JDkeystone's shoulder recovery log

[JDkeystone]

My best friend dislocates her knee a lot, too, and she said if it pops out and immediately pops back in, that's a good sign cuz it apparently means nothing was torn; just stretched. So I'm clinging to that idea for now...

I'm still debating if I should call the fracture clinic today, or wait a few days and see if the swelling goes down or if there's any improvement. I doubt I'd be in any shape to go out in public today, though. I'm a fcking mess; it's embarrassing. I'm almost ready to deactivate my bodyspace over this. ='(

[FLbeach321]

Don't believe the "permanetly f'd up" part. Knees aren't that difficult of a rehab. You're just drained because of what you've been through with your shoulder. I know a guy that had bad knees that would dislocate. He strenghthend them up pretty good and when he wrestled he would wear these neoprene things with something like a "horseshoe"shaped thing in it that fit under the knee cap. He stopped having problems with it. Knees aren't difficult like shoulders!

[ChristinaT96]

If I was in your situation, I'd go get it checked....just in case. As for supplements I've been taking Womens Ultra Joint Vita Pack from GNC for 2 months now. Prior to getting on this I took Animal Flex. Overall I feel better on the Joint Vita Pack and have less aches in my knees not to mention the shoulder I had 2 surgeries on.

Tomorrow morning I meet with my new doc and get my MRI results back. Hopefully nothing is torn and I can schedule surgery. The pain is just about subsided completely in that shoulder, but I have not been doing anything with it for the past 5 weeks. My husband and I went out to play pool Saturday night, it did not hurt to play but it was extremely uncomfortable. Also, if I push in on the rotator cuff.....it hurts! If I do the same on the other side I don't feel anything. Anyways, I'm so ready to get this on and over with!

[JDkeystone]

Don't believe the "permanetly f'd up" part. Knees aren't that difficult of a rehab. You're just drained because of what you've been through with your shoulder. I know a guy that had bad knees that would dislocate. He strenghthend them up pretty good and when he wrestled he would wear these neoprene things with something like a "horseshoe"shaped thing in it that fit under the knee cap. He stopped having problems with it. Knees aren't difficult like shoulders!


If I was in your situation, I'd go get it checked....just in case. As for supplements I've been taking Womens Ultra Joint Vita Pack from GNC for 2 months now. Prior to getting on this I took Animal Flex. Overall I feel better on the Joint Vita Pack and have less aches in my knees not to mention the shoulder I had 2 surgeries on.

Tomorrow morning I meet with my new doc and get my MRI results back. Hopefully nothing is torn and I can schedule surgery. The pain is just about subsided completely in that shoulder, but I have not been doing anything with it for the past 5 weeks. My husband and I went out to play pool Saturday night, it did not hurt to play but it was extremely uncomfortable. Also, if I push in on the rotator cuff.....it hurts! If I do the same on the other side I don't feel anything. Anyways, I'm so ready to get this on and over with!

Oh yeah, that's right; I almost forgot about your appointment for tomorrow. Definitely keeping my fingers crossed the results are clean. My only thing, though, is that after my own MRI experience, I don't fully trust them, myself (and a lot of people from this section have told me the same thing). But hopefully you don't run into the same problem; damn, after two surgeries already, you deserve a break.

Anyways, so I was pretty much bed-ridden all day today (aka glued to the computer with my bandaged leg propped up on a 2nd chair, since I had nothing else to do). I only left my apartment once, to go to the walk-in clinic down the street to get some anti-inflammatories and pain meds. I also booked an appointment to have an ultra-sound done on Saturday. If it picks up any tissue damage, I'll then have to book an MRI at the hospital. So I'm pretty much on pins and needles waiting for that.

Pain-wise, it's still pretty swollen and sore. I can walk on it a little bit easier than yesterday, but honestly, not much. I can't bend it or fully straighten it out, and when I'm walking/limping, I can actually feel the knee joint move, like it's on the brink of coming out again. Very similar to how my shoulder felt in the last few months prior to surgery.

I don't wanna keep repeating myself, or make it look like I'm trying to garner more sympathy...but this thing with my knee is hitting me extremely hard. Not once after my surgery did I feel anywhere close to how I'm feeling right now. I've barely been able to eat all day (just had a few protein shakes and some water), and I'm exhausted from barely sleeping last night. The trainer I was working with yesterday, as well the manager of the gym, have both called me several times today to see how I was doing, but I didn't answer (just let it go to voicemail). I'm just too upset to talk to anyone from my gym right now. I'm trying not to hold any animosity for what happened, but it's really hard not to. Two days ago, I was doing sprints; now I can hardly hobble to the bathroom without grimacing in pain. I was talking to one of my old highschool classmates on facebook today, and shared how I was feeling right now, cuz she suffers from the same problem of having hypermobility of the joints. She's already gone through 10 surgeries cuz of how lax her joints and limbs are, and she said by now she's just accepted that she's not gonna be able to train the way she wants to, cuz her body won't allow it. But I just can't accept that same fate for myself. I won't do it. I've come too far, and gone through too much sh*t to throw in the towel now.

Ironically enough...my shoulder is doing amazingly well. I now have to grip the edge the bathtub when going to the bathroom (sitting down on anything is extremely painful right now), and doing this doesn't bother it at all. I can also do lateral raises with 10lb dumbbells...a 2lb increase from what I was doing before. But I honestly don't care right now.

[ChristinaT96]

Well I've met the new doc and got my mri results back, it shows bursitis. He gave me the option of continuing with therapy or having a surgery. I explained to him I've already been doing therapy and have been laying off upper body for 5 weeks now. He said it will take longer then the 2 weeks of therapy I've already had to notice any improvement. He also said the MRI is not conclusive and he would not know the significance of any damage until he got in the shoulder and could look at everything arthroscopic.

I'm scheduled for surgery a week from tomorrow and am not 100% confident I am making the right decision. I've got the time to do it now and concentrate on rehab but am not sure I want to go through another surgery. Then again I don't want to be forced to have a surgery down the road when/if I really mess things up. I've talked to a friend that was in this same situation a few years ago and he said I'd be happier in the long run to get it done now.

So that is my update for today. How's the knee?

[JDkeystone]

Well I've met the new doc and got my mri results back, it shows bursitis. He gave me the option of continuing with therapy or having a surgery. I explained to him I've already been doing therapy and have been laying off upper body for 5 weeks now. He said it will take longer then the 2 weeks of therapy I've already had to notice any improvement. He also said the MRI is not conclusive and he would not know the significance of any damage until he got in the shoulder and could look at everything arthroscopic.

I'm scheduled for surgery a week from tomorrow and am not 100% confident I am making the right decision. I've got the time to do it now and concentrate on rehab but am not sure I want to go through another surgery. Then again I don't want to be forced to have a surgery down the road when/if I really mess things up. I've talked to a friend that was in this same situation a few years ago and he said I'd be happier in the long run to get it done now.

So that is my update for today. How's the knee?

I think your friend is right. This was the same advice I was given years ago when my shoulder was only dislocating about 2-3x a year, and I refused to even consider the possibility of surgery, cuz I didn't wanna deal with the (seemingly) long recovery process. But truth be told, had I had surgery sooner, my recovery probably could've been faster than it's been, and I definitely would've avoided a lot of the suffering I went through from all the dislocations I had. But you know what they say about hindsight being 20/20... =/

And for myself...I'm actually feeling a bit better. This may be in part from me getting a lot more sleep last night than I did the night before, but I also wrapped an ice pack on my knee before going to bed, and now it does look like the swelling has gone down a bit (so now I can bend my leg a little more, as well as straighten it out easier). It's still quite painful to walk on, and feels like the knee capsule is on the brink of "moving" at times, but I do feel an improvement since yestersday, so I'm relieved about that. :)

Just gonna continue to try to stay off my feet as much as possible today (with more icing), and hopefully this trend will continue. Also nice that I've finally managed to stop crying (especially in this heat...don't need dehydration to be added to the list lol).

[TOMMAX2]

Hey sorry to hear about your knee. Ive been through some subluxations my self and a dislocation 5 yrs ago that was pretty traumatic and just had surgery for it in april so I realize that it sucks pretty bad.

From the sounds of what happened to you, it sounds more like a subluxation than a full patellar dislocation. Patellar subluxations easily go back into place on their own while full dislocations can require a trip to the ER to get the knee cap popped back into place by a doctor.

Once you rest for a few weeks you should be feeling better and than you can begin strengthening your vmo muscle which will help to keep it from popping out in the future.

If you ever need any knee advice just shoot me a pm as ive researched the patella femoral joint extensivley over the years and have experienced the injuires first hand.

Keep your head up and dont lose hope, you will look back on these situations in the future and be proud of yourself that you were able to rise above the challenge and succeed.

Take care.

[JDkeystone]

Hey sorry to hear about your knee. Ive been through some subluxations my self and a dislocation 5 yrs ago that was pretty traumatic and just had surgery for it in april so I realize that it sucks pretty bad.

From the sounds of what happened to you, it sounds more like a subluxation than a full patellar dislocation. Patellar subluxations easily go back into place on their own while full dislocations can require a trip to the ER to get the knee cap popped back into place by a doctor.

Once you rest for a few weeks you should be feeling better and than you can begin strengthening your vmo muscle which will help to keep it from popping out in the future.

If you ever need any knee advice just shoot me a pm as ive researched the patella femoral joint extensivley over the years and have experienced the injuires first hand.

Keep your head up and dont lose hope, you will look back on these situations in the future and be proud of yourself that you were able to rise above the challenge and succeed.

