Brien's shoulder has been giving him trouble for a few years now. He's been playing baseball since he was old enough for t-ball. He plays softball and football with the Air Force intramural teams. This past fall, his football team was was runner up for title of Base Champions. Needless to say, he really gave it his all! He remembers hurting it after throwing a long pass. He was able to play the rest of the game. Once the swelling set in, it did nothing but cause a lot of pain! He went to Physical Therapy, did his exercises at home, and had cortisone shots.
The MRI proved that he had a torn labrum. The labrum functions as a shock absorber. It cushions the blow when the bones in the shoulder collide. Dr. Lemos recommended a laparoscopic shoulder arthroscopy and it was scheduled for March 10th. Everything went great. While Brien was on his way to recovery, Dr. Lemos came to the waiting room to talk to me. He said things were much worse than the MRI results and also worse than he imagined. The labrum was basically hanging by a thread and 'flopping' around each time Brien moved his shoulder. There was also a lot of cartilage that was torn and needed a lot of work. He was able to repair everything and said the recovery would be much longer than he originally thought.
Brien has to have his arm in the sling for 6 weeks (instead of 2). He can't start Physical Therapy until 6 weeks (instead of 2). He will not be able to throw for approximately 1 year. He's really upset he's not going to be able to play softball this year. He's 2 weeks post op and doing a lot better. He's back at work but still in quite a bit of pain. Dr. Lemos said a ton of pain is expected...pain that medication really won't help.
I think his biggest complaint is not being able to sleep and wearing that sling!
The girls have been really gentle with Daddy. They understand he has a 'boo boo'. Everyone says he will be so happy he had the surgery and he should feel much better!
No comments:
Post a Comment