After much pain, soul searching, cure searching, kicking with fins and general advise seeking, I've elected to have arthroscopic surgery to treat my "shoulder impingement syndrome" which I guess is tendonitis....The fact that I made the decision before consulting the USMC forum may be inexcusable, but, be that as it may, I'm on the docket for two weeks from today...
The surgery, as I, a layman, understand it, will widen the subacromial space allowing unimpeded movement of my supraspinatus (one of the rotator cuffs) muscle and tendon and biseps tendon....
I ain't looking for sympathy or an explanation...but I'd love to hear from someone who's had this type of procedure and can outline their recovery process...I was planning on making some waves in the 55-59 age group at Coral Gables in May but realize now I may just be a cheerleader...I'm keeping the Chesapeake Bay swim on my June calendar even if I can just kick my way across...I'd love to know what to expect..Thanks
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Nancy....thanks for checking up on me...yes, I'm glad the operation is behind me, not because I had any qualms about it, but because I'm now that much closer to being a recovered subacromial decompressionite....I'm sure I was one of their most enthusiastic patients veritably leaping onto the gurney and plugging the IV into the vein myself wilst cheering encouragement to the surgeon as I faded into anesthetic oblivion....I was so excited I thought I'd burst, having tried nearly every other feasible remedy, to no avail, and, believing surgery to be my deliverence I was like a kid waiting for christmas morning....
yes, but that was the easy part and I now, only lately understand the difficulty and importance of the next phase...I have heard the "now..take it slow Bruce" so many times I'm actually starting to believe it...I mean REALLY believe it and understand it, and its been absolutely necessary for me to hear it so many times because otherwise, the advise would make nary a dent in my prideful armor of hubris....the whole concept runs counter intuitive to the psyche of a proud and aging athlete because we, as a group (you included I'm sure) are people of action and the success of this lies with inaction....an almost unbearable paradox and so difficult....until I began adjusting my mindset, I found myself vowing to set a record for quickest recovery...fastest to discard the sling...fastest to put a sweater on over my head...if the therapist prescribed 2 sets of 10 reps I wanted to do 4 sets of 20...I'd "make" the best recovery happen onstead of "letting" the recovery happen....
...I'm gradually accepting the concept...but, man, it ain't easy....
thanks for your thoughts
rereading this I seem the tortured soul...It's not like that...I'm ok, really...Bruce
Nancy....thanks for checking up on me...yes, I'm glad the operation is behind me, not because I had any qualms about it, but because I'm now that much closer to being a recovered subacromial decompressionite....I'm sure I was one of their most enthusiastic patients veritably leaping onto the gurney and plugging the IV into the vein myself wilst cheering encouragement to the surgeon as I faded into anesthetic oblivion....I was so excited I thought I'd burst, having tried nearly every other feasible remedy, to no avail, and, believing surgery to be my deliverence I was like a kid waiting for christmas morning....
yes, but that was the easy part and I now, only lately understand the difficulty and importance of the next phase...I have heard the "now..take it slow Bruce" so many times I'm actually starting to believe it...I mean REALLY believe it and understand it, and its been absolutely necessary for me to hear it so many times because otherwise, the advise would make nary a dent in my prideful armor of hubris....the whole concept runs counter intuitive to the psyche of a proud and aging athlete because we, as a group (you included I'm sure) are people of action and the success of this lies with inaction....an almost unbearable paradox and so difficult....until I began adjusting my mindset, I found myself vowing to set a record for quickest recovery...fastest to discard the sling...fastest to put a sweater on over my head...if the therapist prescribed 2 sets of 10 reps I wanted to do 4 sets of 20...I'd "make" the best recovery happen onstead of "letting" the recovery happen....
...I'm gradually accepting the concept...but, man, it ain't easy....
thanks for your thoughts
rereading this I seem the tortured soul...It's not like that...I'm ok, really...Bruce