Take care.

Hey, thanks for responding. :)

Now that you mention it, a subluxation does sound very likely (I've experienced those before with my shoulders, but it totally slipped my mind for this). But I'll be extremely happy if that's the case with my knee; I was practically in hysterics two nights ago, when the E.R. doctor I saw told me it was a strong possibility I did tear something (makes me wonder how accurate that really was).

Either way, I'll just hold out for now, icing and resting til my ultrasound on Saturday. Appreciate the feedback, thank you!

[JDkeystone]

Before I let this journal get way OT (with all this talk of my knee and stuff), current status for my shoulder- feels good; very good. I've been so fixated on my knee for the past few days, that I haven't really been paying much attention to my shoulder at all, but one thing I have noticed is the morning stiffness has gotten extremely minimal. I slept in today, but I actually don't even recall if I felt any this morning. Gonna make a point to look out for that tomorrow so I can give a more accurate update.

I did end up cancelling my physio session for today, though (trying to stay off my feet as much as possible; want my knee to heal faster than asap). But I've still been doing my exercises at home, which are going well. I'm doubling up my pink theraband on the E.R. exercises, cuz the single layer has gotten too easy. And as I mentioned yesterday, I'm now alternating between 8lb and 10lb dumbbells for the front and side lateral raises. ROM is great; I would need to have measurements done again to see if it's increased at all, cuz at this point I see very little difference between my right and left.

All in all, my shoulder seems to be doing great. Kind of a downer I had to have another bodily mishap to see this kind of improvement, but I feel a lot more confident that my knee isn't gonna have me out too long. Til then, I'll use this time to put in some overtime on my shoulder exercises, and try to finetune it even further.

[JDkeystone]

Well, it's confirmed- both yesterday and today I had zero stiffness and tension in my shoulder upon waking up (neck was a little stiff, but I'm sure that's more to do with my sleeping position, rather than my shoulder, itself). However, I did end up cancelling both ART and physio this week cuz of my knee. Although, truthfully, I don't even know if I'll bother going back to ART anymore, as I'm not even sure it's all that needed at this point. Right now my shoulder feels extremely good; raising my arms over my head is almost effortless now, and all my exercises at home have gotten quite easy. At this point, I think all that's left is getting back those last few, remaining degrees for active ROM, as well as continuing to increase strength (although that'll come naturally once I'm back in the gym for good).

As for my knee...still sore and has that "unstable" feeling (very similar to how my shoulder always felt the first few days after a dislocation), but thankfully, the swelling has continued to go down, and the pain has definitely decreased as well. I'm still having the ultrasound on my knee tomorrow (fingers crossed there's no damage), and I'm seeing my family doctor on Monday to have the forms filled out for my work for short term disability for this week, but beyond that, I don't see this keeping me out of the gym for much longer than maybe another week or two. Even though I was in hysterics a few days ago, I do feel fairly convinced now this was (luckily) a subluxation and not a full dislocation. Sucks that it happened at all, but as long as it's not gonna keep me immobilized from the waist down longterm, I can handle putting off my return for another few weeks.

[ChristinaT96]

How is everyone feeling today?

I'm having surgery in 6 days and have so many little projects around the house I want to get done before I'm all gimpy! Yesterday I managed to do absolutely nothing except make dinner for my hubby. Guess I'm really taking advantage of not having classes or a job to deal with right now. Yet another reason why I should get this surgery done; I have the time to really concentrate on rehab. Last time I was working as an investment analyst for an investor in commercial real estate. Thank goodness it was really casual and I did not have to get dressed up but it was difficult to work done being one handed.

I saw my trainer on Wednesday and expressed to him I really wanted to concentrate on my chest, shoulders, back, and arms for the next week.....as long as the lift did not hurt. There is a lot to be said about muscle memory and I want to be as strong as I can be before I have this surgery. I've always heard the stronger you are going into something like this the easier and faster rehab will be. Here is what I did that might irritate my shoulder: lateral/front raises, bench, upright/seated rows, push-ups. None of those exercises bothered me and it felt really good to be lifting.

Here is where it gets weird. The last 10 minutes of my workout we finish up with some ab work and throw in a couple rounds of plank. After a few seconds of being on my elbows, it feels like a tendon or something in my shoulder is starting to slide. It hurt, but as soon as I dropped to the mat the pain immediately went away. So I think to myself that was weird and get right back into plank. It happened again. I rested for a couple of seconds then decided to tough it out for the remaining 30 seconds. The pinching sensation subsided as soon as I got up and I finished up with 30 minutes on an elliptical.

It's now Friday and no pain in the shoulder, but D@MN I am sore!!! This week I want to get my body stats checked to see where I am going into this surgery. This will be my motivation to get to the gym and ride a bike or walk even if my arm will be in a sling. Although getting my shoes tied and my hair pulled back might be an issue for a few weeks!!! Getting my stats checked will also be my motivation for going hard on my cardio for the next few days!

Good luck with your ultrasound tomorrow, I hope everything turns out well.

[JDkeystone]

How is everyone feeling today?

I'm having surgery in 6 days and have so many little projects around the house I want to get done before I'm all gimpy! Yesterday I managed to do absolutely nothing except make dinner for my hubby. Guess I'm really taking advantage of not having classes or a job to deal with right now. Yet another reason why I should get this surgery done; I have the time to really concentrate on rehab. Last time I was working as an investment analyst for an investor in commercial real estate. Thank goodness it was really casual and I did not have to get dressed up but it was difficult to work done being one handed.

I saw my trainer on Wednesday and expressed to him I really wanted to concentrate on my chest, shoulders, back, and arms for the next week.....as long as the lift did not hurt. There is a lot to be said about muscle memory and I want to be as strong as I can be before I have this surgery. I've always heard the stronger you are going into something like this the easier and faster rehab will be. Here is what I did that might irritate my shoulder: lateral/front raises, bench, upright/seated rows, push-ups. None of those exercises bothered me and it felt really good to be lifting.

Here is where it gets weird. The last 10 minutes of my workout we finish up with some ab work and throw in a couple rounds of plank. After a few seconds of being on my elbows, it feels like a tendon or something in my shoulder is starting to slide. It hurt, but as soon as I dropped to the mat the pain immediately went away. So I think to myself that was weird and get right back into plank. It happened again. I rested for a couple of seconds then decided to tough it out for the remaining 30 seconds. The pinching sensation subsided as soon as I got up and I finished up with 30 minutes on an elliptical.

It's now Friday and no pain in the shoulder, but D@MN I am sore!!! This week I want to get my body stats checked to see where I am going into this surgery. This will be my motivation to get to the gym and ride a bike or walk even if my arm will be in a sling. Although getting my shoes tied and my hair pulled back might be an issue for a few weeks!!! Getting my stats checked will also be my motivation for going hard on my cardio for the next few days!

Good luck with your ultrasound tomorrow, I hope everything turns out well.

lol Oh god, I remember all too well just how much I struggled with those two (especially my hair). But I had my surgery on a Friday, and then spent the weekend at my dad's, so he helped me pull my hair back those first few days. After I came back to my apartment on the Sunday night, I quickly found a new ponytail-tying method, by just pulling my hair in a side ponytail (left side, so I could reach across with my right arm to hold my hair in place while I actually pulled the elastic band around it with my left arm), and then I clipped back the ponytail itself (again with my left hand) with a big hair claw. Not the prettiest looking 'do, but it got the job done when I needed to pull my hair back so I could wash up.

But watch these next 6 days fly by. You'll do great, though; and I'm sure once it's done and over with, you'll be really glad you got it outta the way now so you don't have to deal with it later. :)

[JDkeystone]

Got my ultrasound done on my knee this morning; no tissue damage found. Pretty much what I expected, but it's still another load off my mind to know at least I don't need to worry about that anymore.

Nothing else new to report other than that, though. Knee itself is still store and hurts to walk on for more than 5-10 min at a time, so I'm continuing to ice it and keeping it elevated as much as possible. I'm hoping another week of that and I'll be good to head back to the gym again.

Shoulder's also doing well (about the same as the previous few days). I actually have to remind myself to keep doing my exercises at home, cuz it almost feels like I don't need to anymore. But at this point and after everthing I've been through in the last year, I'm taking nothing for granted. I'm just glad to see as much improvement as I'm seeing at all.

[JDkeystone]

Just got back from my family doctor's office; he filled out the forms I needed for my work to get short term disability pay, no problem, and also put my official return-to-work date as being next Tuesday, August 3. That part was actually kinda surprising for me (I thought he would've been setting my return date for tomorrow or Wednesday). But he said after all the problems I've already had with my shoulder (and the problems I have in general with my lax joints), he thought this was perfectly justified.

My knee feels much better than it did last week, but I do still have pain when walking for "long" periods (ie. ~10 minutes), and also still have that "unstable" feeling when walking without the ace bandage at all. He was more concerned about this than anything else, and recommended I still make an appointment at the fracture clinic (even though having the ultrasound two days ago was a step in the right direction, he said it's not accurate enough to give a proper diagnosis). Oh well, no biggie, considering I have over another week to get that taken care of. I just hope this doesn't delay me returning to the gym for more than another week or two.

