New England weather

So was I the only one unhappy about the weather this weekend?? Friday in the 70's was beautiful, but mid 80's Saturday and Sunday was too much to bear. I don't need the summer doldrums now - it's only April!! :) Plus, it was tough being outside. The trees here don't have leaves yet, so if you want for a walk or down to the park - there was no way to get out of the sun - it was jsut beating down at you all the time.

So when the strong breeze kicked in around 5 and brought cool April temps back in I was a happy camper. And I may actually be able to sleep tonight. Got frustrated at the weatherman though. Tomorrow will be 67 degres - 7 degrees above normal. And he described the day as being 'cold'. ugh.

Now, Spring is here.

Can I consider that Spring is officially here? Now that we had a nice weekend, I took the opportunity to do the first planting in the garden. I went to a great place in Cambridge call Pemberton's. Their web site doesn't show it, but they have a great outdoor garden center; and it's a short walk form the subway. I've been getting all my plants there for a while.

So even though it's only April, it's Broccoli Time!! Yes, broccoli is a Spring veggie, and loves being in the ground now. It'll provide me with veggies until June-ish, which (depending on when it get's "hot", it'll start petering out. When I'll do is plant corn seeds between the plants. They'll grow up between the broccoli, and once the broccoli is slowing down the corn leaves will begin shading the area. it works out well, and I get two crops form the same bed!


I got the plants in single handedly - literally. I was able to kneel next to the raised bed and keep my left arm in my lap and work with my right. Light clearing out last year's debris. Then a small hole with a shovel to plant each new plant. I subscribe to "weed free gardening" techniques, so I don't turn the soil at the end of the year - has worked pretty good so far. I can clean out some of the smaller weeds as they get bigger, and my arms get better :)

I'll post more photos as the season goes forward. the lilacs are close to bursting out, so within a month I hope I'll have some nice floral pics...

Repair work continues

Hi all. The shoulder healing continues at a great pace. it's been two weeks since surgery. The arm is still stiff, but no real intense pain. I've been off the pain meds for a few days now. (nice to have wine with dinner again - been dry since January). Not sure, but maybe I had a really good doctor - I expected lots of pain and to be incapacitated for a while. but things are going amazingly well.

Although I'm not using the sling, I'm still under orders not to 'use' the arm. I'm not allowed to raise the arm at all - the muscle is still healing, and we don't want to tear anything yet. I'm not to 'try' anything until at least 3 weeks. The toughest part is probably sleeping. I still have to exclusively sleep on my right side - can't do back or left side yet, so night times aren't as relaxing as they should be...

But after these two weeks I am well enough to try work. Today was my first day back. I may not be full time yet - depends on how tired myself or my arm gets. I can put the keyboard in my lap and type with two hands without too many problems. My arm did feel work out at the end of the day. Maybe take Friday off and give my arm three days off before next monday...


As you readers know, it took a while between my diagnosis until surgery - with this freeze-that-freeze winter, there were apparently a lot of spills out there. Talkign with the hospital liaison while waiting for surgery, even she remarked how crowded the hospital was in Jan/Feb of this year. Well, apparently I didn't think ahead and realize that the wave of people in front of me woudl also be going to PT. My health plan location couldn't see me for starting PT until the end of may - 4 weeks after I'd be 'ready' for it. I got the numbers of some other places, and they were either all booked as well or got less than stellar reviews on line.

Luckily the downtown location of my health plan is less croeded, so I have my first appointment there in 2 weeks. I'm eager to start, but more eager to see what I can and cannot do as time progresses. I have tis fear about stretching or lifting the wrong way and tearing stitches or muscle and have to start again. Unlikely, but we all have our phobias.

I do have some in-arm photos. I'll try to edit those and get them up. They do need some labels - even the doctor had a hard time point out what is what.

Mircles of Modern Science

As you can see from the previous blog entry, there's not much cutting for a shoulder repair. Only 4 small incisions left on my shoulder.

Most joint stuff is done by Arthroscopy. Basically they insert tools through tiny incisions and do the procedure with the remote tools. The Wiki page has a pic of a shoulder being worked on (cool). Since they cut less and disturb less tissue, the healing time is shortened. Considering I feel pretty good 3 days after surgery, I can attest to faster healing time.

"Modern medicine" also plays a part in the overall operation. I think around 12:30 (pm) I was wheeled into the operating room. 2:45 I opened up my eyes in recovery. 3:15 I was walked to the recovery chair, and by 4-ish I was in the lobby waiting for a cab. Here's your hat, what's your hurry?? But a hospital really is no place to be sick - being at home is much better. The anesthesiologist did a great job - when i woke up I was awake and lucid. I could walk and talk and sign legal forms and everything. :) Since the doctor had numbed a major nerve, there really was no pain. All in all pretty impressive.

The repais is also different than I has assumed. I thought the torn pieces would be stitched back together. Apparently though wouldn't not be a strong enough repair. That's when the term Anchor Bolt came up. :)

Apparently they put small anchor bolts into the bone, and then stitch the torn muscle to the anchor bolts. I'm not sure if that's cool or gross. :) I did find a great web site with illustrations here. The whole thing is a good read, but scroll down to Arthroscopic Repair to see what they most likely did to me shoulder. When i get my stitches out on Tuesday I get to see pics of inside my arm. That'll be cool :)

Better & Better

Well, been three days since surgery, and I'm doing remarkably well. With rotator cuff repairs, everyone seems to heal at a different pace; so I'm glad on I'm on the good side of things.

After 24 hours the 'cry pack' thing came off. I have a compress like thing that I use every now and then. The big bulky bandages came off as well and have been replaced with regular band-aids (pic). Thanks to Jess, the med student downstairs who was nice enough to replace the unreachable bandages for me. When I'm at home, I'm not even using the sling any more - just making sure I keep the arm 'limp' at my side and don't even try to lift it on it's own or use it for any work.

They gave me high doe ibuprofin as well as some 'good' drugs, hydromorphone. The 'good' stuff just weirded me out too much After a day I stopped taking them - and the ibu seems to be keeping any pain in check so I should be good.

This first week is 'stitches heal' time, so no use of the arm at all. I can 'passively' exercise it; which means using the other arm to life th einjured one up and down. I'm doing a little of that, but the shoulder feels stiff, and I'm just worried about pulling something out. Today I can passively put the arm on the nesk, and can now type with two hands for short periods of time.

Went out for a bit today. Was able to put jeans on, so I didn't have to wear the sweats outside. kept the arm in a sling just for safety, and so I accidentally didn't try to use it. Was nice to finally get out of the apartment. Its getting a little tough. I'm not sick enough to want to spend all day on the couch, but well enough to do everything I was. Also frustrating is just the waiting to get better. The arm doesn't hurt-hurt, but it's uncomfortable. So it's incomfortable to be awake with a sore arm, and it's uncomfortable trying to sleep with a sore arm. So you just try to keep your mind distracted and ge through it...

Home and doing fine

Hi all. More details to come another day, but wanted my blog followers to know I'm home and doing fine. post o was better than expected. Just waiting for the pain to kick in later tonight. Hopefully the drugs I got will do the trick :)

I'm off

Off to the hospital shortly. Actually not nervous at all. Got a great night's sleep. Miss breakfast and my tea though. Actually I'm awful thirsty - that's probably the toughest thing right now. :) I'll sve nervous once I'm on the gurney being wheeled down the hall - but they have good drugs for that. :) Right now just trying to think if there's anything else I need to do around the apartment and killing time before I have to leave.

Thanks for the well wishes, and see everyone on the other side.