flygirl1 0 #26 November 28, 2007 Good luck with your surgeryThings that helped me: 1. Find easy to put on comfortable close. jammies, XL T shirt, easy pull up pants, slip on shoes, slippers, flip flops, sweat pants, XL sweat shirt ect. I stole my boyfriends XL shirts to wear . 2. Pre-cook a bunch of your meals and have them ready in individual servings in the fridge and freezer. Use paper plates cause they are light and easy to carry. Order delivery if you want. I went to whole foods and got several of their prepackaged ready to eat meals and put them in the fridge. Get at least a couple weeks worth. 3. Have everything set up before you go to the hospital. Make sure your remote is by the couch and the DVD's, CD's, magazines and all your entertainment is next to where you will be spending the most time. Also take anything you have to reach up or down to get and put it in a easy to get location. Take anything you frequently use and put them together where you have easy access to them. 4. Put a chair in your shower cause you won't be able to hold your arm up to stand up for a while. Have all your bath products close by so you don't have to move your body to much to reach anything. Have a towel with in reach. Use a removable shower head if you have one. You may even just want to use baby wipes or those shower wipes instead of showering for the first few days. You can use gel deodorant if you want. Just put a dab on your finger to apply but, don't worry about it if it is painful. No one will care. 5. Get LOTS of Ice before hand. Both cubed and ice packs. It was my best friend. 6. Get your self some entertainment. A new DVD, maybe TV series box set, Tevo, magazines, new music, maybe even record all your favorite TV shows beforehand and save them, What ever you are into. You deserve a treat. I watched the first 4 seasons of Sex and the city and lots of The Science Channel. 7. Let people come over and take care of you. Don't hesitate to call them if you need anything. They are your friends and will be happy to help. Have them help with the vital house chores and don't worry about the non vital ones. Don't try to do them your self. Also have your friends pick up your meds, drive you to your appointments or anything else you need to do in or out of your house. As I said above they are there for you and they really won't mind. 8. Get Vitamin E and put it on the scar every day when the bandages come off. It really helped me. Mine are much less visible now. 9. Keep your cell/portable phone on you at all times and your doctors # handy just in you need help. If you don't have a cell make sure your phone is easily excusable. 10. Take it easy. Don't expect to be back to work right away. For me the pain peeked at day 3 and started to get better from there. Just remember you're on lots of pain pills so you may be feeling ok sitting on you're couch but, it will hurt more if you are out and about. 11. Don't worry. You will be better in no time. If you need more tips just PM me Fly like a girl Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JENNR8R 0 #27 November 28, 2007 Wow! Thanks! What do you call a beautiful, sunny day that comes after two cloudy, rainy ones? -- Monday. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flygirl1 0 #28 November 28, 2007 You're welcome Fly like a girl Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
livendive 8 #29 November 28, 2007 I've been through three surgeries on my left shoulder, including one arthroscopic and two open, one of them involving harvesting bone from my hip and bolting it into my shoulder. I feel for you over the next few days. What're ya getting fixed? Deodorant is relatively easy. If you've got a decent length stick of deodorant, you should have enough mobility in your sling to hold the deodorant in the hand of your bad arm and apply to your good arm. While you can't lift your bad arm, leaning forward and letting gravity pull it a little away from your torso will allow you to sneak in some deodorant under it. Once it's ok to shower without concern, the same method will work for washing that armpit. Note that before such time, you will still likely want to let gravity pull your arm away from your body a little and run a wipe through there. Otherwise, the warmth and humidity and general funk build-up can cause a rash. Just out of curiousity, is it your dominant hand or the lesser used one? Hopefully the latter! Some other tips here are very good. DEFINITELY go with baggy tops. I found baggy button-ups to be slightly easier than baggy sweatshirts, but they have to be big enough to move around and bring most of the buttons to your bad hand. Similarly, elastic band pants are worth wearing the first couple of days. Eating...I can