We’re now four weeks since surgery, and my range of motion is getting pretty good with my injured shoulder. I still have to wear the brace all day every day, and it still hurts a good bit, but I can tell some improvement. Hopefully, next week, I will be able to go without the brace, although truth be told, I would rather wear it an extra couple weeks than rush things.
Still, the worst time is after I do the exercises and after rehab. I had it again at 9 this morning, and I honestly just don’t want to do anything afterwards. It just feels like someone put a damned ice pick in the joint. it isn’t the same kind of overwhelming, all-consuming pain that went with the tissue damage from surgery, but it is a nagging dull pain with an occasional sharp burst. Oh wells. I guess I can tell it is getting better, so no point bitching.
Chat Noir
Glad to hear it! I can’t imagine what you went through and are going through with the rehab.
Maude
Know whatcha mean about ice pick pain. It is nasty.
A couple of weeks and you’ll be feeling like a new man.
robertdsc
Glad to hear that. Keep the progress up.
Mino
Just a suggestion, but perhaps you should speak with your doctors about supplementing with glucosamine chondroitin to help normalize the joint. It works to rebuild cartilege and restore synovial fluid.
Violet
Glad things are improving! Slowly but surely. You’ll be back to carrying Lily over snowdrifts in no time.
licensed to kill time
Have you followed some folk’s suggestions here and taken a painkiller (even ibuprofen) an hour before rehab as well as another once you get home? The rehab sucks but is necessary, which sucks. I’m glad you are seeing progress.
Ash Can
Bravo. Here’s wishing you continued, rapid progress.
jenniebee
Good to know that you’re feeling better. Hope your recovery won’t mean an end to the emo posting though.
John Cole
@licensed to kill time: Not allowed to take ibuprofen. Slows the bone healing.
Tylenol and narcotics based with tylenol.
Legalize
Cole needs to be primaried for not getting better immediately. Worse than Bush.
LGRooney
It hurts! There’s every point to bitching about it.
All of this was much easier when I was younger, now it takes so long to recover from injuries/ surgeries (knees, shoulder, wrist, and now they want to cut into my spine – fusion). I want to get all this over with before I’m 50.
valdivia
Great about the progress and improvements John. Just keep doing what you are doing and feel better.
Fergus Wooster
There’s always a point in bitching, John.
Glad to hear you’re making progress.
licensed to kill time
@John Cole: Ah. Well I’m glad that you are following your actual doctor’s advice rather than anonymous commenters, then ;-)
Mike Kay
can’t they give you some injectable codeine? That’s what Howard Hughes used to use.
Zifnab
Get well soon, John. Starcraft 2 is coming out pretty soon. You’ll want a full range of motion for when you need to fling your keyboard across the room after I kick your ass.
Deb T
Complaining can help. Go for it.
John Cole
@Zifnab: I am never going to catch up. I have ME 2, and the expansion to Dragon Age, plus Starcraft 2, and I am sure there is a WoW expansion in the works (even though I don’t play anymore I do want to play the expansion for the lore and the experience).
Sarah in Brooklyn
I’m glad you’re a bit better. Have you tried acupuncture? It can be great for pain relief and to help healing.
gogol's wife
I’m glad you’re feeling better. I sent you a link with a New York Times article analyzing different kinds of dog snow booties, so you won’t have to carry Lily.
slag
Don’t feel bad about bitching. We feel your pain.
I’ve broken only one bone in my life (that I’m aware of), and it took doctors several weeks to even realize my leg was broken. Through that whole time, I just remember being depressed as hell. It wasn’t the pain as much as it was the frustration of relative immobility and increase of obstacles to just living life.
Beyond which, there’s a lot of uncertainty about the whole process. You start to wonder…Is this normal? Why does it still hurt? When is this problem going to be resolved? Really, the whole thing makes you feel very much out of control. At least it did for me. And my thing was not even remotely as bad as your thing.
Your thing totally sucks. So, you should bitch freely.
Sentient Puddle
I think Starcraft 2 is slated for around the middle of the year, and Cataclysm, if I had to guess, is closer to the end of the year. So there’s plenty of time to play things. Though Mass Effect 2 will most assuredly eat up a lot of your time if you’re not careful (although “careful” in this context might not be the right word).
debit
@Mike Kay: For FSM’s sake, don’t have John emmulate Hughes. That way lies madness. Unless you want John to start shuffling around with Kleenex boxes on his feet.
asiangrrlMN
Glad you’re seeing improvement, Cole. I love the fact that you bitch bitch bitch and then say, “But there’s no point in bitching.” I agree with the others. There’s always a point in bitching!
P.S. Did you ask the nurse out?