And last but not least; shoulder still feels really good. Again, no early morning stiffness for the past few days, which I'm absolutely loving. Since I'm not back at the gym yet, I've just been trying to get creative with what I have to work with at home. I'm doing a few other resistance band exercises they haven't specifically assigned me at physio, but which I recall doing in the past (pre-surgery). Nothing complicated; just doing some figure 'X's by standing on the band with one foot, and then pulling it the opposite way with my right arm, drawing an 'X'. Also now up to 8lbs on the "empty cup" dumbbell exercise, and 10lbs for the front and side dumbbell raises. I'd really like to start trying regular floor pushups, but my knee's not cooperating so far, so that'll have to wait for now. But other than that, I'm pretty happy with my latest advancements. Next attending physio on Thursday (ART still to be determined; may be dropping it altogether, but haven't fully decided yet).

[JDkeystone]

I prolly don't need to be updating this thing as much as I am now, but being that I'll be off from work for another week, my days are quite boring at the moment, so this is more therapeutic venting for me than anything else.

My mood is just really swinging in all sorts of directions right now over my knee; I keep telling myself it's improving (which it definitely is), but I'm nowhere near ready for aggressive, lower body training yet. I decided to test myself by going out for a walk this afternoon (moderate to brisk walking), but even with the ace bandage wrapped tightly, my knee was aching within about 20 minutes. Nothing unbearable, but it really upsets me to think about how badly that would negate me if I was to even try to put a real workout in at the gym. Enough to push me to the point of tears again, but I'm SO tired of crying over this, so I kept them at bay.

I have an appointment with the fracture clinic Friday morning, though, so I'm hoping to get some straight answers from the surgeon I'll be seeing. A part of me is dreading it (if I'm told I'll have to put off training because of this any longer, I won't be responding too well); but at the same time, I just wanna know what exactly this has done to my knee and my potential to workout as I had wanted. May be jumping the gun a little, but I'm already looking at different knee brace options. My dad has one (for his left knee which has a 50% torn ligament), and he says it lets him play tennis without any problems at all. And I know my knee is nowhere near as bad as his, so I'm hoping that'll mean good news for my situation. Either way, I just want this never-ending waiting game to be fcking finished once and for all. :(

Shoulder's still doing well, though. Nothing else new to add since my last shoulder update, so I'll wait til physio on Thursday to see if my PT can give me anything new that I haven't mentioned already.

[ChristinaT96]

I got one day left to finish up on my to do list and make it to the gym one more time. I've been so unmotivated these last few days, its rather ridiculous! Some of that is I've been fighting off a sore throat and sleeping lots. My sore throat is gone and I'm feeling much better. See what happens when the doc tells you to stop taking everything for a week!

I had a pretty good workout today till I tried some lat pull downs. Yeah, that was not a good idea and now my shoulder is pretty sore. My trainer thinks I need to stay outta the gym for at least 2 weeks. He is probably right, but I'm just anxious to get this over with and get on to rehab. Maybe I'll compromise and at least lay off until I get my stitches out. It just depends on how I'm feeling.

Glad to hear the knee is doing better!

[JDkeystone]

Hey, thanks for the update, Christina! Can't remember if you mentioned this already, but how long are you expected to have to wait before starting rehab? I agree with your trainer, though; giving at least 2 weeks before going back to the gym is the prolly a good idea (definitely don't wanna compromise recovery by doing more than you should). Just don't push too hard tomorrow (especially if you're not feeling 100%; dunno if that'll have any impact on surgery, but I wouldn't wanna chance it, regardless). Keep us posted!

[wburner44]

Praying for you!! I've had a shoulder injury for a while so I have a small inkling of what you're going through, and I know it's tough.

Keep your chin up!!

[JDkeystone]

Praying for you!! I've had a shoulder injury for a while so I have a small inkling of what you're going through, and I know it's tough.

Keep your chin up!!

Thank you. :)

It's not so much my shoulder anymore, though; just my knee (subluxed it last week). I feel like I'm on a never-ending "road to recovery". :(

God, why am I still up? lol Need sleep.

[ChristinaT96]

Surgery in 6 hours, YIKES. The Houston Astros won today, I finished that to do list, and had an awesome workout. I am taking that all as a sign that things will go well tomorrow. I should probably get some sleep before going to the surgery center. I'll update sometime tomorrow.

[JDkeystone]

Surgery in 6 hours, YIKES. The Houston Astros won today, I finished that to do list, and had an awesome workout. I am taking that all as a sign that things will go well tomorrow. I should probably get some sleep before going to the surgery center. I'll update sometime tomorrow.

lol damn, woman, go to sleep! don't you have to also be there 2 hours in advance for prep?!

but considering I pulled an all-nighter before mine, I'm hardly one to talk haha. hope it goes well; good luck!!

[ChristinaT96]

I'm home from surgery and happy to report everything went well. My Doc says one he got the scope in he could not see any anatomy because of the amount of bursitis. I also had a pretty good bone spur and he shaved down the clavicle. I was only out for an hour and was hurting pretty good when I started to wake up. The nurse gave me some Demerol in my IV and gave me a Norco, that took care of that.

When we left the surgery center we went straight over to get to get my script filled and pick up a few grocery items. (Jello feels so good on the throat after that darn tube.) My husband decided he was going to have me navigate the store in the electronic scooter. After I nearly took out a fruit stand I opted for the wheelchair he could push me in. I have not eaten anything, besides a little Jello, since last night. Surprisingly I'm not hungry, but I am really thirsty. I think it is a cruel joke to tell me I can't eat or drink after midnight. I can make it a few hours without eating but seriously people do you comprehend the amount of water I drink!

I'm trying to sleep some but that is not going so well. My phone keeps distracting me and I'm in that state of mind that I could sleep, but I can't. ....if that makes any since. Typing on my laptop is pretty easy when I have it sitting on me. A case of the tiredz and heavy eyes just set in.

....That is it for now.

[JDkeystone]

Hey Christina, glad to hear it went ok. Just think; it's done and over with now, and things can only go up from here.:)

I'm not all that familiar with the type of procedure you had done, though; if it's just a matter of repairing the bursitis and shaving down bone spurs, does that involve putting in any anchors as well? Or is that strictly only for labral repair? Also, did you experience any nausea after waking up, or just pain? I think my worst memory after being woken up was the immediate need to violently throw up (again and again and again). God, that was awful...

Anyways, I'm sure you'll be resting and taking it easy for the rest of the day, but let us know how it goes. Happy recovering! ;)

[JDkeystone]

Oh yeah, and for my own update...

So I returned to physio this afternoon, which was pretty uneventful (despite me having been away for the last 2 weeks, due to my knee). I told my PT that it appears the morning stiffness in my shoulder has finally ended, as I haven't felt any in over a week. He was happy to hear this (or was happy for me, anyway), and then went on to test my ROM like usual; and this time, I literally felt NO pain in any of the movements he did with my arm. At most, I felt some mild tension when he pulled my arm as far up and back as he could take it, but nothing physically uncomfortable.

Then we did some regular rehab exercises in the mini-gym (all of which I did with zero difficulty), after which he measured my active ROM, which now sits at about 170 degrees; almost perfect!! He then said it was up to me if I wanted to keep attending physio, since at this point, I didn't really need it anymore, but I said I would keeping coming in just once a week til my final post-op with my surgeon, Sept 1. Assuming all goes well, I'll prolly be done with physio at that point, and can finally resume a normal life.

I did, however, tell him about my knee; he tested out my ROM with that as well, and said he didn't think I had incurred any serious damage (luckily), but at most, might be told to do some physio for it as well after my appointment at the fracture clinic tomorrow. This would be a welcome relief if that's all I'm told by the surgeon I'm seeing, but I know I won't be able to relax til I finally find out one way or another.

[JDkeystone]

So I had my appointment at the fracture clinic this morning for my knee (this time it was at the hospital across the street from where I live, not the one where I had my surgery). It was more or less what I was expecting (luckily); the doctor I saw did a brief examination of my knees and legs in general, and said my subluxation was a result of my hypermobile joints. And just like I was originally told for my shoulder years ago, he said there was "nothing" that could be fixed with surgery (not that I was even looking into that as an option, anyway).

But then he said this shouldn't hold me back from starting training again; just that I would have to avoid certain exercises that would make my knees susceptible to popping out of alignment (mainly stuff that would have me in a squat position). This was kind of a disappointment to hear, cuz one thing I was really looking forward to mastering once I went back was genuine squats (not the wannabe crap I used to do on the smith machine cuz of my shoulder). But he said if I did a few months of physio to strengthen the VMO muscles, I might be able to build back up to that (so all is not lost).

Anyways, I'm gonna use today to rest my knee one last day, and then make my 2nd return to the gym tomorrow (using pain or discomfort as my guide for how hard to push myself). But regardless, I'm very relieved this latest accident didn't actually end up costing me any serious damage or major time away from my goals.

[ChristinaT96]

Sleeping, Sleeping, Sleeping!

I have not done anything but sleep since I left the hospital on Thursday! Today I get to take the stupid bandage off and start coming outta my sling for a bit. I follow up with my doctor and start physio in a week. Oh, I'm also fighting off a sore throat.

For now, as long as I'm not sleeping, I'll be without my sling until it starts to hurt.

Glad to hear the good news on your shoulder and knee. On that note, I'm about to fall back asleep.

[JDkeystone]

Sleeping, Sleeping, Sleeping!

I have not done anything but sleep since I left the hospital on Thursday! Today I get to take the stupid bandage off and start coming outta my sling for a bit. I follow up with my doctor and start physio in a week. Oh, I'm also fighting off a sore throat.

For now, as long as I'm not sleeping, I'll be without my sling until it starts to hurt.

Glad to hear the good news on your shoulder and knee. On that note, I'm about to fall back asleep.

