Getting old can really suck. Really.

So, i had a rotator cuff repair on my left shoulder ten years ago. It was doing great. Complete success. Over the summer it started to give me some trouble. But my repaired right shoulder did too. Wrote it off as arthritis. Right one straightened out. All good. The left one though...
Well, went to see an orthopedic surgeon yesterday. Xray shows bone on bone action.
He is fairly certain i need a shoulder replacement. Cat scan in two weeks.
Lets hope i grow some tissue in the next fourteen days.(like, i would appreciate some new spinal material too. But i won't get greedy)
The whole thing is a bit unnerving. I mean, shit!

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

Heartlander · 80-89, M

Good luck with it all. Was there a physical therapy program to see how much relief/repair was possible with that alone?

My wife and I both had shoulder issues. In my case with torn ligaments, physical therapy gave me comfort but still left me with a small loss of range of motion in a direction that I don't use much anyway, so chose to not do a surgical repair. That was 15 years ago, and am still very happy with my decision. I still can't reach very far behind me to the left; but then, I don't have many reason to reach behind me to the left anyway, so ?

My wife wasn't so lucky. Her rotator cuff repair went well until the very day she got the OK to part with the arm/shoulder sling. She tripped and fell against a table, bad shoulder first, and the force was severe enough to pull all the new anchor pins out of their sockets. So a complete redo and another 8 weeks of healing. Long physical therapy and the best she recovered was the ability to raise her elbow to chin level.