It’s great to have the sling off after rotator cuff surgery.  The pillow that was attached to hold my arm out away from my side was to allow the rotator cuff tendons to heal, and let the titanium stitches inside become one with the healed tissue, attaching it to the bone.  The pillow was the worst part of this, and I brought the sling along home, but asked the doctor to symbolically throw that pillow away for me.  I didn’t want to carry it anywhere else.

It was great to be able to drive and it felt like being released from prison.  The shoulder is stiff as the surgeon said it would be, after the surgical procedure and 4 weeks of immobilization.   I can use the arm for whatever it will do, and the rules are pretty simple.  Don’t lift anything heavier than a coffee cup, with the coffee in it, lol.  And if anything makes it hurt, stop doing it.  It doesn’t go far up, or out, yet, but PT will begin to get it moving.  After it’s moving better, we’ll work on strength training.  My surgeon is conservative about the PT process, preferring to go slow in looking for a good long term outcome.  I love this guy.

Now I’ve begun PT with a good therapist who understands my surgeon’s thought process well, having worked with him for 6 or so years.  I have exercises to do at home three times a day, and will go to PT three times a week at first.  It’s important to get flexibility back in the joint quickly to avoid frozen shoulder, since once frozen shoulder sets it, it can’t be reversed.

It’s pretty useful just as it is for lots of things, like typing with two hands and getting both hands in the sink to wash dishes, washing hair with both hands, etc.  And knowing that it will become more useful in the next month or so is great.  PT might go on for as much as four months, to build strength then.

Gardening will happen with some help and lots of patience.  Of course, patience is always needed for gardening, but this year it will just require more.  Spring will come, after another long strange trip of a winter here.  Things will grow and we’ll eat fresh stuff out of the garden.

MaChatte thought it was nice to have me home more, and now when I go away, she seems glad to see me come back.  It’s all good, that’s what a friend of mine always says.  And he’s right. It’s all good.