Good to hear. You're lucky you're getting to take your sling off so quickly (I had to wear mine for 4 weeks before I could remove it and start physio). Sounds like your recovery will be a fast one. :)

As for myself, this weekend has been kinda up and down for me. I returned to the gym yesterday, but didn't do as well as I'd hoped. Did about 45 minutes of weights (mainly core and upper body, but a few lower body exercises as well that didn't put too much stress on my knees), then finished up with only 25 minutes of cardio. I wanted to do more (a lot more) but my knee couldn't take it, even wrapped tightly in an ace bandage. It was really upsetting, tbh. :(

But after the gym, I went out and bought an OTC knee brace (the kind with straps), and that's actually helped quite a bit. I walked around my apartment with it and my knee felt much more stable and had a lot less pain. I then wore it to the gym today (just cardio) and was able to do 45 minutes this time. One thing that helps is my gym got a few new Arc Trainers to add to the equipment, and they not only provide an intense workout, but are also great for me knees; my heartrate was at 90% almost the entire time and I was drenched by the time I was done lol. God, how I missed that.

Shoulder's still doing well, too. I actually have some pretty nice DOMS today from yesterday's weight session, but no actual surgery-related pain. Morning stiffness is also still a thing of the past, which I'm really happy about. I'm still doing the rehab exercises at home, but I'll admit not quite as much as before (I could be wrong, but I just don't feel my shoulder needs them all that much now). What I'm really forward to is starting physio for my knee this week; don't know if that's ultimately gonna fix my problem, but I'm not gonna waste any time like I did with my shoulder (don't want this to be a problem that drags out for years; I'm determined to get this taken care of now).

[JDkeystone]

I didn't end up returning to work today as planned; I instead went back to my family doctor cuz I can't stop worrying about my knee (he filled out another form for me to extend my short term disability absense by another day). The pain is not so much an issue anymore as it is this constant feeling of extreme instability within the entire knee joint. I'm finding the worst position for my knee (outside of squatting or kneeling) is just standing upright, completely straightening my leg into a "locking" position. Doing so makes my knee jut out the opposite way so hard that it literally feels like it will collapse on me if I don't make the conscious effort to not totally straighten my leg like that; basically, as if there's no ligament holding it in place anymore. He assurred me, just by looking at my knee, that it's very unlikely I actually tore anything (he said if I did, I wouldn't be able to walk on it to the extent that I am, nor would I be able to bend my leg as much as I can right now). He said the instability is most likely due to the ligaments having been stretched from the patella popping out of place, which would admittedly take awhile (up to 3 months) to heal. Pretty much the same as what the ortho at the fracture clinic told me on Friday.

Not that I don't trust my doctor, but after the 7+ years of hell I went through with my shoulder, I didn't back down and just told him firmly that despite what my knee appears to have wrong with it, my gut instinct was telling me there's more to it than that. One thing I learned well from the entire experience with my shoulder is to listen to my body first and foremost. I honestly think if I had done this years ago, my shoulder could've been repaired much sooner and I could've avoided a lot of unnecessary suffering. And right now, I just feel like my body is screaming to me that something is wrong with my knee. It could very well just be that the ligaments are stretched out and need the proper time and therapy to heal, but being that I rely on my legs a lot more than I do my arms for keeping fit, this is not something I want to leave to chance.

So my doctor filled out an MRI referral, which will be booked within the next few weeks. I know he thinks it's not necessary and that I'm over-reacting, but I would rather take these precautions and find out it really is nothing rather than the other way around. In the meantime, I'll still be starting physio for my knee tomorrow, and finding out what I can still do as far as working out goes. My doctor did say, though, that he doesn't think I'll be able to do any serious forms of exercise for at least another month or two. Thus, it looks like my return to the gym is officially going to be delayed even further. I just don't even know what to say at this point. I'm sure there are others who can relate, but for those who can't...I would honestly say this feels analogous to a person in jail awaiting their official release date for months, only for the day to finally arrive and then be told the date has now been pushed behind for an unspecified amount of time. Might sound melodramatic, but that's truly how I feel right now.

[JDkeystone]

Had my first physio session for my knee today. Went pretty well (it was with the same PT I see for my shoulder). Went through some mobilization testing to determine where I'm at for ROM and strength, very similar to what he does with my shoulder at the start of each session. After bending and twisting my leg around, and having me perform various movements and actions, he said my ROM is almost perfect (I'm just a little off with both fully bending and straightening my leg), but that the knee cap is a little loose, as are the ligaments holding it in place. He did say he didn't think I had anything torn, either (and if I did, he said it was extremely minor, and nothing that would significantly impair me after I'd re-established strength and stability).

So the exercises I was given to start out with were pretty simple; first one, just lying on my back, and raising my leg in the air about 45 degrees (toe pointing out to the side), hold for 3 seconds, and lower (repeat 10x, 3 sets). The other one was wall sits while squeezing a large ball (ie. basketball, volleyball) between my knees. Not long sits or anything; just lower into position, hold for about 5 seconds, rise, and repeat (also 3 sets of 10).

Overall, though, he said it might be another month or two before the swelling and pain I still have will completely go away. In the meantime, he said I should just avoid all lower body lifting, as well as any high impact cardio (meaning, just stick to the recumbent bike, and light walking outside while wearing the knee brace). Meaning I will indeed have to hold off on my return to the gym. If nothing else, I'm just glad it looks like this will be taken care of with just physio (after all the reading I'd be doing on various ligament tears, I was literally scaring myself into a panic thinking I had something like that, too lol). So, unfortunately my next transformation will have to wait a little longer...more to come.

[ChristinaT96]

Turns out my sore throat was a really nasty throat infection. I went to see my regular doctor on Monday and the antibiotics he gave me make me very sleepy. With that said I have not been doing much but sleeping this week! At one point my throat hurt worse than my shoulder. That’s just sad. Anyways, I’m feeling much better and the throat infection has almost completely cleared up.

I see my ortho on Monday for my first follow up after surgery and will also be getting my stitches out. I start therapy next week and will hopefully get back to the gym. Yesterday I put in 20 minutes on my elliptical, at home, and hope to do the same today. I’ve been out of my sling around the house for the last few days and have not had any problems. Then again I have not been doing much with that arm and have been laying around lots. The last couple of surgeries had me in physio the day after surgery and I’ve been going through some of the exercises they had me do right outta surgery. Because I already notice a difference in strength of the shoulder I hope I will not be in therapy that long. My doc says six weeks, but we will see.

Yesterday I almost forgot I’d had surgery on that arm till I threw up my arm going after a light switch. HOLY BEJEEZUS MONKEYS THAT HURT! I also forgot to put my sling back on when I went to sleep last night and woke up a few times with my right arm up over my head. I could feel the stretch in the shoulder but it was a good kind of stretch and not painful. When I attempt this same position while I'm awake it hurts. My guess is I'm probably a lot more relaxed when I'm asleep. Surprisingly I’m really not that sore today.

My birthday is Monday and I'm hoping my husband will want to do some shopping this weekend! ;) I'm ready to get out of the house and rejoin the world! I told him I wanted some five finger shoes awhile back and I only know of one store that has them, REI. Unfortunately the nearest REI is 40 minutes away from us. If you have not heard of five finger shoes before, google them, they look ridiculous but are supposed to be great for running. My sister bought some recently and really loves them.

Is your MRI for the knee scheduled yet?

[JDkeystone]

Turns out my sore throat was a really nasty throat infection. I went to see my regular doctor on Monday and the antibiotics he gave me make me very sleepy. With that said I have not been doing much but sleeping this week! At one point my throat hurt worse than my shoulder. That’s just sad. Anyways, I’m feeling much better and the throat infection has almost completely cleared up.

I see my ortho on Monday for my first follow up after surgery and will also be getting my stitches out. I start therapy next week and will hopefully get back to the gym. Yesterday I put in 20 minutes on my elliptical, at home, and hope to do the same today. I’ve been out of my sling around the house for the last few days and have not had any problems. Then again I have not been doing much with that arm and have been laying around lots. The last couple of surgeries had me in physio the day after surgery and I’ve been going through some of the exercises they had me do right outta surgery. Because I already notice a difference in strength of the shoulder I hope I will not be in therapy that long. My doc says six weeks, but we will see.

Yesterday I almost forgot I’d had surgery on that arm till I threw up my arm going after a light switch. HOLY BEJEEZUS MONKEYS THAT HURT! I also forgot to put my sling back on when I went to sleep last night and woke up a few times with my right arm up over my head. I could feel the stretch in the shoulder but it was a good kind of stretch and not painful. When I attempt this same position while I'm awake it hurts. My guess is I'm probably a lot more relaxed when I'm asleep. Surprisingly I’m really not that sore today.

My birthday is Monday and I'm hoping my husband will want to do some shopping this weekend! ;) I'm ready to get out of the house and rejoin the world! I told him I wanted some five finger shoes awhile back and I only know of one store that has them, REI. Unfortunately the nearest REI is 40 minutes away from us. If you have not heard of five finger shoes before, google them, they look ridiculous but are supposed to be great for running. My sister bought some recently and really loves them.

Is your MRI for the knee scheduled yet?

