It Has Been a Year –
A year ago today I came home from the Mankato Mayo Hospital with my new shoulder . . . second new shoulder. The year surely has not gone slow.
I can tell you that pain from shoulders that were encased in arthritis is no more. I had spent the gardening season of 2014 doing pretty much what I have always done, enjoying it to no end. The quilting has been progressing quite nicely. There were several wall hangings that I hated to see come to an end as beading is very relaxing for me as well as keeping the sewing machine needle 1/8 inch from the edge of any given image. There are so many things in my day-to-day life that I do without thinking about it.
A few items in the kitchen are accomplished in unique ways. I can no longer hold a mixing bowl up high enough in my left arm to use a rubber scrapper to get the contents into a pan or dish with my right arm. Neither arm has the ease of the arc that it takes. I can open the towel drawer that is just below waist level and make sure the towels are stacked to the very top of the drawer, the pan or dish setting on the towels is the perfect height for me to empty that mixing bowl. I no longer lift multiple items up into the cupboards. The items that I use often are no higher than the second shelf in the cabinets.
Our bathroom has less clutter as the curling iron and blow dryer can no longer be manipulated. The motion of my arms can reach the top of my head, but the additional extension of a handle of the curling iron or blow dryer takes my arm out and away from my head that is beyond me having any control of the arm and hands. That is not an unusual end result of the reverse shoulder surgeries. With muscles and tendons and nerves being reassigned motion, there is a surgical limit. I had worn my hair very short for most of my adult life. The change of growing it out to a length that will be maintained by simply brushing it is taking a bit, but I know that will be doable.
There is one more thing that still has me working on it a year after the fact. It is holding a fork for eating. The right arm and elbow tend to not want to tuck close to the side of my body to allow for the forearm and wrist to make that nice smooth movement to the mouth. I know it is less than a smooth movement. The fork hits the target every time if the elbow is out a bit from the side of my body. I don’t make anything out of it, and for the most part, I don’t think anyone notices. While eating alone there is not a problem, but I could take someone out that would be sitting rather close to the right of me at a full dining situation.
So a year has passed and life is oh so good. My main objective is to get through the winter months staying upright on the snow and ice. The tuck and role method of a fall most likely would take out one of the shoulders. I know myself well enough that if I fell forward, I would put out my hands to break the fall to protect the two titanium knees, and that would jar the shoulders to the extreme. Like I said, staying upright is the objective for the 2015 year and thereafter. Life as I know it, is pretty darn good.