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Reverse Shoulder surgery

Posted by erluke65 @erluke65, Jan 18 11:36pm

I had reverse shoulder surgery ten days ago. Today (the 10th day) I noticed redness and swelling on my arm and hand. I also noticed a big bruise on my stomach that wasn't there two days ago,
I do not have a fever nor pus around the incision.
The arm and hand have a slight tingle. i stopped icing and cut back the Tylenol 4 days ago. I am worried about an infection due to the redness and swelling.
Are my symptoms normal?

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rainerhans | @rainerhans | Jan 19 7:10am

I had both shoulders done and didn’t experience these symptoms, you should see your doctor immediately to be on the safe side.
Good luck.

REPLY
belgagrande | @belgagrande | Jan 19 11:43am

I too have had a reverse shoulder replacement. I didn’t experience neither one of these symptoms. As suggested, I would recommend informing your surgeon as soon as possible in case an infection is developing.

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Mentor
Sue, Volunteer Mentor | @sueinmn | Jan 19 1:04pm

@erluke65 - The advice to call the surgeon is a goos one - redness and swelling are often signs of infection.

However, I am curious about why you stopped icing? It is the best and cheapest way to control swelling and increase comfort. I am 12 weeks out from complex rotator cuff repair, and iced multiple times a day for the first 8 weeks. I still ice after my PT exercises and whenever it aches. You could try this while you wait to hear from the doctor. The tingling may be due to swelling impinging on some nerves.

As for the bruise on your abdomen, I also had a bad fall in December that didn't affect my shoulder but caused a very large and deep hematoma on my hip. As that deep hematoma is dispersing, at first, there was massive bruising in the area, but now as it is nearly gone I have bruises appearing on my leg over 10" away - they are the remains of the blood leaking away.

Will you let us know what you learn from the doctor?

REPLY
1 reply
erluke65 | @erluke65 | Jan 20 11:49am
In reply to @sueinmn "@erluke65 - The advice to call the surgeon is a goos one - redness and swelling..." + (show)
@sueinmn

@erluke65 - The advice to call the surgeon is a goos one - redness and swelling are often signs of infection.

However, I am curious about why you stopped icing? It is the best and cheapest way to control swelling and increase comfort. I am 12 weeks out from complex rotator cuff repair, and iced multiple times a day for the first 8 weeks. I still ice after my PT exercises and whenever it aches. You could try this while you wait to hear from the doctor. The tingling may be due to swelling impinging on some nerves.

As for the bruise on your abdomen, I also had a bad fall in December that didn't affect my shoulder but caused a very large and deep hematoma on my hip. As that deep hematoma is dispersing, at first, there was massive bruising in the area, but now as it is nearly gone I have bruises appearing on my leg over 10" away - they are the remains of the blood leaking away.

Will you let us know what you learn from the doctor?

Jump to this post

Thanks for your comments. I stopped icing because I had no pain and no swelling. That was a mistake and the doctor told me to ice three times a day at a minimum. If pain or swelling, increase icing to 5 times a day.

The redness that I saw was actually the iodine used to wash me. Since I wear long sleeve button down shirts I did not notice the redness until I took a shower.
The bruise on my stomach (most likely) caused by a the way I wore a seatbelt. I wear the seatbelt under my left arm, so both straps cross my stomach. The doctor told me to stop the baby aspirin and Tylenol, since both are blood thinners. If pain starts I will take a couple for pain, but not the dosage prescribed when I left the surgery center.
Again thanks for your quick responses.

REPLY
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