Wow, sounds like you're making a quick recovery (just like I predicted lol). I swear, all you people that got to take your slings off within the first week or two, and then got to start therapy immediately...GREEN with envy over here, I tells ya! :mad: ;)

I actually just got the letter in the mail today (or, technically yesterday, I suppose haha), saying my MRI is scheduled for Dec 7 at 9:30pm. Kinda pissed off it's that far ahead, but I guess I can't really be surprised, given I know my situation isn't urgent or anything. But I can practically see what's gonna happen now; I'll do physio for however long I need it (maybe 6-8 weeks, give or take), and by the time December rolls around, I'll prolly have very little need for an MRI by then. Ultimately, that would be ideal, of course (I definitely DON'T wanna still be feeling the same achiness and instability 4 months from now that I'm still getting in my knee right now); but having to wait that long when you're already freaked out enough as it is is pretty torturous. I'm hoping they get a cancellation and can move me into someone else's spot ahead of mine.

In other news...I'm ashamed to say I've been sorta neglecting my shoulder as of late (I've been extremely focused on just working my knee), and as a result my shoulder has been experiencing some unwanted stiffness and minor aches here and there. Nothing major or even remotely close to what I was getting before, but still enough to get my attention. So I'll be hitting all my shoulder exercises hard this weekend (in addition to my knee), and see if I can iron that out before physio next week. But other than that, shoulder's still feeling really good; I really think I've reached the final leg of this expedition, and it feels wonderful.

Anyways, I'm off to bed now; happy early b-day, chica! :D

[JDkeystone]

Fuuuuuck, my knee isn't doing well today. The patella "bump" (basically the lower half) is a lot puffier than usual, and hurts quite a bit to walk. Even wearing my knee brace all day today while I was out didn't help much. I wonder if this was from doing too many wallsits yesterday (my PT said to do 3 sets of 10, but I did 5 sets of 12).

I'm trying to remain calm and not expect too much too fast, but stuff like this is extremely upsetting. I shouldn't be doing this, but I keep looking up symptoms online for different types of cartilage and/or ligament damage and tears, and there's honestly so many of them that my knee falls under right now. But both my doctor and my PT have said, based on how my knee looks and what I can do with it, it's highly unlikely I've torn anything (and if I did, it would be very minor and would most likely not require any kind of surgical treatment).

But that doesn't help me if my knee is still too painful to do any kind of real exercise. God, this is so much worse than dealing with a bad shoulder, I have to practically fight to hold back tears everyday. I just read online that that it can take anywhere from 2-6 MONTHS to heal from a patellar subluxation. I cannot wait that long...holy fcuk, that cannot happen....

Brb icing (again) fml..... ='(

[JDkeystone]

I'm back on disability again for the next few days (due to my knee, of course). I went into work yesterday, but ended up leaving after about an hour, cuz I had some pretty bad frostburn on my knee from over-icing it the day before (I had the compress on for an hour, but I've used it for this length of time in the past without any problems, so I was surpised to see this happen). Basically, the entire area of skin the compress was sitting on was frozen solid; literally rock hard, with the skin, itself, actually molded into the shapes of the wrinkles in the cloth that covered the frozen gel pack. It was extremely scary and grotesque.

But the main reason I had iced it as long as I did is cuz my knee was much more swollen and painful on Sunday (way more than usual). I don't know what happened to cause this, but I was limping badly the whole day, and had a very hard time getting around. I'm hoping I just overdid it with my physio exercises or was just walking on it for too long in general, but the doctor I saw yesterday at the hospital said it's not really normal for a knee to still be in this much pain or this swollen 3 weeks after a subluxation, without something also being torn on the inside. But, of course, I won't know one way or the other til my MRI, which isn't for another 4 months. So I have no choice but to live with it in the meantime, which is seriously becoming hell. This has done such a number on me psychologically, I may even have to seek therapy or something (as suggested to me in the depression and addictions thread in the misc...which is prolly a pretty accurate assessment).

[FLbeach321]

Hey pumped, I know you're looking up symptoms online but maybe the symptom you overlookied is... "overworked at PT and swelled up but will go away in a few weeks as it heals"??? Just trying to keep positive for you :)

[JDkeystone]

Hey pumped, I know you're looking up symptoms online but maybe the symptom you overlookied is... "overworked at PT and swelled up but will go away in a few weeks as it heals"??? Just trying to keep positive for you :)

lol I know (and thanks)...but after almost 8 months of not being able to live a normal, pain-free life due to one injury or another, and after being given so many different diagnoses for what I actually did to my knee, and how long it'll most likely take to heal (and not to mention how long this will set me back from returning to the gym)...I'm at my wit's end. The depression I felt sinking in right before I was cleared to start working out again is hitting me like a ton of bricks right now. My best friend (who takes anxiety meds) thinks I need something similar to what she takes cuz of how badly this is affecting me, and I'm wondering if she's right. Gonna speak to my doctor about it when I see him in the next few days, but I've gotta do something, regardless; I'm miserable and am absolutely hating life right now. This is fcking awful.

[FLbeach321]

I'm a big believer in anxiety meds if a person needs them. It helps you cope with what's happening so you'll have the strength to make yourself better. You should talk to your doctor about it.

[JDkeystone]

Yeah, I'm next seeing him on Monday (I'll be talking to him about a bunch of things, too).

Anyways...wow, today makes it exactly 5 months post-surgery...has it really been that long? Time actually went by much faster than I thought (though it sure didn't seem like it in the beginning lol).

Shoulder is still doing about the same since my last update. Almost no pain to speak of (morning stiffness, I'm glad to say, has still not returned). Passive ROM still more or less perfect; active ROM is off by maybe 10-15 degrees. But since I've only been to the gym like once or twice since my knee went out, upperbody strength hasn't really gone up much (cuz I'm only using the small variety of weights I have at home, all of which are very easy for me now).

Overall, I'd say my shoulder is pretty much healed. The only real reminder I get that anything was even done to it (besides the scars) is the very mild tension I might feel if I attempt to stretch my arm in a position that takes it beyond the current range I have right now (which is already very close to 180 degrees anyway). But all other activities - pulling my hair in a ponytail, reaching for high up, heavy objects, reaching around to either scratch an itch or wash my left side with my right arm in the shower, etc - I have no problems with anymore. And despite the negative state of mind I've been projecting lately, I am happy about this; it's just hard to focus on the positives of recovering from a huge medical procedure, when a brand new injury takes its place before it's even over.

As for my knee, it's feeling a bit better today. I think being off for the past few days and just resting it has helped. Still doing the same exercises at home - leg raises with foot pointing out, and wall sits - which have gotten a lot easier, so I'm hoping to get something new at physio today. It's still extremely difficult and upsetting to know I can't start working out like I want to because of this, but for the sake of my mental wellbeing, I'm trying very hard to put all thoughts of returning to the gym out of my head for now, and just concentrate on rehabilitating my knee, so that I can get back to training as fast as humanly possible.

[JDkeystone]

Ok, I normally try not to do multiple updates in the same day, but since I'm still off work right now, I've got the time to spare, so I'ma do another one anyway.

Had physio again this afternoon for my knee, and was pleased to see my ROM for my knee has improved since my last visit. I can't fully extend/lock out my leg while standing up just yet, but lying down, my PT was able to get almost full extension during the passive mobility exercises. Also, the swelling appears to have gone down a lot since I last saw him on Monday. I think this is probably in part from the latest anti-inflammatories I've been taking, but also from me resting the hell out of it for the past few days. He was able to bend my leg, no problem, while straightening it was only off by a few degrees. Plus he said my knee cap felt much tighter and more stable than it did a week ago, so this was all very encouraging to hear.

The new exercise I was given to work on (in addition to the others) was just balancing on my bad leg (slightly bent) for 30 second increments, 5x a day. I was a little disappointed he didn't give me anything else, but he said he didn't want to give me too much since I'm still experiencing pain from walking for long periods. But he said he thinks I should see a huge improvement in about a month, so I'm just holding onto that for now. Definitely feeling a lot better after today's session, which is a relief. :)

[JDkeystone]

Updates.

Last few days were actually not very good, but surprisingly, this had little to do with my knee or shoulder. In addition to my on-and-off knee pain, I've been experiencing moderate stomach and back pain (upper back) for the past few weeks, which got really bad this week, to the point where I had to go to the hospital yesterday. I made the mistake of googling my symptoms, and became pretty panicked when I saw what could be the cause of them (this is a bad habit I've really gotta get out of, too). But the initial tests that were run yesterday came back negative; however, I still have to go back in for more testing tomorrow. The doctor I saw thinks it's either an ulcer/G.I. bleeding, and/or gallstones, but I have to have an ultrasound first to verify. At this point I have no idea how so much sh*t could happen all at once like this, but I'm just gonna focus on taking care of one thing at a time, one day at a time, and nothing more.

I also saw my family doctor on Friday (a few days ahead of schedule), and told him about the anxiety and depression-like symptoms I've been battling the last little while, and he put me on a mild anti-anxiety med for the time being. Not gonna bother with therapy just yet, but he said if the meds he's given me don't make any noticeable difference after the next 6-8 weeks, he'll send a referral for me to speak with a psychologist for further assessment before prescribing anything else.

Other than that, my knee has seen a bit more improvement, which I'm glad about. I can now do 20 wall-sits, 5 seconds each, and balance on my leg for a full minute. Walking has also gotten easier as well; I'm wearing the brace less and less, and the pain has lessened when walking for long periods (>20 minutes). Hopefully this trend continues, cuz I seriously can't take anymore bad news at this point.

[ChristinaT96]

Glad to hear your shoulder and knee have been doing better. Hopefully the new meds will help also.

I saw my doc on Monday and got my stitches out. I got my prescription for physio and a refill of pain meds. The physio clinic he wanted me to go to was outta network for my insurance so I had to go back to the clinic I was going to before. After almost a week of dealing with my doc's office and the insurance company I FINALLY had my first physio appointment.

