Today is my 36th birthday. Still don’t feel a day over 21, though I do think I’m starting to look older! It was a nice day… my shoulder is feeling much better and I didn’t have to work today! I woke up late, spent some time doing my Japanese lessons and then my friend Roseld came over for lunch. We went to one of my favorite sushi places for lunch and then came back and hung out at my place.

We had planned to go out to dinner but I really wasn’t up to it with the bum arm so my sweetie cooked me an amazing dinner of a huge rib eye steak, blue cheese mashed potatoes, asparagus with hollandaise sauce and olive oil garlic bread.

For my birthday, even though I had asked for no gift from him, my sweetie surprised me with Kindle. It’s not the first time I got my hands on one as we bought one for my mother on mother’s day but it’s fantastic and I love it. I’ll write a blog post about it soon.

Last Wednesday, I had surgery on my right shoulder and long story short, I got super lucky and had the best case scenario. In a very quick (1.5 hour) surgery, the surgeon went in and cut the end of my collar bone off and stitched me up!

The experience was really not that bad and also kind of interesting. I arrived about an hour before my surgery was scheduled, and got undressed (down to my skivvies) and into a hospital gown. One nice touch was that the gown was in a warmer before they gave it to me. Not only soft but warm! They put me on a litter, wrapped me in another warm blanket, started an IV in my left arm and left me to listen to my iPhone until it was time for anesthesia.

Anesthesia was interesting as I was offered either General (put you out) or a Nerve Block, where they push a drug into the nerve that controls the pain in the area they would work on. I took the latter and it was amazing. The anesthesiologist tapped my neck with a needle where the nerve should have been and just then my arm started to twitch. A small pinch and in about 15 seconds, I couldn’t feel my right shoulder or arm at all! Next they wheeled me into the Operating Room and put me on this table that was articulated into a chair. They got me situated and started a twilight anesthesia. I was awake for the whole procedure and talked to the surgeon. Apparently I offered to help him buy a few Macs for his home! I remember most of the surgery with the exception of the last part and being transferred back to the gurney.

I woke up in the recovery room rather comfortable and not able to feel my arm at all. The very odd thing about not being able to feel your arm was that I also couldn’t tell where my arm was. I thought my arm was laying across my stomach (where it had been all during surgery) but it was actually lying on the bed next to me! This very odd experience repeated itself later in the evening while when trying to get dressed and put my arm back in the sling, I laid it across my lap to reach for the sling and when I reached to grab my forearm, I grabbed only crotch! LOL.

The first two days after surgery were a blur of Percocet and sleep. I woke every 4 hours to take a pill and then just slept until the next dose. The third day however, I was feeling well and even though typing was next to impossible, I was able to video chat with some friends and even write an email. The fourth day, I was finally able to take a shower, and that was a very difficult affair. I couldn’t really move my arm so I needed a hand not only washing, but drying and… putting bandages back on my incisions. I have four of them, two on front of my shoulder, one on my arm and one on my back. I also got a terrible rash and reaction to the adhesive from the original dressings. Slowly but surely, I’m feeling back to normal and I’m surprised at how much movement I have in it.

Tomorrow is my birthday, Thursday is my first day back to work and I have another week until I see the doctor to get my sutures removed and to see how much longer I have to be in the sling.

Wow I can’t believe that it’s practically my birthday, not only did I not blog the entire month of July, but I took me that entire month to get all the drafts I started in June published.

A large part of this just due to the fact that I’ve been hella busy. I’m learning Japanese using Rosetta Stone, it’s going but it’s going slowly. Also my mom’s been in the hospital for the past three weeks. I’m not going into what’s happened but let’s just say she still the medical mystery she’s always been and the doctors are just plain confounded.

Add to that the fact that in about an hour, I go in for outpatient surgery on my shoulder. At the minimum it’s been determined that I have a large amount of arthritis on my clavicle and the maximum I need something called my SLAP muscle repaired. I will be in a sling for anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks and have quite a bit of rehab and physical therapy ahead of me. I’m pretty nervous as the last surgery I had was when I was 17 or 18. That surgery was to have my wisdom teeth extracted and I don’t recall much about it.

I think the thing that will worry me the most is will I be able to type?? Typing is such a huge part of my work, home and social life. I’m sure my iPhone will be a constant companion as it’s the easiest device I have to type one handed . I’ll be putting my Mophie Juice Pack Air thru it’s paces.

If I can I’ll update the blog and even post a few photos!

Last September, I had an extended business trip to Miami. I had to go and do some teaching there and it just so happened to be during Hurricane Ike. On one of the very wet and windy evenings, I took a walk over to the restaurant in the hotel next door to get some some grub. I decided to wear some very cheap flip-flops to avoid getting my shoes soaked in the downpour and puddles. Mind you these are the most inexpensive shoes I ever bought and they always stay in my suitcase to be worn around the hotel room when I travel. They were working out very well until I took my first step on the elegant flagstone in front of the restaurant.

In that instant those cheap flip flops failed me as I slipped and lost my balance and fell very hard on the flagstone. Even worse I broke my fall with my right arm. The pain was instant and intense, my shoulder hurt for days after. Once I returned home I visited my family physician who told me to give it a few weeks and see if it improved, which it did. I didn’t give it another thought until this past spring when it started to ache again. I had recently changed family doctor and when I mentioned it to him, a flurry of activities began. X-Rays, an Orthopedic Surgeon visit, MRIs, more visits to the Orthopedic Surgeon and after all that… the diagnosis… Arthritis of the shoulder and a possible “SLAP” muscle tear. Either way… arthroscopic surgery is in my future and very soon. In fact it’s scheduled for July 22nd. One week before my birthday.

There are two scenarios… first is a Distal Clavicle resection. At the end of my clavicle (collar bone) there is a build up of something, and basically they will shave that off so it stops pressing on my shoulder muscle. This is the best case scenario and will have the least amount of recovery and rehab. I’ll be in a sling for 2 weeks or so and then possibly a month to two months of physical therapy.

The second scenario is much more serious. It would include the Distal Clavicle resection and a repair of the “SLAP” muscle. To repair this, I’d need to have pin placed in my shoulder, the SLAP muscle repaired, smoothed and ATTACHED to the pin!!!! OWWWWW! This would be about 6 weeks in a sling and about 6 months of rehab.

I’ll be back once I can type to let you all know what happened!