INTERESTING DAY:
In January 2016 I lost my balance at the top of the stairs and bounced down the stairs, crashed through the stair railings at the bottom, slammed my right shoulder into the newel post and banged my head and pretty well wiped out my glasses.
Husband came to my rescue and between the two of us, we got me up on my feet, my rain coat wrapped around me and we got into the car and drove to the CVH ER.
There I was x-rayed. I have a very dim memory of the white tunnel of the MRI and the next time I woke up was at OHSU in Portland status post shoulder repair.
I did not wake up for a couple of days. I remember waking gradually, looking around and wondering why I was in prison and willing myself to go back to sleep.
I was eventually transferred out of ICU and stayed for a total of ten days. I had broken off my right radial head and that had wound up in my chest cavity. I broke a couple of ribs. The surgery consisted of harvesting most of the radial head which has poor vascular supply at the best of times.
The surgical team put in a shoulder prosthesis that allowed me partial movement. I was able to raise my right hand to waist height and that was about the extent of recovery. Physical therapy taught me how to properly go up and down stairs.
I had a good time visiting with family and telling really bad jokes.
What did the elephant say to the naked man?
"How do you breath through that thing?"
So I was discharged, went home to some physical therapy and I adapted thereafter, both going up and down the stairs.
At my last physician's office visit I asked to be referred for orthopedic consultation to see if I could get some better range of motion so I could comb my hair, open a drawer with two handles.
Dr Hobson talked and explained that because I had zero rotator cuff that there was not much to hook up either my deltoid or my tares minor. You must have those two muscles firmly attached at both ends to allow over head movement. He explained that he could do a partial correction so that I would be able to at least scratch my nose but since I had zero pain at present that the procedure would all but guarantee that my pain level would increase to a steady four out of ten.
Huh. He said that most of the patients he see's are in such pain from their shoulder repair that they think four out of ten pain level is a wonderful thing. So, I explained to Dr. Hobson that the only reason I wanted the repair was in order to better drive the car. We decided that I could live and adapt with the current situation.
I did go online and there ARE such things as rotator cuff prostheses and those are usually for high end athletes. Since I am not a sports star, tennis star or a pool hustler I shall think about ways that I could drive better. Uber? Not available.
I wonder if there is some kind of exoskeleton that would allow me to use my right arm to lift enough to shift the gear knob (automatic), insert the key, adjust the knobs on the radio and AC.
Fairly modest goals. I shall Google a few things but unless I can find some robot arm I shall not get very excited. Like I said at the beginning, an interesting day.
In January 2016 I lost my balance at the top of the stairs and bounced down the stairs, crashed through the stair railings at the bottom, slammed my right shoulder into the newel post and banged my head and pretty well wiped out my glasses.
Husband came to my rescue and between the two of us, we got me up on my feet, my rain coat wrapped around me and we got into the car and drove to the CVH ER.
There I was x-rayed. I have a very dim memory of the white tunnel of the MRI and the next time I woke up was at OHSU in Portland status post shoulder repair.
I did not wake up for a couple of days. I remember waking gradually, looking around and wondering why I was in prison and willing myself to go back to sleep.
I was eventually transferred out of ICU and stayed for a total of ten days. I had broken off my right radial head and that had wound up in my chest cavity. I broke a couple of ribs. The surgery consisted of harvesting most of the radial head which has poor vascular supply at the best of times.
The surgical team put in a shoulder prosthesis that allowed me partial movement. I was able to raise my right hand to waist height and that was about the extent of recovery. Physical therapy taught me how to properly go up and down stairs.
I had a good time visiting with family and telling really bad jokes.
What did the elephant say to the naked man?
"How do you breath through that thing?"
So I was discharged, went home to some physical therapy and I adapted thereafter, both going up and down the stairs.
At my last physician's office visit I asked to be referred for orthopedic consultation to see if I could get some better range of motion so I could comb my hair, open a drawer with two handles.
Dr Hobson talked and explained that because I had zero rotator cuff that there was not much to hook up either my deltoid or my tares minor. You must have those two muscles firmly attached at both ends to allow over head movement. He explained that he could do a partial correction so that I would be able to at least scratch my nose but since I had zero pain at present that the procedure would all but guarantee that my pain level would increase to a steady four out of ten.
Huh. He said that most of the patients he see's are in such pain from their shoulder repair that they think four out of ten pain level is a wonderful thing. So, I explained to Dr. Hobson that the only reason I wanted the repair was in order to better drive the car. We decided that I could live and adapt with the current situation.
I did go online and there ARE such things as rotator cuff prostheses and those are usually for high end athletes. Since I am not a sports star, tennis star or a pool hustler I shall think about ways that I could drive better. Uber? Not available.
I wonder if there is some kind of exoskeleton that would allow me to use my right arm to lift enough to shift the gear knob (automatic), insert the key, adjust the knobs on the radio and AC.
Fairly modest goals. I shall Google a few things but unless I can find some robot arm I shall not get very excited. Like I said at the beginning, an interesting day.
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