Omnes Omnibus
@debit:
Just think of the entertainment value in that for Tunch and Lily.
Just Some Fuckhead
The first coupla times you masturbate, it’s going to feel like someone else’s hand. That’s pretty cool.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
Absolutely, but any more chicken little threads, the pain in my ass will flare up again.
cat48
Glad your better, but sorry you still have pain. Too bad you can’t use ibuprofen because it is better than narcotics for achy pain I think.
Warning: Don’t let the Dr. take your brace away. The Dr. threw my neck brace away in his office and demanded I never use it again. He refused to even discuss letting me keep it. Just kept saying, “no more, you’ll never get well”. I still needed it to sleep at times so I had to go buy another one.
Have the pets been nicer to you? Mine seemed to act nicer or quieter somehow.
Punchy
What happened to your shoulder?
Alex S.
Good luck, John. I like that you don’t seem to rush it…anymore.
Linkmeister
Wear that brace as long as you feel it’s helping, even beyond the point you’re told you can stop. Healing’s part art, not all science.
And Another Thing...
The good news is that swearing helps relieve pain. I wish I’d known this when I was younger.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1910691,00.html
Andrew
Lift weights with your good arm. Rows, presses, etc. It will strengthen and prevent some atrophy in your injured arm
R-Jud
@Just Some Fuckhead: Eeeeeeew. Heh.
tesslibrarian
So glad you’re feeling better! But ugh–post-therapy absolutely sucks.
I used to sleep for an hour after pt, then spent the afternoon counting the minutes until 6pm when my husband would be done with work and could pour me a glass of white wine, which just entirely relaxed all the muscles that had been tortured that day. Then at 8pm: the home exercises; 9pm: another glass of wine. But I was only on ibuprofen since the narcotics made me either sick or loopy.
Also good you are taking it slow–my pt rushed me and I ended up retearing the muscle a full 2 months after it had healed. I still can’t wear high heels–sucks when you’re 5’1”.
Svensker
I was going to offer some (gentle) hugs, but after JSF’s comment, I’m not touching anyone.
Yeah, DID you ask the nurse out?
John Cole
No, I didn’t ask any nurses out. I know this is kind of hard for some of you to understand, but gimping around in pain doesn’t really put me in the dating mood.
Plus, I had lot of encounters with women and potential mates at Dead Shows in the late 80’s while under the influence of narcotics. None of that ever worked out very well.
Persia
I am glad you’re feeling better but bummed it’s still so painful and frustrating.
Chyron HR
@John Cole:
I assume you meant to write “males”.
asiangrrlMN
@John Cole: Aw, shucky darn. I thought a bit of careful nooky might improve your outlook. And, a nurse would know better than to jostle your bad wing!
Face
I can’t wait to hear what excuse you proffer in 6 months with a fully functioning wing. Too much gardening, knitting, or video games, or some such standby.
WereBear
Glad to hear things are better, in some ways.
Our mind always gets impatient long before our body says it’s ready.
demo woman
You’re still my hero. You handled the situation better than I would have. I can’t imagine life without showers. Plus you’re a hell of a one handed typist.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@John Cole:
Whoa. Careful there.
Any wingnut blogger worth their salt could demonstrate the falsity of this statement using a DVD of The English Patient, a sand table, and their collection of GI Joe action figures and Barbie dolls.
John Cole
@demo woman: I’m rocking two hands now!
I put a board across the lazy boy and keep the lap top perched right under my right hand in the sling, and then just twist a little bit so my eft hand is on the keyboard too!
Bad Horse's Filly
@John Cole: Umm, I probably shouldn’t mention this, but lots of women like an injured man they can coo over. Don’t overlook this as terrific opportunity.
Also – do you get to jacuzzi after your therapy? That just sounds like it could help.
Two pieces of unsolicited advice from another anonymous blogger.
Mike E
@John Cole:
IBs drove me up a tree, I try not to take that stuff to this day.
I’m sure others have said this many times, but it’s worth repeating–your gonna wake up one day and feel painfree, ahead of schedule. The world will seem full of possibilities involving your new bionic shoulder, and you’re gonna want to put it to the test–DON’T. Follow your PTist’s advice to the tee, then go even SLOWER. My shoulder didn’t go through anywhere near what yours did, and I regret rushing it–I was a new father at the time, and lil Miss E was too cute to put down :-)
Tsulagi
@John Cole:
Damn, if you can’t/won’t push through the pain in the pursuit of some, then it’s really got you beat.
Probably a whirlpool tub where you get your rehab. Ask your sadist PT tech (hopefully cute) to take off her stilettos and do your therapy in the tub. Range of motion and all that. If needed, maybe even resort to some Beckian manufactured tears in your plea. There’s no shame in trying to score sympathy sex if successful.