cut a steak pretty easily, but I had to do so at the table/counter, where I could position my body in such a way that my bad hand was relatively close to the plate & could hold the fork. Tying shoes sucks....get some slip-on or velcro sneakers. Once you hit therapy, hit it hard. The finger-walking up the walls thing works wonders, but it really hurt at first. Same with the therapist working through your ROM. By the time you get to strengthening, it's not too bad. If you have any "coping" questions during your recovery, feel free to ask and I'll tell ya what I did. Blues, "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skymama 37 #30 November 30, 2007 Hey Jennifer...just checking in. How are you doing? Ok, I figure you probably can't type yet. Anyone know how Jennifer is doing?She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man, because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
livendive 8 #31 November 30, 2007 Quote Hey Jennifer...just checking in. How are you doing? Ok, I figure you probably can't type yet. Anyone know how Jennifer is doing? I was thinking bumping this thread for the exact same reason. Jenn - can you hen-peck Y for yes and N for no? Hope you're doing ok. Blues, Dave"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JENNR8R 0 #32 November 30, 2007 What're ya getting fixed? Quote I don't know 'doctor-speak' but there were bone spurs that were shredding my rotator cuffs and and a bunch of scar tissue in the bursa that was causing a lot of pain and immobility. It got to the point that I couldn't hold a flare after a few jumps and faceplant. He cleaned it all out, and hopefully I'll have more flexibility and less pain. ***Just out of curiosity, is it your dominant hand or the lesser used one? Hopefully the latter! This is not my dominant hand, but that one needs repaired too. There is a tear in that rotator cuff along with everything the other shoulder had. That surgery will probably happen in February, and the recoup time will be longer. How soon were you jumping after your surgeries? Yesterday, I mostly slept and threw up. I went to the doctor this morning and he is pleased with how the four incisions looked. The PT gave me some exercises to do like shoulder shrugs. He said I need to work on those because the side that had the surgery doesn't go up as much as the other. Are you kidding me! I actually tied one shoe this morning. I don't need to wear the sling in the house, and my babysitter has gone home. Thanks for checking up on me. What do you call a beautiful, sunny day that comes after two cloudy, rainy ones? -- Monday. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
idlewild70 0 #33 December 1, 2007 Doesnt sound too bad. Im 6 weeks out fronm my slap lesion surgery. Just got out of the sling and can start driving again. I am just starting to walk up the wall and do isometric exercises to build up strength/ I was told 4-6 months til i can jump again. Good luck with the recovery.-Fish Blue skies, Soft landings Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
popsjumper 2 #34 December 2, 2007 Good stuff, Jenn. Stay with it and do the things that need to be done to get it back in tip-top form. My reality and yours are quite different. I think we're all Bozos on this bus. Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kbordson 8 #35 December 2, 2007 Glad you're doing well! Do those PT thingies! And get better quickly! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
turtlespeed 226 #36 December 2, 2007 Quote Glad you're doing well! Do those PT thingies! And get better quickly! Is that the technical term?I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JENNR8R 0 #37 December 2, 2007 This is a very exciting day! Those hygiene wipes were da bomb over the last three days! Now how do I get the sticky residue, the markers, and the orange stuff off of my skin? Did they really have to paint my arm orange clear down to my wrist when they were working on the top of my shoulder? It looks like I'm trying to get one of those cheap spray-on tans... on one arm! What do you call a beautiful, sunny day that comes after two cloudy, rainy ones? -- Monday. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kbordson 8 #38 December 2, 2007 Quote Quote Glad you're doing well! Do those PT thingies! And get better quickly! Is that the technical term? Well I didn't want to use the "doctor-speak"... and pt thingies works! And... getting the orange stuff off depends on if its just betadine or duraprep. Betadine washes off with water. Duraprep is a bit harder to get off... there is a lotion that is specificially designed to do it... but if you just wait, it will come off in time. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
