Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Sillychinchilly]

I found out from my Dr. this morning that I have a torn rotator cuff. Apparently its some sort of muscle thing in the shoulder that controls certain movements.
Anyway, I'm in cosmetology school, and now I have to take a leave of absence for goodness only knows how long and extend my grad date.

Anyway, Doc told me that I had two options:
1) Surgery. The quickest way to fix it, but its never garanteed that it will work and not have more complications.
2) Leave it alone and see if it heals by its self.

Have any of you ever had this problem? And if so, what did you do? I'm 17 and the only surgery I've ever had I don't even remember because I was just a baby, the possibility of staying in a hospital, needles, and possible complications that could ruin my future career scare the poo out of me!
Any advice?

[Debbie.nl.ca]

Yes mine has been torn for 18 years, and every spring it freezes up and I can't get my arm over my head. Or even to my head to wash it.
Your to young to have the Op yet.
I'd recommend waiting, exercise, ice if it swells and hot if it's not.

[Jo Ann]

  You may not like what I have to say ... but, you know me ... I'll say it anyway.   

Your rotator cuff is essential to the movement of your arm and even your hand ... as you are finding out.  If you continue to use it damaged, you will continue to damage it even more.  As one very wise doctor told me many years ago ... pain is our body's way of saying "Easy does it ... something here is wrong."  If that part of your body "freezes" or refuses to move, it is telling you, "If you make me move, I will do some permanent damage."  What surgery could be done now, would probably be less than what will have to be done in the future, if you continue to damage it.   But ... on the other hand ... the procedures could improve as years pass. 
So, you have to consider both sides there.
One of those 6 of one and 1/2 dozen of the other situations.

It depends on how often it messes up and how bad. 

Keep this in mind:  If the pain is so bad it's keeping you out of classes, it will keep you out of work, also.  That line of work does not have a "regular" pay check and people (your customers) are not that good at understanding that you can not fix their hair, when and every time they need you to do so ... that is a part of a female that is her "crowning glory" and must be done for her to go anywhere and be seen.       You might think about changing your career ambitions. 

Now to get down to the bad part ...   

When and how did you injure it?

Did the doctor do a dye-enhanced x-ray?  Did you see the  x-rays?  If you saw them and saw what looked like white streamers leaving your rotator cuff ... that is where the tear/tears are. 
If it is just a little bit of it ... good chance it will heal on it's own ... no harm in giving it a chance to, anyway.   
But, if there are long streamers and more than one or two ... there is some major damage and surgery is needed.

Possible surgery?

First, I would find a doctor that can give me a % rate on the recover with the surgery ... if he can not give you at least 75% chance of it being useful after surgery ... find a doctor who can.

When explaining the procedure, if he says he will have to lay your shoulder open front to back ... find a doctor that can do it orthoscopically (sp).

My local doctor told me what yours told you and was going to open me up front to back.  I told him "Thanks, but no thanks." 

I went to Duke and Dr. Kevin Spears (he is in private practice in Raleigh or Durham, NC, now) did 5 different procedures othoscopically and all in one surgery.  I still have some slight pain every once in a while ... but never enough to stop me from doing what I want to do, usually.  I have full use of my arm and hand, most of the time.  No one can make it perfect again, man is not as good at those things as God is. 

I took cosmetology, too, and graduated a few years before I tore my cuff due to a grand mal seizure.  Even with it repaired, I know cosmetology would put to much of a strain on it.   It will never be as strong as it was.  I found out photography was actually my niche in life ... that, and chinchillas.

You are young enough to give it a little time, see what happens ... if that doesn't work ... go from there. 
If you have to have the surgery, if you need it, your age is to your advantage there, too. 
At your age, you also have the option to change what you want to do in life.

I empathize with your pain ... their will be times you won't even be able to lift your hand, let alone pick-up a salt shaker ... before it gets that bad ... find a competent doctor.