At therapy I got my initial measurements taken and got a shoulder massage from my therapist! That felt good and I thought all was going well till she tells me I have way to much ROM and my shoulder feels very unstable. She says it did not feel like the humeral head was fitting into the glenoid...or something like that. She gave me an exercise to do over the weekend that she thinks will help. Basically with my arm in my sling and elbow at side I slowly lift my elbow up so it is parallel to the ground. I've been doing them like she said but I don't feel any difference and am worried my shoulder is popping a bunch.

On another note we went out last night to celebrate my BDay. We met some friends for dinner, and then caught up with more friends, and hit up a couple of bars. It was really nice to get out and have a nice evening out....even if my arm was in a sling! I also have been rockin with my new Vibram Five Fingers shoes everywhere this week. They are so comfy and I can't wait to be able to take them for a run. Who know that your toes could sing with joy and glee over some shoes! :) Well, my next physio appointment is in the morning. Hopefully the exercises helped.

I suppose worst case senario is I end up having a 2nd surgery on my right shoulder also.

[JDkeystone]

Wow...that doesn't sound too good about your shoulder. So your PT basically thinks the surgery wasn't a success (if I'm understanding that right)? Personally, I'd be really upset to find out my surgery was possibly botched, and that I might need another one. Hopefully it doesn't lead to that, though. But if it does, prolly better to get that taken care now before you start spinning your wheels trying to recover when another repair job is still needed.

As for myself...been kinda neglecting this journal for the past week, cuz I've come to not wanna update it when I only have negative updates to make lol. I returned to work again on Wednesday, but my knee has still been very up and down. One minute it feels ok ("ok" as in I can walk with minimal discomfort); next minute my knee flares up and I'm limping again (which is why I once again had to cancel my plans for after work tonight, cuz my knee was hurting too much to go out).

But generally speaking, right now I'm just trying to stay as busy as possible and keep my mind off my knee while I wait for it to heal (which is taking SO FCKING long, I'm ready to jump out of my fcking skin at this point). And I'm gonna stop there for now, cuz if I go into anymore detail, I'll upset myself to the point where I can't sleep again (without the aid of more drugs anyway).

Shoulder has been more or less stable, though. Admittedly, I still haven't been doing my exercises (or very little) for the last few weeks, and I think I'm starting to feel it. Just very minor kinks and stiffness throughout the day here and there. Like if I'm carrying my shoulder bag over my right shoulder for too long; after awhile, my shoulder starts to noticeably ache, and I then have to switch to my left. I'm not overly worried about it, though; it still feels good overall. ROM is almost fully equal to my left, and I still haven't had anymore morning stiffness in several weeks (can't even remember the last time I felt it without going back through my log entries).

I am kinda disappointed in myself for letting my shoulder work start to slide, but this past month has honestly been hell; I just don't have the drive or the energy to do it anymore like I did before. The situation with my knee has totally destroyed me on the inside, and as a result I just don't give a sh*t about anything else. I'm just hoping that all the overtime I put in for physio in the first few months after surgery is making up for my slacking now.

[JDkeystone]

Wow, I don't wanna jump the gun...but for the past 2 days, my knee has been feeling great! Very little pain when walking around, especially when going downhill or down stairs (so far, that's been the most difficult). The residual swelling I still had around the patella seems to have also gone down, and as an added bonus, the frostbitten area is now almost completely healed (just waiting for the last bit of "burnt" skin to peel off, and it should look normal again).

I wonder if this might be in part from the newest anti-inflammatory/pain med my doctor gave me a script for when I saw him on Wednesday (for Celebrex 200mg, once a day). I'm trying to cut down on the amount of drugs I'm consuming (last few weeks I was taking upwards of 5-6 different meds a day), but I've definitely noticed an improvement since I started this new med a few days ago. But hopefully this is also from my knee actually healing, and not just having the symptoms masked by more medication.

I also got back into my shoulder exercises this weekend, and already the minor aches I've been feeling lately have subsided, so my shoulder still seems to be doing well. I have my 3rd and final post-op appointment with my surgeon a week from this Wednesday, where he'll most likely be wrapping up my file and officially releasing me from his care (barring any future problems arising). I'll prolly also ask him about my knee and get his thoughts (especially if my knee is still giving me problems by the time I see him). But I'm feeling a lot more encouraged today than I was last week. Let's hope it continues lol.

[FLbeach321]

Glad to hear you're feeling better :) Even if its the new medication it's good. That should mean that the swelling is causing the pain so you have to break the swelling cycle. Let's see what happens the next few days, hopefully you're about to find out that you're on your way :)

[JDkeystone]

Glad to hear you're feeling better :) Even if its the new medication it's good. That should mean that the swelling is causing the pain so you have to break the swelling cycle. Let's see what happens the next few days, hopefully you're about to find out that you're on your way :)

Thanks, FL. But it looks like it was too good to be true after all; my knee flared up again this morning, so I'm back off work now (til Monday at the earliest). This is getting ridiculous; I just don't get how my knee can go from one extreme to the other, feeling fine one day, and then hurting again the next (to the point where I'm back to limping). I mean, I'm hoping more than anything that everything I've been told so far is correct, and that it really does just takes a very long time for something like this to heal, but it just doesn't make sense to me how, if I really didn't tear anything, I could still be getting so much swelling and pain almost 6 weeks after the fact. Maybe I'm comparing apples and oranges, but it NEVER took this long for my shoulder to heal after any of my previous dislocations (and that was with a badly torn labrum, and a sh*tload of other damage).

Gonna call my family doctor again tomorrow to see if I can get a cortisone shot, and then I'm also gonna call my surgeon's office to see if I can see him next week (prolly shoulda went to him right from the start, but I wanted to give the hospital from my part of town another chance... big mistake).

At least my shoulder's doing well (actually, by now I'd say it's pretty much back to normal). Great news, I know; but in light of my current circumstances, I (sadly) just don't care. I'll prolly be wrapping up this journal after my final post-op appointment next week.

[JDkeystone]

Knee's feeling pretty good today. Actually, it was not bad pretty much the entire weekend, but I credit that most likely to being off work Thursday and Friday (my knee always starts to feel fairly decent after resting it for several days straight).

But this pattern of feeling alright a few days here, then flaring up again a few days there is really starting to drive me batsh*t. Thus far I have not worked one full work week since subluxing it, and that was 6 weeks ago. I'm going back to my doctor (again) tomorrow, with the hopes of getting a cortisone shot. If nothing else, I wanna see if that can at least alleviate the continuous swelling I still have right around the patella.

Other than that, my ROM and flexibility is doing ok. Still doing the same exercises at home (now added 3lb ankle weights for the lying leg raises), and am now balancing on a pillow (75-100 seconds each) for the balance exercise. Actually, if not for the remaining swelling and on-again/off-again pain I get when walking, I would think my leg was almost back to normal.

Shoulder's doing well, too. Benching 15lb dumbbells (at home) for 12 reps, and varying between 10lb and 12.5lb side lateral and front raises. Morning stiffness still appears to be a thing of the past, and any fleeting aches or stiffness I get during the day are pretty few and far between at this point. I'm looking forward to seeing what my surgeon has to say after I see him on Wednesday. :)

[JDkeystone]

I had my final post-op appointment today with the surgeon, and I'm pleased to say it went well. He was very impressed with my total ROM and mobility (actually, he looked pretty shocked when I first demonstrated how high I could raise my arm and bend it back lol). To quote him, I've made a fantastic recovery, especially since my shoulder was an "absolute mess" when he first operated. After more than 7 years of shoulder hell, it was very gratifying to hear that. :)

So as of now, my shoulder is officially considered "resolved" (barring any new problems in the future, which hopefully doesn't happen). He then took a look at my knee, and confirmed what all the others doctors have said- ligaments are fine, patella feels stable and strong, and my ROM is pretty much unaffected. I asked him about getting a cortisone shot for the pain (my family doctor refused to give me one on Monday, unfortunately), but he said he would prefer I wait til I'm 3 months out since it subluxed. If by then I'm still getting the intermittent pain I have right now, I can go back to see him and get the shot. But overall, he doesn't foresee me needing any kind of surgical treatment for this, and also said that it does unfortunately take a very long time to heal from a knee subluxation (even if nothing was damaged or torn); anywhere from 6 months to a YEAR.

Kinda discouraged to hear that, but I'm at least relieved to hear him tell me he doesn't think I'll need any major treatment for this (not 100% of course, but based on the initial exam, that was his opinion, and I do trust him). He also said I should be ok to start working out again (pain permitting), since the kneecap and surrounding area feels strong and secure. So I'm hoping to head back to the gym this weekend, and see what happens.

[ChristinaT96]

Wow, I knew I was over due for another entry but had no idea 3 weeks have passed. Actually, I really was wondering if anybody was still posting here because I have not been receiving notification of new posts. It's great to hear your shoulder is recovered and you are back lifting again. Hopefully your knee will behave the same and you will be back at it after some rehab and rest.

I was still having quite a bit of pain a few weeks ago and my therapist was worried about not only joint instability but frozen shoulder. After a couple of weeks of tough therapy I finally began feeling like I’m making a recovery. I don’t remember having this tough of a time with recovery on my other shoulder with either surgery. I’m especially perplexed by this considering the amount and significance of damage I had in that shoulder.

