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 :)
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