looking for some advice

lilpeep05 · 11-02-2008, 03:12 PM

Hey everyone. So my boyfriend is going into surgery on the 5th. He tore the pec and tendons and did damage to his shoulder as well. I was really surprised by how many stories i read about others who had this surgery also. So i am here asking what you all think i should do to help him get through this. i want to be as supportive as possible without driving the poor guy crazy. That and maybe what to expect also. I have heard that its a very painful surgery. Any advice to help me out here would be great. Thank you for reading.

mitch555 · 11-03-2008, 06:14 AM

yes your bf is in a serious mess, so he' ll need your support.

He' ll go through a lot of pain after the op, from what I have read it can be awful.
And then he' ll have the sling, the rehab and all the crap.

But once done he should be back to 100% strength. So it is well worth doing it, otherwise he' ll suffer permanent strength loss and also possible asymmetry.

So tell him to remember that all the stuff he' ll be going through is necessary and will normally result in 100% recovery, a thing that wouldn' t be possible without surgery.

And also, tell him that this is a common injury, a lot of guys go through this and fully recover after 6 months.

Good luck

lilpeep05 · 11-06-2008, 10:09 PM

Well its the day after his surgery. He is holding up alot better then i would be thats for sure. The surgery went alot better then what we were originally thinking. They fixed up the tendons in his shoulder and when they went to the chest they realized it wasnt a complete tear like they had thought. There were still some threads hangin on. He is really itchy though from the morphine. The morphine made him sick last night.

poor thing. So they have him on Toradol, vicodin, celebrex, and some poop pills hehe. They opened him up about two inches long right above the arm pit. He is still in quite a bit of pain. I hope he sleeps better tonight then he did last night. We are just putting ice packs on the area right now. Do you guys think i should go and pick up a heating pad. Did that help at all to you guys that had this surgery? Well thats all i have for right now. Im sure i will post more as i go. Thanks for reading.

taf1968 · 11-06-2008, 10:24 PM

Hope he feels better soon.

If he still has problems with nausea from the meds or the pain, have him ask about getting some Phenergan prescribed. It helped a ton when I was getting sick from my pain meds when I had a kidney stone.

toobigmike · 11-06-2008, 10:46 PM

Morphine does the same thing to me, no fun at all. As far as the heat goes, I would say yes and no. For joints like knees and shoulders heat is a no no because heat increases blood flow to the area and thus increases swelling limiting movement. For muscles heat is great for the same reason, increased blood flow to the area allowing for better movement, I know it sounds weird but it really does work I have had numerous knee surgeries and many torn muscles.

The poop pills are going to make all the difference, those other meds are notorious for binding you up.

Good luck and hang in there these can be some trying times taking care of someone you care about.

IVBARK · 11-07-2008, 03:53 PM

Good luck..I had the surgery in 05 and it is a bitch but worth it. My wife is a pharmacisit so that helped when trying to keep the pain under controll. Taking it slow I was able to get serious about lifting within 6mths. I don't train with heavy weights now but I have found that I don't really need to go crazy heavy to stimulate the muscle.

lilpeep05 · 11-09-2008, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IVBARK

Good luck..I had the surgery in 05 and it is a bitch but worth it. My wife is a pharmacisit so that helped when trying to keep the pain under controll. Taking it slow I was able to get serious about lifting within 6mths. I don't train with heavy weights now but I have found that I don't really need to go crazy heavy to stimulate the muscle.

Hey question... What did you do when you decided to start gettin back in the gym. What kind of upper body workouts were you doing to get your body used to lifting again? Did you do any kind of exercising/resistance training while you were on recovery, just to kinda keep your body going. Or did you not do any just the therapy. He is not really spose to use his arm at all (not like he really can at this point) Hes got his check up on the 25th. I think they are gonna take the stitches out then too. Im gonna ask the doc about this when we go, but i know its alot different from a doctor saying when you should be able to do something and it actually happening. Thanks for reading.

lilpeep05 · 11-11-2008, 11:24 PM

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Hello again. I wanted to post some pictures so others can see. He seems to be doing better. He is becoming alot more mobile and wanting to get out of the house now so that is a good thing. There is one thing he is noticing now, he almost gets a sensation of the shoulder actually feeling dislocated at times, which is one of the questions. if this is normal or if he should have it looked at asap..... But here are 2 pics for you fellow lifters to cringe at.....

IVBARK · 11-13-2008, 05:23 PM

I somehow got the idea that since I have been lifting half my life that I didn't need to go the threapy. I just went by how I felt. I worked hard to get my range of motion back usually using 5lb dumbells and once I felt good with those I moved the weight. Its weird, you don't get sore or tired when you workout that area. More like when you first started working out and you got insanely sore so you went back to the gym with little weights to kinda just loosen it up. Well as I started feeling good, cautiously moved the weight up. It worked for me although if I did it again (damn I hope not), Id have went to PT.

lilpeep05 · 11-19-2008, 12:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IVBARK

I somehow got the idea that since I have been lifting half my life that I didn't need to go the threapy. I just went by how I felt. I worked hard to get my range of motion back usually using 5lb dumbells and once I felt good with those I moved the weight. Its weird, you don't get sore or tired when you workout that area. More like when you first started working out and you got insanely sore so you went back to the gym with little weights to kinda just loosen it up. Well as I started feeling good, cautiously moved the weight up. It worked for me although if I did it again (damn I hope not), Id have went to PT.

wow thats crazy, talk about determination right there...