At physio I’ve been doing isometric exercises and am getting pretty good at holding the wall up! I’ve also been doing 2 lb DB external rotation, 2 lb DB lateral raises (lying on stomach), 2 lb DB rows (lying on stomach), and last week I got to start with some flexion exercises. Of course those were with the 1 lb pink DB! I also just about made it 3 weeks without taking any pain medication, the good pain medication that is. I’ve been back to the gym and am getting back to my normal workout schedule. Well, that is normal as can be without training my upper body or doing any running.

Everything was going really well until Wednesday when I just about got into a car accident. Somebody in a huge truck with their gargantuan tires pulled right out in front of me. I managed to stop but not without reaching for and pulling the emergency brake. As soon as I got home I broke into the good drugs and after a couple of hours I finally was able to get some sleep. I went to therapy on Friday but did not do as many exercises since I was really sore. My therapist poked, prodded, worked the joint a bit, and told me to go easy this weekend with my home program. I’m starting to have shooting pain down my bicep and I’m sure it’s an extension to the pain I was feeling after I got home the other night.

I have therapy twice this week and follow up with my Ortho on Wednesday. I’ve got 4 pain pills left and Monday is a holiday so hopefully advil will do the trick but the pain seems to be getting more intense. My other concern is I have a very important meeting on Tuesday afternoon and was hoping to go without my sling. Although if this pain keeps up I’m sure my pain will be more of a distraction than dealing with the sling. On another note, I could probably get a pass on having to shake a bunch of hands if I wore the sling. I’d rather go without it and show my A game without any distractions.

[JDkeystone]

Hey Christina! Damn, sorry to hear about the near car-accident (I don't even wanna think about what that would feel like a month out from surgery). Hopefully it doesn't do anything to impede progress too much.

And yeah, this thread doesn't get updated as much these days, since my own shoulder situation is pretty much resolved at this point. The only remaining issues I have are with my knee, but I don't wanna continue to use this thread for updates on that when it was originally created for my shoulder only lol. But people are more than welcome to continue to post any shoulder updates or questions of their own.

On a happier note, I'm officially returning to the gym tomorrow. I went out and bought some super-cushioned running shoes, as well as a fancy knee sleeve. And right now I'm just about kicking myself for having bought my previous knee brace (the one with velcro straps), cuz the regular pull-up knee brace (the kind that just slides on and off) is WAY better. So much more comfortable and feels like it's supporting my entire knee and keeping everything far more secure. Especially nice not to have to deal with the straps riding up or down my leg, depending how much movement I'm doing. Hoping this will actually let me do certain exercises I couldn't before.

Keep me posted on your shoulder! :)

[JDkeystone]

Well, this will prolly be my last official "update" for awhile (but it's a good update, at least). I'm thrilled to report I made my (2nd) return to the gym today, wearing the new knee sleeve and running shoes I got yesterday, and I honestly had NO pain throughout my entire workout. I didn't do any actual running, mind you; but I was able to do an hour between the arc trainer and stairmaster, and had no pain or discomfort whatsoever. The only reminder I even had that my knee wasn't completely "normal" was it still had that familar stiff, tight feeling when I took the knee sleeve off when I was done. But while I was wearing it, it honestly felt fine.

And my shoulder wasn't an issue at all; I did some upperbody stuff (seated rows, barbell curls, skull crushers, tricep extensions, etc), and other than having to go a little lighter than I would like, it felt fine. I expect (hope) muscle memory will kick in, and I'll be able to build up my strength, back to what it used to be pre-surgery, fairly quickly. I start working with another personal trainer Friday (which will still be partially covered under my benefits), and my program will be tailored to work around both my shoulder and my knee. He knows exactly what I'm working with right now in terms of limitations, and said he can give me something that will let me work to my full capacity for maximum results. Needless to say, I'm VERY excited, and can't wait to start. After an almost 9-month layoff, I honestly feel like I've been let out of prison or something and am finally free. After months of waiting, I can finally start my next transformation and get the body I want.

And that's about it. Hope everyone else is doing well with their own recoveries, and can get back to the gym asap as well!

[RyanGrob]

Tendon issues will be the biggest limiting factor when getting back into upper body work. Sorry you've had the misfortune of having one injury to the next. Sounds like things are starting to look up - good luck!

[JDkeystone]

Tendon issues will be the biggest limiting factor when getting back into upper body work. Sorry you've had the misfortune of having one injury to the next. Sounds like things are starting to look up - good luck!

They are, thanks! I've been back at the gym for a week now, and I've got some killer DOMS today lol. Not complaining by any means, though; I've been literally itching for this for months. Feels amazing.

Hope you're able to get back into it soon, too (if you haven't already). :)

[JDkeystone]

A few updates.

So I've been back at the gym now for almost a month (going 5-6 days a week, with a 2-day split for upper and lower body lifting). Overall, it's been going pretty well for the most part. I'm already seeing results, which is awesome (on a new cut/recomp, to gain back the muscle I lost while I was off, as well as shed some extra fat I gained while I couldn't work out).

But I've definitely learned a hard lesson during this time (one that I'm sure other post-surgery lifters can attest to, as well)- while being "healed" from surgery to resume regular, daily activities is great, it is NOT the same thing as being "healed" to fully get back into regular training (especially if you had a large repair job done, like me). As usual, I overshot my capabilities once I returned to the gym, and tried to do too much too fast (simply cuz the weight I was doing felt frustratingly light in the beginning). And when you're used to going heavy, upping the weight by only 2-5lbs doesn't seem like much; but when you're still only 6 months out from major surgery...IT IS.

Long story short, after going heavier than my shoulder could take, I finally had to take a few days off work and just ice incessantly til the inflammation went down (though I was still able to do cardio and lower body stuff). It feels a lot better now, but now I know for sure I have to go much slower and lighter from now on (cuz finding myself back in the O.R. cuz of my own stupidity and impatience is not an option). Frustrating as fcuk, though...especially when I do an exercise that feels ridiculously light and is not "working out" my muscles the way I think it should be. I guess I was just expecting to be ready to take on anything once I passed the 6-month mark, but in hindsight I can see now that wasn't realistic at all. At least now I know for sure where my limits stand at, though. Won't be making this mistake again.

In other news, my knee is doing amazingly well! The residual swelling I had for weeks has almost completely disappeared, and the pain is sporadic at most now. The only things I still can't do are squats, lunges, and full-out running; but everything else has been smooth sailing. If this keeps up, my doctor said I can prolly just cancel the MRI I still have scheduled for December; gonna wait on that for now, but very encouraging, nonetheless! :)

[FLbeach321]

Glad you're dong well on both the shoulder and the knee. It sure does feel awsome to get back into the gym! Just stick to your new game plan and take it just to your limits. My surgery was major but not as major as yours, so I was able to get into it a bit faster, but I definitely took my time as I added the weights.

[JDkeystone]

Glad you're dong well on both the shoulder and the knee. It sure does feel awsome to get back into the gym! Just stick to your new game plan and take it just to your limits. My surgery was major but not as major as yours, so I was able to get into it a bit faster, but I definitely took my time as I added the weights.

Hehe yep, and I've been green with envy this whole time, dagnammit (j/k lol). :p

But yeah, keeping it light and not pushing myself to the max will be very new territory for me (it's practically a foreign concept heh). I think I'm also gonna have to drop all OHP lifts for the time being, too (that's what really caused the area to flare up badly last week). Hopefully I can work my way back up to that before Christmas, though.

[nick1990]

Hey pumped, glad to hear you are doing better. (srs)
Seemed like you were injured for years lol

ANyway, do you guys still do your shoulder stretches now that you are this far out?
I am 4 and a half months out and havent stretched in a week, but it feel great.
I have also started doing a lot of olympic ring stuff (you might want to look into these pumped, they are amazing), and my shoulder is holding up really well.

Just thought i would ask.

Good luck to all you guys :)

[JDkeystone]

Hey pumped, glad to hear you are doing better. (srs)
Seemed like you were injured for years lol

ANyway, do you guys still do your shoulder stretches now that you are this far out?
I am 4 and a half months out and havent stretched in a week, but it feel great.
I have also started doing a lot of olympic ring stuff (you might want to look into these pumped, they are amazing), and my shoulder is holding up really well.

Just thought i would ask.

Good luck to all you guys :)

Hey thanks, nick! Yeah, my shoulder was in pretty rough shape for the better part of my twenties lol (especially all of last year). Thank god that's a thing of the past now. :)

Haven't really been doing any real stretching (nothing physio-related, anyway) for several weeks now, to be honest. I stopped attending physio for my shoulder back in September (and was finally released for my knee this week, too), and it's pretty much been smooth sailing ever since. My ROM is actually now at 100%, and my lifts are increasing almost every week. The only thing I'm still careful with is any overhead lifting (shoulder flared up a bit late Sept when I tried to go too heavy with the weights). But now I just work within my limits (keeping it very light with high reps), and haven't had any problems ever since.

Glad to hear your recovery's still going well; keep it up!

[nick1990]

Hey thanks, nick! Yeah, my shoulder was in pretty rough shape for the better part of my twenties lol (especially all of last year). Thank god that's a thing of the past now. :)

Haven't really been doing any real stretching (nothing physio-related, anyway) for several weeks now, to be honest. I stopped attending physio for my shoulder back in September (and was finally released for my knee this week, too), and it's pretty much been smooth sailing ever since. My ROM is actually now at 100%, and my lifts are increasing almost every week. The only thing I'm still careful with is any overhead lifting (shoulder flared up a bit late Sept when I tried to go too heavy with the weights). But now I just work within my limits (keeping it very light with high reps), and haven't had any problems ever since.