Carrie
Great news, keep it up and you’ll be playing the piano in no time.
And bitch away, it’s good for moral. (ours, that is)
Skepticat
No point to bitching? Does that mean that you’re deflating the balloon and leaving us to beat our heads against the wall alone?
The concept that there’s no point to bitching might require significant reassessment of my entire life.
Annie
@Fergus Wooster:
bitch, bitch, bitch…you stole my line….
PS. Is John curling Tunch yet?
Sentient Puddle
@Tsulagi:
And if unsuccessful?
bemused
It’s 4 weeks already? Must feel more like 4 months but sounds like good progress.
A family member broke both forearms skiing a week ago. The first couple of day the pain was excruciating. She’s had surgery & will be getting new pins or whatever on Monday. Doc said not to lift anything heavier than a pen for 6 weeks. Fortunately, she has 2 teenage daughters to help her with her hair washing & household chores. Zipping up pants is a bitch so she is going shopping for comfy pants that don’t look like old lady slacks.
She’s hoping that all is well on Monday, that she hasn’t overdone movement & screwed up anything.
It’s hard to imagine dealing with 2 broken arms.
Tsulagi
@Sentient Puddle:
Maybe a little embarrassment. For a moment. No big whoop. Learn and adjust fire for the next attempt.
You got to stay focused on the mission. If you come up a little short after giving it your best shot, you can take pride in that. You want to be able to bask in the afterglow of a mission accomplished. It’s an endorphins thing.
CaseyL
It’s fantastic to hear you’re making noticeable progress.
It’s interesting to think that PT provides a socially acceptable, and even benevolent, outlet for people with sadistic impulses. Kind of a piece with wondering about the sorts of people who become, say, surgeons: seriously twisted shit going on their heads and souls, but fortunately there’s a beneficial way they can satisfy their craving to carve people up.
Also, I’m with everyone else: Your bitching helps keep me going, so don’t you dare stop!
Mary Travers' Ghost
@Zifnab: Hasn’t Starcraft 2 been coming out soon for the last three years?
Tsulagi
@Tsulagi:
Okay, now that was a WP fail. And it won’t give me permission to edit its work. Like I said in my comment, no big whoop.
soonergrunt
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
WIN.
SGEW
Glad to hear that the shoulder is improving; sorry to hear it’s still such a pain.
Bitch away, Mr. Cole. We can take it.
Svensker
So, were the potential mates NOT women?
And you’re saying you haven’t dated since the 80s? Or that you haven’t dated on drugs since the 80s?
Maybe trying to figure out a Venn Diagram between “women” and “potential mates” would be of some help here.
Anne Laurie
Your loyal minions are ever-curious, John. And very, very glad (despite the evidence of this thread) to hear that you’re healing, however wincingly slowly.
JSD
John,
The most important thing is:
Can you play Mass Effect 2 without pain?
Mum
@John Cole:
So glad to hear that you are feeling better.
I don’t know if you listen to Thom Hartmann’s radio program, but on today’s show, just at or just after the 40-minute mark of the second hour of the program, one of his callers recommended “Balloon Juice” as a blog that he thought Hartmann would appreciate.
merl
Dude, I’ve had a heart attack and a broken hip and I didn’t whine as much as you have over your little owey on your shoulder. Get a fucking grip, dude.
John Cole
@merl: Win.
Zifnab
@Mary Travers’ Ghost: Beta just went live this week. I am personally sitting on a copy. *Glee*
But yeah, it’s been a while and – to be honest – it’s not a radical overhaul of the original game. At least, not as far as I’ve seen. But the graphics are pretty and the newer units are intriguing, so I’m happy.
gwangung
Somehow, I feel vaguely comforted that THIS thread is at least two thirds as long as the one on the gay-hatin’ Miss Beverly Hills Wanna Be…..
SiubhanDuinne
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
Yeah. Not to mention Jenny Fields and Technical Sergeant Garp.
Richard C.
John – After my shoulder surgery (slipped on the ice and broke my humerus) the anesthesiologist inserted a catheter into the shoulder area attached to a pump that pumped a local anesthetic into my shoulder 24/7. Had it for 10 days. Couldn’t use my right arm for much or take a shower, but there was zero pain.
You want one of those babies.
victory
Shorter John Cole:
Bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch.
Oh wells. I guess I can tell it is getting better, so no point bitching.
;-)
Tax Analyst
@John Cole:
FYI – It didn’t work out that well in the late 60’s-early 70’s either…even when it seemed to be working out.