Shoulder Rehab Progress: 4 weeks/1 month post-op

I am four weeks post-op shoulder, nearly one month post-op. This past week has been some better. For one thing, being back in the pool has helped immensely! My shoulder is calming down, gaining better motion, the rest of my body is calming down, etc. I strongly suspect that if I had been allowed to be in the pool earlier, we might have avoided some of the shoulder stiffness and soreness and some of the global flare. My neck and back are still pretty flared, easily irritated. For now, just grateful I can be in the pool now and that it does help so much! I swam laps until the day before surgery, was cleared to kick laps with a kick board at three weeks post-op, not allowed to use surgical side arm at all yet. However, in the first week of adding back kicking, already back up to a mile of consecutive laps! It is slow, but I can do it and it feels great! Pretty excited and encouraged.

9/5/18: 4 weeks post-op
Some new milestones! I had a physical therapy appointment at four weeks post-op. We added more active motion and some weight! It may only be 1-pound and 2-pound weights, but it is progress! Passive ROM work by PT stretching things out is some better, but remains very uncomfortable in some positions. He commented that it felt good--meaning better than it had been. I retorted it did not feel good--meaning it still sort of hurts. I have only been to the pool three times since being cleared to submerge shoulder. the first time was with waterproof bandages still as a precaution. However, the last two times, no bandages. Last time, I was able to kick an entire mile with no breaks! Hips are doing fine. It was not fast, but I was amazed I could do it. I knew from second time that I could do total of a mile, but that had been pretty broken up. This time, I just started with a goal of a half mile, but since that felt great, then just kept going....for a full mile! Pace was not that great, but I did not care. So excited to have been able to kick a full mile and have it feel good!

This is kicking only, but pretty exciting for soon post-op!

Also, pretty impressive weekly total for 3-4 weeks post-op. 

Not too bad for a single day just shy of 4 weeks post-op!

Reality is, my body needs to move.

Yes, I am sleeping a lot! My body is working hard to recover. 

Love what this t-shirt says in light of post-op shoulder restrictions!

I can get the SI joint support belt on and tight by myself!

Also, loved getting back in the pool! Waterproof bandages as precaution. 

Yes, still using kinesiology tape to try to calm neck and back. 

I can get the SI joint belt on by myself. I can get regular t-shirts on/off by myself. The "off" still makes me stop to think, fear getting stuck, but I can do it, albeit slowly. Still mostly living in tank tops as easy. It is also easy to layer a lightweight hoodie over the top if need the warmth.

9/7/18: almost 1 month post-op (tomorrow)
I had another physical therapy appointment today, with physical therapist being pleased with progress and how things are going. My shoulder is gaining strength, range of motion. It is still weak, and a little stiff. However, pretty normal for this stage of recovery, nothing concerning. He asked if surgeon had said anything regarding when I'd be ready to work. No. Plus, we think I am heading into more surgery, still. We ended up discussing how to keep me progressing with shoulder rehab through another major surgery. I have second opinion consult next week, see shoulder surgeon the following week and need his input on when he thinks the shoulder is ready.

My back has been so uncomfortable that I pretty much have to keep moving. The rainy weather has made things challenging for walking, but desperation means I have walked in the rain this week. Yesterday, I had planned to swim but the pool was closed for repairs. It was a gorgeous day and not raining! So, I went for a walk! I am back to pre-op pace and distance with walking again! Walked again later as back just hurt and walking helps loosen it up. Then, later yet, my sister proposed looking at the flooding, so we went for a walk together, taking the time to really look at things, take photos. We went as far as we could until the path was under water. We could have gotten further if we had gone up to the road, but we knew eventually that would be under water too. The driving entrances into the park are all barricaded.

The partial daily summary is from yesterday--had to keep moving.

The weekly summary is the past week. Not too bad!

Photo of part of Holmes lake taken from the top of the dam. 

Part of trails under water, parking lot no longer is, but clearly was. 

Sign posts on the beach are now in the lake. 

Overall my shoulder is doing well! My other shoulder is staying pretty calm in spite of working for both. My hips are doing great! But, my neck and back and just angry, irritated with entire situation. I have been back in compression shorts for quite some time--one of my early skills, was getting compression shorts on with one hand. I am now back in the SI belt as well and that does help some. We have been taping, are experimenting with different ways to tape, but surgery is a MCAS (mast cell activation syndrome) flare trigger and my skin is more reactive, thus we have not been able to tape as much.

I went swimming (kicking) again! We are trying a different way of taping.
Tan lines from taping shoulder pre-op. Also, no waterproof bandages anymore! 

I wore the t-shirt to PT as it seemed appropriate--he agreed. 

I am grateful recovery is going so well thus far. Just the last day or so, find that I feel pretty normal, am using the arm more, though it is still restricted.

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