Glad to hear your recovery's still going well; keep it up!

Yeah, there is no better feeling than knowing you can do just about anything you want without much fear.

I dont know if i need anymore stretching.
I ran out of PT sessions like 2 weeks ago (4 months in), so i havent really had much contact with them since.
Got an ortho appt in 2 weeks, but not sure if i should keep stretching till then or what?

Thanks

EDIT: strong bump eh?
lol

[Faus]

They are, thanks! I've been back at the gym for a week now, and I've got some killer DOMS today lol. Not complaining by any means, though; I've been literally itching for this for months. Feels amazing.

Hope you're able to get back into it soon, too (if you haven't already). :)
DOMS sucks!!

[JDkeystone]

Yeah, there is no better feeling than knowing you can do just about anything you want without much fear.

I dont know if i need anymore stretching.
I ran out of PT sessions like 2 weeks ago (4 months in), so i havent really had much contact with them since.
Got an ortho appt in 2 weeks, but not sure if i should keep stretching till then or what?

Thanks

EDIT: strong bump eh?
lol

lol yeah, I don't have as many updates to post now, so I was pretty much neglecting this thread for the last little while (though I was planning to post an update in the next week or two cuz it'll be more than 2 months since I fully returned to lifting).

I don't think it would hurt to keep stretching, though. As I recall, I started slacking on my physio and stretching around 4-5 months post-op, too (mainly cuz I was making good progress, so I just figured I didn't "need" it as much anymore), but I remember my shoulder started acting up not long after I slowed down on my exercises. Timeline's a little fuzzy at this point, but I think my shoulder didn't actually feel 100% back to normal til just after 6 months post-op. And I know other shoulder surgery peeps on here have said they didn't do as much stretching for as long as they should have after surgery, and it's negatively affecting their lifting now. Better safe than sorry I guess is all I'm getting at... =/


DOMS sucks!!

Haha yes, yes they do. Did squats and deadlifts today for the first time in over a year; I'll definitely be feeling those tomorrow (can already feel them now). :(

[FLbeach321]

Hey Pumped, Glad you're doing great! Well, we survived it, lol. :)

Nick...I still stretch. Nowhere near what I used to, but more than I stretch other parts of my body. I'm still trying to get my bicep tendon stretched back out. I still get sharp pains now and then in bicep tendon but it's normal and will go away over time. I work out with 45-50lbs with db military press. I could go heavier but just being careful. I think I need more reps in that movement rather than heavy weight. The reps makes my tendon contract and expand which is what it needs.

[JDkeystone]

Thanks, FL! Kinda hard to believe our surgeries were so long ago (pretty sure you just passed the 7-month mark, and I'll be 8 months post-op next Friday). At my final physio session this week, my PT told me again he can't get over the recovery I made after everything my shoulder had been through prior to surgery (he said he now uses me as an example of a major "success story" for patients who need surgery but are hesitant to go through with it for fear of complications). Definitely felt good hearing that lol.

Congrats back as well for a great recovery. Took awhile, but looks like we're both pretty much in the clear (finally). :)

[JDkeystone]

Wow, hard to believe, but today makes it exactly 8 months post-surgery for me. I won't say "time flew" (cuz it sure didn't in the beginning), but I'd say once I was past the first 3 month hump, it went a lot faster than expected.

Right now things are still going amazingly well. I've been back in the gym now for a little over 2 months, and other than the flare-up I had at the end of September, I've honestly had little to no problems working out. I'm almost back at the same weight I was lifting before I had to stop training altogether about a year ago, and it's steadily increasing week by week. The main exercises I'm either avoiding or going extremely light on is dips, shoulder press, military press, and incline chest (basically anything significantly higher than 90 degrees). With those exercises I'm just keeping it at the minimum weight and doing very high reps to failure (while slowly increasing the weight little by little). Basically, I'm just paying strict attention to what my body tells me, and as soon as I start to feel the slightest bit of discomfort (that goes beyond the regular feeling of the muscles being worked and DOMS in general) I back off. Been working pretty well so far, and I'm definitely seeing results in the mirror. :)

And as I mentioned in my last post, I'm officially done with physio for my knee, and am now just continuing my exercises at home and at the gym. I'm also now working out less and less with the knee sleeve; I still wear it for lower body lifting, but don't need it anymore for cardio. I still can't run (or can only do so for very short intervals), but have progressed to squats, deadlifts, and weighted lunges (all things I couldn't do 2 months ago), so there's definitely been lots of progress. Overall I'm extremely happy with how things have been going for both my knee and my shoulder. Hopefully it continues til I no longer have any training restrictions in my routine, period.

That's about it for now!

[JDkeystone]

Hey all, some updates!

So I just passed the 1 year mark a few days ago, and right now my shoulder is still doing awesome (even better since I last posted). Still 100% ROM, and pretty much zero pain or discomfort in anything I do, minus a few specific lifts at the gym. Namely tricep dips, military or bench press, and shoulder press. And it's not that I can't do these (I can, and am doing them regularly now); but I still have to go much lighter than normal to keep from stressing out my shoulder. But my strength has definitely gone up since returning to the gym 6 months ago (more than doubled, actually), so I'm still very happy with my post-surgery progress. At this point, bodyweight tricep dips are the only thing I'm fully avoiding (and will likely not go back to, as it's simply too painful and dangerous), but that's really a fleeting sacrifice. Overall, my life is now 100x better than what it was over a year ago, and I'm extremely happy all the shoulder problems I dealt with for years are a thing of the past.

Hope everyone else (past and present) is still doing well with their recovery, too!

[Sebenza]

Really happy to hear that mate! I had an arthroscopic bankart repair exactly nine weeks ago and I have been healing up nicely since then and I have been reading everything shoulder related on BB. I can do most household activities at 100% but driving is still about 80%. Itching to get back into the gym, but the doctors and physio stressed patience so I am haha.

I am doing arm raises for front and back, pulley exercises, that weird stick thing where you raise it to the front and to the side and a bunch of other stuff for my forearm to get it to move past neutral.

For the first five weeks, I could hardly do anything but since then my recovery has been going leaps and bounds. I think I have five more months before the gym, six more before boxing but I have to say goodbye to BJJ since apparently the risk is a bit too great for more instability.

Plus, my scar looks honestly like a bullet wound to most people. So I actually use it on bishes when I hit up the club. I got shot in the service of Middle Earth's army :)

Good luck man, and I hope you don't have any more dislocations.

[JDkeystone]

Really happy to hear that mate! I had an arthroscopic bankart repair exactly nine weeks ago and I have been healing up nicely since then and I have been reading everything shoulder related on BB. I can do most household activities at 100% but driving is still about 80%. Itching to get back into the gym, but the doctors and physio stressed patience so I am haha.

I am doing arm raises for front and back, pulley exercises, that weird stick thing where you raise it to the front and to the side and a bunch of other stuff for my forearm to get it to move past neutral.

For the first five weeks, I could hardly do anything but since then my recovery has been going leaps and bounds. I think I have five more months before the gym, six more before boxing but I have to say goodbye to BJJ since apparently the risk is a bit too great for more instability.

Plus, my scar looks honestly like a bullet wound to most people. So I actually use it on bishes when I hit up the club. I got shot in the service of Middle Earth's army :)

Good luck man, and I hope you don't have any more dislocations.

Hey there; glad to hear your recovery's going well. Sounds like you're making good progress. :)

Yep, I did all those physio exercises you're doing right now (the pulley ones were especially helpful in increasing ROM). I think I was at 8 or 9 weeks post-op before I was finally able to start washing my hair with both hands again or tie my hair in a decent ponytail (huge milestone for me lol). Definitely know what you mean about itching to get back in the gym, but your doctor is right- waiting is a must. I went back at about 5 months post-op, but even with lifting extremely light, my shoulda flared up and I had to take a few weeks off before trying again. Six months and up is a pretty accurate timeframe to expect; just keep doing the physio and stretching exercises religiously til then, even after your shoulder feels "normal" (it'll help a lot when you get back into lifting).

Good luck as well, and keep up the good work!

[JDkeystone]

strong 1 year bamp

so it's been almost 2 years since surgery now, and i'm happy to report my shoulder is still doing great! no pain or discomfort whatsoever, still full ROM, and awesome strength in the gym (all lifts have gone up tremendously over the past year). when i first started this journal, i had mentioned there was warning of the possibility of my shoulder relapsing within 12-18 months post-surgery, but so far i have seen absolutely no sign of this happening; truthfully, the only reminder i'm left with of having had surgery at all is my scars. in short, life is a complete 180 now to what it was over 2 years ago. hopefully it continues as is, and at this point i'm extremely optimistic it will. :)

[AfriCanKillah]

good to know things are going well. I was worried about it dislocating again but it's great to hear that someone hasn't dislocated it again 2 years.

I just had surgery recently but I only had pain for the first 2 nights really, and it wasn't that bad. Then it was sore for a week and all pain is gone.

Getting my sling off in late sept.

planning to start lifting hard in feb.

[JDkeystone]

good to know things are going well. I was worried about it dislocating again but it's great to hear that someone hasn't dislocated it again 2 years.

I just had surgery recently but I only had pain for the first 2 nights really, and it wasn't that bad. Then it was sore for a week and all pain is gone.

Getting my sling off in late sept.

planning to start lifting hard in feb.

yup, will be 3 years in march, and still good as new; no issues whatsoever. surgeon did an amazing job. :)

good luck with recovery!

edit- oh, banned lol...k nvm