Plot twist! I'm getting operated on Tuesday. Scared

Thank you Ann.  I hope I do as well as your friend.  You're right when you say this has been a horrible chapter.  I keep trying to "hang on". How are you feeling?

Sitting here at 3am waiting until it's time I can take more tablets! Wishing that just once I could get more than an hours sleep! 😖

It's going to be a long night and an even longer day tomorrow😢

Oh no!  It's 10:25 PM here.  I'm on the East Coast of the United States. I'm sorry you're having a sleepless night.  I definitely remember those nights, and I'm not looking forward to going back to them 😢. Even though the broken collarbone/injuries from my car accident was excruciating (I'll never forget that first night when I woke up completely off pain meds.  They had given me a pain med that was two levels above morphine in the emergency room, and I was still in pain.  My husband was in charge of my meds, fell asleep, and didn't give me a dose.  I've never felt pain like that, except for childbirth.  I couldn't even move one inch.  All I could do was cry and lay there until my husband woke up and gave me meds....horrible). Anyhow, the point of difference between that pain and the frozen shoulder that I got two months later was that at least with the broken collarbone I could be medicated to the point of sleeping.  Frozen shoulder pain is relentless. I could take the exact same pain med they gave me after the car accident (Oxycodone) and it wouldn't allow me to sleep with the Frozen shoulder. How crazy is that?  A pain killer that relieved pain for a broken bone (that cannot be placed in a cast), could not relieve the nagging discomfort of a frozen shoulder.  I feel so bad for you.  There were days that I wondered how I was physically capable of still standing on my own two feet.  I didn't know it was possible to be that sleep deprived.  Ann, how long have you had it?  Are you working?  

It all started before Christmas and managed to work up until Easter. Since then I have tried numerous pain medication with no effect and now am on a combination of muscle relaxants, morphine based pain killers and anti-inflammatory tablets, they don't make me pain free in the slightest but wouldn't want to find out what it's like without them. I had an MUA and steroid injection 8 weeks ago (I was also told that they would keep me pain free with a block for 48hrs but I was in so much pain I needed maximum medication and had to be kept in theatre an extra couple of hours!) which was only partially successful due to severity. I've had physio since feb and had it every day for 4 weeks then a day off for 3 now every other day. I find that having no physio over the weekend means that despite exercises I do at home, I'm in a right old pickle.

Maximum 2 an a half hours sleep for months and months and signed off from work till September.

My other shoulder feels tender and I'm so scared it's going to go the same way!

Jay,

Thanks for responding.  Why was your arm paralised?  That is scary.  Was it because of a nerve block or something?

Oh Kerri you give me hope.  You sound like you're doing good.  How are you doing with your range of motion?  Are you still in a sling?  Did you do your surgery as outpatient.  I live in the United States, and they're planning on doing mine as outpatient and letting me go home.  They're also planning on doing Subcracromial decompression with Acromioplasty (for shoulder impingement). Did you have this also?

I'm in Australia Joan 😄, range of motion is improving all the time, I go to physio twice a week and I do my exercises every day.

im now at week 14 so yes I'm out of the sling that was for the first 6 weeks and yes I was done in the day surgery. Getting your pain meds balanced is the tricky part, but don't let the pain creep up, keep it at bay constantly. Avoid morphine of any type IF you can......I found the withdrawal pains after 6 weeks of it awful. But in saying that, if you need a morphine based pain killer take it.......just be prepared that when you stop them your body will ache like crazy. I just went cold turkey as the slowly coming off them produced the same pain, so I ached in every part of my body for 6 days then I was all good.

Make sure you have someone at home to help you, after the op the smallest tasks are impossible.

If you have a recliner to sleep in that will be your best friend, I slept in my lounge room in my recliner for 10 weeks and very comfortable I might say 😊

Hi Kerri,

i went back and read all of your posts that you had written, starting with day 1 of your surgery until now.  Reading those were very helpful, because I think our cases are very similar.  Did you have any impingement that they had to go in and sort out as well?  