Nothing wrong with asking for a second opinion except, that the doctor and anyone in his/her group can not do the surgery on your shoulder ... because they gave you the second opinion.

What you might think about doing is ... call your GP ... do NOT ask him which doctor YOU should go to ... he can't tell you that ... BUT ... you can ask him, "If you had this problem, which doctor would you have fix it for you?"  That way, he is not telling you who to go, but telling you where he/she would go, under the same circumstances ... which is even better.   

The medical rules are strange, but there for a reason.  If the doctor giving you the second opinion could do the surgery, it might influence his decision.  (Making him more money and maybe surgery you don't even need.)

If your doctor can not tell you where to go ... he is not downing any other doctor, and he can not get any kick back.

Both rules are there to protect you, but they often get in the way of the proper and the best care.

Keep us posted!

   Jo Ann

[Sillychinchilly]

When and how did you injure it?

Did the doctor do a dye-enhanced x-ray?  Did you see the  x-rays?  If you saw them and saw what looked like white streamers leaving your rotator cuff ... that is where the tear/tears are. 
If it is just a little bit of it ... good chance it will heal on it's own ... no harm in giving it a chance to, anyway.   
But, if there are long streamers and more than one or two ... there is some major damage and surgery is needed.


I actually hurt it playing "helicopter" with my little brother. He's almost two, and a lot heavier than he was when we first started playing that game. Anyway, when I lifted him over my head, I almost dropped him because it was like someone had shoved an ice pick through my shoulder.

I don't know if it was a dye enhanced xray or not, I drank some horrible tasting liquid before, so yeah maybe? I could call and find out. I saw the xrays but not the cat scan.  Yeah there are like three or four of the little streamer things. He told me straight out when he met me at emergency that it was a deep tear, but being young we should try and let it heal on its own. I'm supposed to go back to his office in a couple of weeks for a follow up and to decide what we're going to do.

[Jo Ann]

  These little ones grow up fast.  When we are around them, we don't notice that pound here and there ... at least not till it gives us a wake up call.  That stabbing pain was definitely a "whoa" "no, no, no, no".   

The damage is done ... if you are careful, as the doctor said ... give it a chance to heal on it's own ... it might ... but, it will take a long time to heal properly ... much longer than a broken bone.  Instead of the 8 to 10 weeks for a bone ... it could be 8 to 10 months for it to heal properly ... and ... just one little screw-up on your part could either have to go back and start all over, or could make you have to have surgery, with no other option.

I went through 3 months of rest and rehab ... went back ... he checked it and saw it was no better and ask if I wanted to (1) give it a while longer, (2) take pain and muscle relaxers for a while longer or (3) go into surgery. 

I ask if he thought it would get any better, he said "No"
 
I told him then surgery it is.

He ask me "When?"

I said, "Yesterday.  I want it over and done with."

The surgery was the following week.  Things got much better faster than I expected them to do.  I still have my limitations by the doctor, but am doing fantastic as compared to what it would be like if I hadn't been done.

When you go back to the doctor ... ask him what a "Polar Shoulder" is ... if he does not know, or has never heard of it ... get to someone who does ... he's not up to date on the best pain reliever I've ever seen.   By the way ... a Polar Shoulder is made of what looks like bubble wrap, with one side a solid plastic ... a little double hose that runs from it to an ice chest.  The double hose will have a thermostat on it ... you set the thermostat to what is comfortable to you and you put water and ice in the ice chest ... plug in the polar shoulder ... and a constant flow of cool water flows through the wrap that is covering your shoulder (back, front, top and side) ... it keeps the pain to a minimum.  Very little pain medication is needed.

Keep us posted on what happens ... I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

   Jo Ann

P.S.  If you want to insert a quote, look in the section above the smiley faces to the one with a scowl on his face nest to a gray one ... there is a little box with a yellow thing that looks like those you see in the funny paper ... click on it and you will get what looks like this >>>  [ quote][ /quote ] ... copy and past the part you want to quote from another person between the two and it will look like this:

I actually hurt it playing "helicopter" with my little brother. 

  when your post is posted.   

