I was talking to a friend the other day who was told she had to have rotator cuff surgery.  Some folks say, “Don’t do it” and others say, “Go for it”.  She asked me what do I say?  She knows I had it done this past year.

I say, “Are you in pain?  Is it affecting your quality of life?  Can you still do the things that make you happy without pain?”  If you say yes to pain, quality of life being affected and not being able to do things you love, then I believe it is worth doing.  No matter how old you are. 

The reason for my response is because of the quality of your life.  If you can’t do things you love and could easily do before, the question then becomes are you going to limit yourself for the rest of your life?  Are you going to deny yourself those things that give you pleasure? 

It is NOT easy.  I’ll tell you that up front.  Doctors or someone else might tell you it is.  NO, it is not.  Realistically, depending on the severity of the damage in your shoulder and your age, you can PLAN on not having the use of that arm at all for 6-8 weeks.  After that, you will have minimal range of motion and no strength for 4-6 months.  These factors depend on what the surgeon did and your age.  Why?  Because it will affect how quickly you recover. 

I’m not trying to worry you; but I wish someone had honestly told me what to expect.  I might not have gotten as depressed over the length of my recovery time if they had.  I might have had more patience with the time it was taking to get my strength back.  I might have had more patience with myself and the inability to do things I could do easily beforehand.  I might have been better prepared for the pain.

So what can I tell you that will help?  This too will pass! 

You are about to learn how to receive…how to receive help from friends and family; how to receive some ‘downtime’ and R&R; how to receive the blessings of something to occupy your mind while your body is recuperating; how to learn patience with yourself and others.

PLAN AHEAD

If this is your dominant hand/arm, as it was in my case, you need to plan ahead.  If it is your other arm/shoulder, it is easier but some of these tips are still applicable for you. 

Okay, what can you do?              

See the next post …