Thanks for the recliner advice.  Fortunately I have a good one, and that's where I slept for about 6 weeks after my car accident (broken collarbone). I was in a sling for that, so I slept there surrounded by pillows.  I finally graduated to the bed with 6 pillows all around,  behind me, and under my arms.  That was short lived, because a few weeks after that was when I got the frozen shoulder.  

How long did you have frozen shoulder Kerri?  My orthopedic doctor told me that after this surgery they would be very conscience of the fact that I'm prone to frozen shoulder and do everything to combat it.  They had wanted to Manipulate the Frozen Shoukder under anesthesia, but decided against it because they were afraid my newly healed collarbone would rebreak.  Instead they medicated me heavily and sent me to a wonderful physical therapist who manipulated it over a 8 week period - while awake.  It was excruciating.  I cried a lot even while medicated.  I'm so scared that since I have to go back in a sling that it's going to refreeze.  Kerri dig deep in Physical Therapy. Even if it gets excruciating when they stretch you, count to ten for ten more seconds knowing that as soon as they drop your arm the pain will stop.  That was a trick my therapist taught me, and it worked very well.  

What pain meds did they have you on?  They gave me Oxycodone for after surgery. I hope it's enough.  My surgery is supposed to be outpatient.  They do a nerve block the day of surgery and send you home with a prescription of Oxycodone.  I'm terrified that it won't be enough when that nerve block wears off.  I like the way they handled your case.  With you, they made sure your pain was managed and kept you in the hospital until they were sure you were ok.  They're so fast to send people home here in the USA. The poor women here practically squat by a tree by the hospital,  like the American Indians used to, pop out their babies, and go home.  Seriously, they're barely in the hospital at all...like one day!  

I truly appreciate you writing to me.  This is the best group.  Nobody understands what this feels like unless they've been through it.  Thank you! ❤️

No impingement to my knowledge, I had a full thickness tear.

I started noticing a problem late November early December, finally had surgery 4-5 weeks after I saw the surgeon for the first time, surgery was end of March.

I was in the sling for 6 weeks then started passive physio till week 12 now doing strengthening, but there is NO pain. 

The hospital sent me home with Endone (oxycodone) 2x4 hourly and I took one only 20mg Targin at night to drift off to sleep. When the pain was bearable I backed off on the Endone till I stopped them all together, I had been on the Targin for probably 3 months......only one at bed time, but when I came off them that was the tough part, everything ached, between my ribs, my legs, my gums, everything from top to toe, but I couldn't of got through without them and like I said in previous comment it wad only 6 days and withdrawals were over and I felt human again.

For some reason my pain block on the day of surgery didn't seem to work.....hence they sent me out to the Private Hospital by ambulance to stay overnight and get my pain under control.....and it did just that, I went home knowing exactly what to take and how often. I was taking 2 Endone then 2 hours later 2 panadol then 2 hours later 2 Endone etc etc. then at bedtime 1 Targin......that all worked for me.

the recliner was fantastic and I would just pop a pillow under my head a my hubby threw a blanket over me, a rolled up towel just under the top of the affected shoulder gave some added support so there was no drag.

In the public hospital system here in Australia, you can be pretty much turfed out in a hurry cause they want the beds. But I have Private Cover, so there was no problem, I could of stayed as long as I wanted, but once I had my meds under control I went home.

My daughter had a baby in October in the Private System she was in for 8 days, in the public system they send you home at day 2.......which is ridiculous.

Your right Joan, the only people that understand the awful pain that comes with this condition are WE that have experienced it. Wishing you bucket loads of luck.......I'm sure you will be fine as long as you have a GOOD Orthopaedic surgeon and a good physio at week 6 that knows this type of operation 😘❌❌❌

Thanks Cheryl,

The closer I get to Tuesday (surgery day), the more nervous I'm getting.  It helps to hear that you're doing well.  I  need something to hope for.  I've been at this since August of 2014, almost a year!  I hope you continue to progress.

Take care xo