The Good Kind Of Pain

After three straight days with my regular physical therapist, I feel great.  The first session on Tuesday was sooooooooo painful.  I was wincing and holding onto the table with my left hand for dear life.  Who knew she has such a mean streak.  But as soon as she let go, the pain went away.  And the next two days were easier, less painful, and gave way to greater movement.  So now my shoulder feels much looser and more normal, which is good.  I am still in the sling till Feb 23rd and time is ticking slowly, but even this little progress is so appreciated.

I'm looking forward to a 2011 filled with riding and racing.  Happy New Year!

Slingin' in the Snow

For those of you who believe, in Santa that is...Merry Christmas!

On the day after Santa came, we got snow.  It's quite a novelty in Charlotte.

My sling sure did keep me warm!

Going Slow

After three days of PT, I feel like I haven't gotten anywhere.  The assistant therapist is being so cautious, ugh!  If I can't feel her doing anything, what's the point in going to therapy?  Oh well, my regular therapist m is back next week.  I'm looking forward to the good kind of pain.

I also saw the doc Wednesday.  He was so excited to tell me how easy this 2nd surgery was.  The device came right out, no digging.  He put the new one in, using the previously drilled whole, and viola...done.

Kind of wish he could have done that on Oct 4th when I broke the device the first time.  But I'm trying not to go there...

PT Begins Again

On a scale of 1 to 10, how's the pain?

Uh, zero.

Really?

I don't feel anything.  Is that bad?

No, it's just that this is one of the most painful surgeries to recover from.  I can't believe you could be pain free twice.

Huh?  Well I still hope this is the last time :).

On The Road

Today was my first day back at the gym, a mellow 45 minutes on the recumbant bike.  I feel like I've started on the long road back to recovery.  PT begins on Monday.  I hopes it's not more painful than last time.

Drug Free

On day two, I am drug free, other than for sleeping at night.  I took a shower last night and got to look at my new scars.  A little bigger / longer, but the bone looks awesome!  Yippie!!!  I feel great.  So much less pain this time.  So I have to be even better.  And I will, I promise.

Take Two

My wonderful doctor, Dr. Marcus Cook at Perry Orthopedics, performed a miracle for me yesterday.  He was able to redo my original surgery successfully and he didn't even have to re-drill through the bone.  What does this mean?  Less pain and hopefully another good result, as long as I'm good that is.

The recovery so far has been soooooooooo different this time.  I'll share more later.  Typing with one hand, it being the left, is annoying.

11 week, 6 days to go!

Carbon 29er

Today at work, at the Trek Store here in Charlotte, I got to ride a Gary Fisher 29er in a 15.5.  I was worried I would be too small.  Turns out the bike felt small.  I like to be really stretched out when I ride.  But it had such a tiny stem that it felt too upright.  Otherwise the bike was awesome.

So now I have to decide: do I get a longer stem?  Do I try a 17.5?  Or do I order a 16.5 WSD (women's specific design) bike?  Hmm, I'll have to think on that...

Just Waiting

The past week or so hasn't been very exciting, unless you count my xmas shopping.  I feel like I'm in a holding pattern, just waiting for surgery day.  Then I get to begin rebuilding again.  Three more days...

In the meantime I do get to ride a Gary Fisher carbon 29er hardtail in a 15.5 this weekend to see if it fits me.  So at least I'll have the bike decision sorted by the time I go under on Monday.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Not So Free

I guess I won't miss my PT lady that much.  I'll be seeing her again soon as it turns out.  While I've been absent from the blog, up in Jersey and the Boston area visiting family, my shoulder has begun to ache.  And at night it feels like I just had surgery the day before, without meds.  Awesome.

So today, I went to see the doc again.  He confirmed what I suspected.  The clavicle bone that popped up is rubbing on my shoulder bone.  Ouch!  This was the one issue, other than the cosmetic bump, that could happen.

Am I upset?  Not really.  At least it's still 2010.  If this pain had started next year, I would totally freak out.  In this case, I'm trying to look on the bright side.  At least I can have it fixed now and not have it cost thousands of dollars more since we've met that out of pocket max.

My poor husband will have to go back to working from home and taking care of me and the toddler.  Fun, fun.

I promise to be good, wear my sling, and be extra careful with my shoulder.

The doc has his work cut out for him.  He's going to try to go in through the scope again, disassemble the device in my shoulder, carve out all the scar tissue, and try to rebuild the device, with new parts of course.  If that doesn't work, he'll cut a 6 inch hole in my shoulder, cut through my deltoid muscle (which will never be the same), saw off the tip of my clavicle, and then tie a tendon graft around the two bones.

And you know what....I'm still bike shopping!  No, not really.  But I've already figured that I should be able to ride again March 1rst.  Lucky me!