The Shoulder

My sixth Boise trip this calendar year was to revisit Dr.Goodwin for my post-op appointment. It was in this meeting that I learned I convinced the anesthesiologist to take photos on my camera during surgery… and that it went well.

Ultimately, I had three things done:

1. Rotator Cuff Repair – I had several tears of the rotator cuff that they cleaned up – mostly stemming from the under-side of the tendon itself, or rather, "to debride small articular surface tears in the posterior supraspinatus border".

2. Labral Repair – Dr.Goodwin cleaned up some additional tendon damage and ultimately reattached the tendon to the bone in two places after discovering a "Type 2 Superior Labral Tear with instability of the superior biceps anchor". He did this by tying and tightening “string” around the tendon and burying the loose ends into the bone itself.

3. Impingement Repair – turns out I have more than braces to thank my parents for… I also had a shingle style clavical which was causing impingement syndrome. He shaved off 1/8” from the end of the bone, smoothing it and providing more room for the tendons to pass through unimpeded during movement. The official word here: "hypertrophic osteoarthritis and chondromalacia of the acromioclavicular joint... removing 9-10mm of clavical while preserving the joint capsule superiorly and posteriorly."

All in all, he said things went well and that I should be mostly pain free in 2-3 months. For now, the key is to work on establishing mobility and once the pain has dissipated, to start working to strengthen the shoulder.

Back to the Denver adventure for a moment… it was interesting to see the progression of healing even in that short window of a weekend. I arrived in Denver in significant pain and zero mobility (check out the hanging chad in this photo!). By Monday, I was fully sling-free and able to wipe with my right hand (It’s the little things, Avid Reader. It’s the little things.)!

So, I passed my two-week mark with high marks from the Doctor, significantly reduced pain, and an ability to at least not look like a mugging target! Send this slugger back to The City, I say!