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Joint Replacements | Last Active: Apr 24, 2020 | Replies (8)

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@ltsally

Thank you so much for your reply. At this point I am doing physical therapy to try to build up the muscles in my shoulder. Of the four rotator cuff‘s two are completely severed and one is partially severed. The Achilles tendons from the cadaver are going to be placed over the top of my shoulder connecting near my collarbone. I have had rotator cuff surgery with pins in both shoulders prior to this and have a pretty good understanding of rehab and recovery. I will get to that stage after six weeks with my arm in a brace. Your suggestions are very thoughtful and I certainly am trying now to use my left arm as much as possible to get it trained. Thankfully, I have a husband who is a 15 on a scale of 1 to 10. He will take very good care of me and we have adult children and grandchildren nearby to help also. Any suggestions are always appreciated. Take care. Sally from Oregon.

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Replies to "Thank you so much for your reply. At this point I am doing physical therapy to..."

Chris Trout, Volunteer Mentor | @artscaping | Apr 7, 2020

Good afternoon @itsally, from Oregon. Greetings from Minnesota and welcome to Connect. it sounds like you have had an accident at some time. A tumble down the mountain left me with what my surgeon called the grandfather of holes in my rotator cuff. So, my vision is pretty clear about this process which for me took three surgeries and a lot of moaning and groaning.

Will this be your second surgery? In this case, it appears that evidence of the cadaver fusion is required before you will be free of the immobilizer. I do recall that with fusion in the thoracic area I had to wait 3 months in a brace to assure a good "glue" job.

If I recall correctly, for daily hygiene, my shoulder and arm were wrapped in a plastic bag and my angel caregiver made sure my hair got washed.

It was good to read that you are working on strengthening the left arm. I did that also. Still to this day, I eat left-handed and am considered to be ambidextrous........can't read my handwriting from either hand. One day as I showed up to hand address envelopes for a charity, I heard someone say......"Oh, there's Chris, let's find something else for her today. She doesn't write well enough."

Here is a link to a physical therapy protocol that looks informative.
https://www.josefeichingermd.com/pdf/lower-trapezius-tendon-transfer-physical-therapy-protocol.pdf
What are your must-haves and expectations for post-surgery movement, stretch and lift? Are you working? What is included in your daily routine? This surgery is a Mayo innovation which is showing progress and applicability for situations like yours. Mine left me with no rotator cuffs and a pretty big lot of titanium. So my pre-surgery physical therapy work was all about the deltoid muscle substituting for the rotator cuff.

I am fascinated with this concept and would so appreciate it if you would keep me and Connect updated especially about your rescheduled surgery. Your posts about your surgery and rehab can help lots of folks who may be facing the same repair/replacement.

May you be free of suffering and the causes of suffering.
Chris

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