5 Shoulder surgery
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The first two surgeries were about 12 and 5 years ago. Those two were “just” Arthroscopic to clean out Arthritis and spurs. Two years ago was Total Shoulder Replacement. Went great for about 8 months, then a lot of pain. Turned out the prosthesis had broken. So a year ago I had a revision TSR. I have total range of motion (at least upwards), but always had a lot of trouble in therapy with pain just below the front of my shoulder. I had just about resigned myself to the pain, but then my shoulder started dislocating (popping out of joint). Sometimes when I shut a door or some such motion, usually reaching behind me. Extreme pain, but it only lasted about 20 seconds, although excruciating. Then it would be a lot more painful for the next day or two. It was only when it happened when I was doing simple things, like hugging someone or putting on a coat did I realize how serious it probably was. My doctor finally did a high powered Ultrasound and did some tests on me to tell me that my Supscapularis was severely ripped. (It is the largest muscle of the rotator cuffs). Surgery is the only cure. He is going to try to put it back together with cadaver tissue since mine is too destroyed. When he looks at it during surgery, he may decide to do a Reverse Shoulder Replacement if he feels the Rotator Cuff surgery won’t work. He is going to have a prosthesis there to use to be safe. Has anyone been as unlucky as me? Any advice? Luckily it’s my left, non dominant shoulder. My only bit of luck.
0 likes, 3 replies
connie56029 jenny63421
Posted
I had a reverse total shoulder replacement two months ago. my surgeon chose this because my rotator cuff was too damaged to repair or to attach a standard replacement to the cuff. I now have to learn to move my shoulder/arm with the deltoid muscle in my upper arm...not an easy task. It is a slow process, but is progressing. I do have pain in that upper arm (my right arm), but it is a result of the exercises to strengthen that muscle. Overall, I am pleased with the surgery, although I had no idea it would be this much work. I do have to be careful not to reach behind my back, though. I'm not sure if this will be a forever thing or just temporary.
grammie48 jenny63421
Posted
Oh my goodness Jenny, what an ordeal. I remember when I had my first shoulder surgery 15 years ago, I swore I would never go through that again. Unfortunately I fell on my out stretched arm 3 years ago, jamming the rotator cuff and tearing 2 of the 4 tendons totally off the bone. I had 3 surgeries in the next 2 1/2 years, the last being a reconstruction using cadaver tissue. It will be a year next month and I am so glad I did it. I have full range of motion and the only pain I have is kind of a stretching/pulling discomfort when I reach across my body, like to scratch my opposite arm. It is a small discomfort that I can certainly deal with. I wish you a lot of luck. Shoulder pain is brutal. I hope you have a really good surgeon that has performed this surgery repeatedly. It's fairly new. Let us know how you do.
jenny63421
Posted
So, I had my fifth surgery on Thursday. He did repair the subscapularis muscle of the rotator cuff with cadaver tissue and anchors as expected. He said it was almost 100% detached and very destroyed like tissue paper, so he had to cut a lot of it away. Luckily he didn’t have to do a reverse shoulder replacement. Instead he removed the ball from my total shoulder replacement and put a smaller one in. So far the pain hasn’t been excruciating. But of course I haven’t started PT yet either. Hopefully this is the last surgery!