shoulder pain

[feelbad]

i completely totally understand the "family' crap. people have never actually gotten the depth or level of what just occured with my spinal cord surgery,espescially my clueless sister who has never ever had anything "bad' happen to her or her kid( the things that happened to me and my son were actually mostly a genetic luck of the draw,dang lucky *****). that really is what makes the difference in understanding someone elses situation,having that simple perspective. i too am hoping to find out just what i actually have to deal with once i get thru PT. right now,this surgery and that godawful sling have just exascerbated the living heck out of everything i already had that was a mess and also created some brand new crap to deal with too. god this has been one ugly nasty surgery/recovery.

we will have to compare the notes on the PT thing. hopefully we will both finally get the relief we need. i am hopeful so that helps.

hey hitman hows it going? thanks for the words. sorry i havent been able to get down to the spinal boards here lately,i keep running out of gas by the time i hit the pain boards. how are things? any better,any real answers yet? post me down on the spinal boards hon,i really want to know how things are going and if ANYTHING has actually been found out or confirmed in you yet,K?

later guys,hang in there sammy. Marcia

[sammyo1]

Marcia, I will be calling to get into pt this morning. Don't know why I put it off. I am really sore. Felt pretty good after getting through the morning the other day so I know once again I over did it. I cant seem to find my limits. Yesturday (easter) felt like the week after surgery. Muscle spasms & pain all teh wat down teh arm. I'm pretty mad at myself. Dang this feels like it just goes on & on. Still hurts if I roll at night so waking up every night. In fact the whole darn side hurts all the way to the hip & up towards the neck, really strange I have been getting this tingling down the left side of my back, directly down from the scapula, not sure if its from trying to use that side alittle more or what, just strange, ya know?
I am pretty much giving up on other people getting it. No one seems to understand why it is such a long recovery, I am still shocked myself. When the surgeon said this is a long recovery he sure was not kidding. I hope I don't run into anyone needing this & they ask me how it was, because if I am honest it would probably scare the heck out of them.
I get so sore I can barely lift my arm & that does get discouraging. The other side is sore as heck with both of them aching & sore it is bothering my neck. I am going to forced into taking a couple days of doing nothing sooner or later.
I am worried abit. The surgeon said I came in with so much that it will be a wait & see. I know I will left with some type of discomfort due to the athritits.
I never worried about problems with the pain meds but I am beginning to wonder about that to. I managed to go the other day a little longer between doses but I started to feel shaky, really bad. Along with that I am waking up with abdominal pains every single morning, man they hurt. I am taking the metamuccell & managing to go so I can't figure out why all the pain? This is all getting to me my friend.
Are you finding all this as frustrating as I am? I would love a day with no pain & a full nights sleep! Let me know how your doing. Not that I want to hear your suffering but I sure am glad I am not alone here, every now & then I start to question is this normal.
Sammy

[feelbad]

how do you normally sleep sam? you really must bop around like my hubby all night long too? one nice handy little hint i got from my PMs NP the other day when i just had my regular follow up for my meds is the pillow splint thing? never even thought about that. we used the pillow splints(back when i had a life and was happy?) on patients all the time for arm and foot injuries. when she just mentioned this to me i thought DUH,why didn;t I think of that. you just take a pillow and kind of roll it around your arm lengthwise and then have old hubby just duct tape a couple spots so it can just slide on and off? use this at night,just slide your arm in and possiblely even have your hubby tape it down onto your jammies or something? this may keep you from doing what you are doing to it during the night. i have been doing this since she told me about it since the first night i went without that sling,i woke up in ALOT of real joint pain. never had that problem before with the splint. but this actually helps alot in just keeping it slightly raised and in place across the front of my lap.

i just think,based on your nightly escapades you have mentioned going on here that you really do need to try and keep that arm in its place at night. this really sounds like the biggest aggrevator for what you have been explaining,it all happenes during the night kind of thing?

i know we both had that incredibly painful problem pre op with us waking up and somehow our arms would be over our heads in like one of the most painful posistions? i still don't get that. why would a person place their body part in a posistion during sleep that simply casues alot of pain??? still working on that one,lol. but from your posts,it really sounds like you are placing your arm and your body in some really strange posistions during sleep that they simply are not ready for yet,ya know what i mean? this WOULD affect it the whole next day too. just cause alot of extra inflammation for you to have to deal with. i always just have to lie flat on my back when i sleep becasue of the leg spasticity issue.if my legs are not right in front and elevated to a certain degree all night,man do they start getting nasty and way too 'happy'. maybe hubby can just duct tape you to the flippin bed?? you just really need to stop the night time sideshow sweetie. i just really think this is affecting you alot more in alot of ways than you may think it is,ya know?