[Sillychinchilly]

a Polar Shoulder is made of what looks like bubble wrap, with one side a solid plastic ... a little double hose that runs from it to an ice chest.  The double hose will have a thermostat on it ... you set the thermostat to what is comfortable to you and you put water and ice in the ice chest ... plug in the polar shoulder ... and a constant flow of cool water flows through the wrap that is covering your shoulder (back, front, top and side) ... it keeps the pain to a minimum.  Very little pain medication is needed.

that's possibly the most awesome thing i've ever heard of. they've had me on an anti-inflammitory and morphine. i dislike it tremendously. i haven't been able to really eat in a while because one of the two makes me sick. Not entirely sure which one.
Thanks for telling me how to do the quotes. I'm possibly the least computer-savvy teenager on the planet. lol

You said you went to cosmetology school? where'd you go? how long did it take you? Mine's supposed to take 1600 hours, and i'm up to 700, though it still seems like its going to be forever... that is if I get to finish. My mom is upset because we paid almost $15,000 up front for me to go, and its nonrefundable O.o

[Jo Ann]

     It is probably a little of both ... the anti-inflammatory drugs can really be rough on the digestive system and even cause ulcers, if taken a long time.  (I was on them for 19 years for tendinitis.)  They also are bad about making you retain fluid and can cause damage to your vision, if used for a long time.  Of course, they did not find out all this until I had already been on them for over 18 years.      It's best to eat a mini meal before taking either of them, especially the anti-inflammatory.  Never take them at the same time.   Be sure your "mini meal" has bread and/or a baked or mashed potato in it ... those are the two things that seem to absorb the acid in the stomach that they cause.  You do not want ulcers, I promise!  You get stuck on a bland diet, no seasoning (not even salt), no sauces (especially not Italian), no flavor (at all), no soft drinks, coffee or tea and everything tastes like wet cardboard ... for at least 3 months.

   The pain medication they have you on is very addictive and you will have to be off of it for a bit before the surgery, or they will have to increase the dosage to compensate for your body adjusting to the medication.  Increasing the dosage only increases the chance of addiction.       I took less than 1/4 of the normal medication with the use of the Polar Shoulder.  My husband even borrowed it when he had triple hernia surgery.   

    I went to cosmetology school in Memphis, TN.  The requirements and rules were basically the same.  9 months and no refund if you decide to drop out.  But, they did have a clause, if you had to drop out due to a medical condition that refunded part of your money. 

    Your mom might think it is a bummer, but it will cost you much more in medical bills than the course, if you continue to damage it.  You could probably get your doctor to send the school a note to restrict you to the non-hands-on events at school when your shoulder acts up.   Just a thought.

   Keep us posted.


 
       Jo Ann

[Sillychinchilly]

Tomorrow my best friend Amy is coming over from New Mexico to help Aaron take care of me after my surgery, which is scheduled for the first of July. I'm excited to see her, having not seen her in over a year!!!
I'm really nervous about it, I've met with the surgeon twice, and I'll meet with her once more tomorrow. She's performed the surgery a ton of times, though, so i'm comfortable with her.
Wish me luck!

[Sweetnessheart]

Good Luck with your surgery!! 
I know it will go smoothly....

Your healing time will go by faster having a friend around.  You can catch up on all the old times and new things happening in each other's lives.

Friendship is wonderful!!  You can never have to many friends!

Take care of yourself and let your Aaron and Amy pamper you!   

[Sillychinchilly]

Hi all. Today is my first day being up and about after the surgery. It went pretty well. I'm not in as much pain today as I have been for the last few weeks thanks to the Polar Shoulder and some pain meds.
Thanks for all the help, support and advice you've all given me. I probably will be on and around the boards, but without too much posting. Typing is incredibly awkward with one hand.
<3