Matt at his first post-op
DISCLAIMER – Just to re-emphasize the point, this information is provided as a record of my particular experiences and should not be construed as medical advice. Each surgeon, patient, surgery, and recovery protocol is particular to that situation.
Today was my first postop about five days after surgery. They removed my dressings, pulled the sutures, reset the sling a little bit, and once I saw my surgeon we basically just talked about how I was doing and what the next few weeks would look like.
He also went over some images from the surgery with me so I could get a visual idea of what he did. I soon as I get those in hand I will add them to this and at least one other post.
I was off the narcotic pain medicine by day four which he thought was good. He gave me a few very simple elbowed focused exercises to do for the next few weeks. I have been nervous about removing the sling but he actually said it is good to let gravity do some work in stretching things out. Showering for instance I thought was going to require a waterproof sling but it will just need letting the arm hang on it’s own.
I can also get out of these pressure socks finally as well.
Just a note-there’s a fair chance I could have done some of the stuff earlier; I just happened to feel more comfortable waiting until I saw him. For instance, we could have removed the dressings and put new ones on ourselves but I waited. I could also have carefully removed my arm from the sling and showered but I was concerned about any movement with it. As of now, I am far enough out that I can start doing those simple exercises, which also means I can move my arm a little more, but I do still have to be extra careful with movement from the shoulder.
All in all, five days out and feeling good. Next update will probably be around 4 weeks, so I can start getting some physical therapy in.
