)

[i_want_2]

Wee! You're on the way to being in working order, again! It's minor and easy to fix. Good luck, my dear!

[rose_cat]

Yeah! Although, don't forget, minor surgery is SOMEBODY ELSE'S :p

[i_want_2]

What do you mean? This seems minor to me.

[rose_cat]

Like I said...

[khall]

*hugs!* Plan to be loopy for the next three days, unless you know you're okay with anesthetic. Also, fever dreams. What pain meds? Remember you can always half or quarter pills if it makes you too high. Some people don't have the bodies for 'full' doses. Or the tolerance.

K.

[rose_cat]

I hate fever dreams. (I've gotten those from codeine.) I'm guessing it'll be something like Vicodin, but maybe it'll be as powerful as Darvocet or something similar. (I think that's what I had in the hospital when I had the blood clot, and boy, was I ever weirded out from that. Although not unpleasantly ;) )

My husband has planned to be off work for ten days or so. Which may be more than I need, but it might give me time to figure out what I can and can't do, what I can ask him to do before he goes off to work later, etc..

Have you had surgery, then? I've never had anything this major.

[khall]

Ugh. Darvoset is dangerous. Be careful if they give you that. It's nasty. Causes suicidal tendencies.

Had a couple of minor procedures, an endoscopy was my worst experience with anesthetic. Had horrible fever dreams for 3 days afterward.

K.

[rose_cat]

Google tells me that the FDA banned Darvocet in the US back in 2010 (my blood clot incident was about fifteen years ago). Apparently it caused heart problems as well.

I've been reading other people's experiences, and it's possible that I'll be able to get off narcotics after a few days and use extra-strength acetaminophen, which is what I'm taking now. (Along with Celebrex, which maybe I'll be taking after as well.) In any case, I am very VERY careful with strong meds.

I want to be careful not to go too far in "toughing it out," though. I've learned the hard way that with severe pain, if I wait for it to start hurting again before I take more meds, it can last a lot longer and get a lot worse before it gets better. (I had a horrendous tonsillitis during which I was taking pain meds every three hours around the clock. I even set a timer. It was the only way to make it bearable.)

[aviv_b]

Good luck - my friend is recovering really well. I hope you have results like hers!

[rose_cat]

Thank you :) So do I! How long ago was her surgery?

[aviv_b]

About three weeks ago. she doesn't have to wear a sling anymore, is now able to wash her hair (one-handed) and get dressed etc.
she still cant carry anything or drive a car. She has no pain at all.

[rose_cat]

That's awesome. What was the nature of her injury and repair (if you don't mind my asking)?

[aviv_b]

I know that she had a torn rotator cuff, but I don't know the extent of the injuries, except that it wasn't torn 'all the way through.' She's been living with pain for several years. She just retired (lucky her - 31 yrs in Chicago public schools, so full pension), and had it done immediately.

Of course everyone's different - I had a trigger finger operated on and unlike my co-worker who has had eight!! of these done with no problems, mine has resulted in a build up of scar tissue and the loss of some mobility in my dominant hand. I'm really surprised, but I always heal with no problems, but sometimes shit happens. So now I'll be going to occupational therapy 2xs a week for 4 weeks to see what we can restore.