if there was just some way you could actually make yourself "not' move around so much for just a couple nights then see how things go the next days,i really do think you would feel a big difference in how the pain is overall. there just has to be some way that you can kind of 'stabilize" yourself somehow. seriously sammy,from what you have been posting since even before your surgery,your night time movements have really been an issue for you and your overall pain too.

i am wondering about trying valium or something before bed just to see if it may help you some? or even trying the sleep aids like lunesta or even ambien or something? just to see how this may work for you. trying to actually sleep with my hubby in the very same bed must be exactly what your hubby goes thru with you too,lol. he flips and flops and practically pushes me out of the freaking bed all night long. VERY restless sleeper there. i have been sleeping in another room on a really comfy twin foldaway since i came home. not ready to be assaulted in my sleep yet ya know?just some thoughts there for ya hon.

i too for some reason haven't called yet for my appt for PT. have had so many other crappy things i am also dealing with here. plus i have to figure out whether or not i want to go with that wonderful guy who was doing my myo and the cranio and wait like forever to see him(he just books up very fast),or just go with another PT person and get in alot more often? big choice here. but i HAVE to set this up today no matter what. i just need to get my freaking arm above my head again ya know? i am getting alot of mobility and strength back but need soo much more yet. and then there IS the pain whenver i just overdo too much. it doesn't take too much to trigger that. and those lovely horrid TPs that are radiating out from like everywhere up there. thats always been an issue tho,just exascerbated like crazy now. biofreeze and lido patches,love them!

well i hope you can figure out a 'sounder' way to sleep hon,i really think if you can,alot of the overall inflammatory type pain would go down for you. doing what you do every night,your surgical area just really never gets a chance to "rest',you know what i mean?as usual,please keep me posted hon,Marcia

[sammyo1]

Mar, funny you should mention the valium at bedtime, because that is exactly what I am going to try tonight. I am fed up, starting to feel exhausted. I slept in the bed with my husband over the weekend (my daughter was home for the weekend, so had to give her bed back) sure enough I woke him up & he pretty much was begging me to get back to my own side & try to lay still (ha). I am rolling on it to much I think, I know I move all over the place & of course it is waking me up because it becomes painful.
I know exactly what you mean, you do alittle bit to much & boom back in pain, in fact I have had to put the darn sling back on more the last couple days, I was pretty much able to go without it most of the time. I swear I have tried everything, I know I have over did it abit & I am postive that the fact that I can't seem be still in my sleep is aggravating it.
I am really having problems lately. I will have to keep trying these things & hope something works because this pain is just climbing back up. I am trying to learn how to do things alittle different. I swear I cannot believe how long & painful this whole thing is, I have been in a real nasty mood these last couple days.
I am starting PT the first week in april, trying a place recommended to me, the last therapist I just did not have any luck with & although I believe he tried & pointed out alot of things he noticed it took most of my time just to understand what he was saying. He also really kept lecturing me about the meds & I don't need that kind of pressure right know. I am struggling as it is.
All of this is starting to take its toll on me & I am forcing myself to take the next couple days & try to take it easy. I really am hoping PT will help me out here. On the second dose of percocet along with a relafen & still in pain, just a deep aching pain along with some a nice dose of muscle spasms. I would love to know just how much the weather effcts all this, it has been crazy here. I am grabbing a book & a hot pack & I don't care if my rearend grows roots, that is where I am staying for the day & maybe tommorrow to. Get that pt appointment made my friend. Talk to you soon. Sammy

[cody48]

Feelbad and Sammy, you two are scaring me to death concerning this surgery. Feelbad, you made some really good points in your post to me that I appreciate, but I continue to be shocked at the recovery problems and length or time. I had been told that knee replacement is the worst but as mentioned in this post it sounds as if Rotator cuff is worse.

One thing interesting is reading your "hints" (such as the pillow for sleeping). These are good things to know for people who MAY have to go through this.

Hope for a QUICK and less painful recovery for both of you. You have both been through so much.