Rotator Cuff Surgery pt 2 - What to Buy

Now that I had a surgery date set, I began to create a list off all the items I’d need post-surgery. I’m a planner and love lists, but unfortunately I struggled to find a blog, article, or list of things to get for my surgery. I was in luck though. Some gym friends had recently gone through rotator cuff surgery and offered a list of things to get and things to know prior to surgery.

Whether you’re going into surgery alone or will have someone at the house, know you’ll be fine either way. Even with my husband available and willing to help, I tried to do what I could on my own. I figured there was little excuse since plenty of amputees do life normally with only one hand or arm. There was definitely a learning curve though. I quickly realized little hacks such as putting bottles between my legs while using my good hand to unscrew the cap. The day before surgery I took full advantage of both hands, enjoying my last unhindered shower for a while to come.

The day before surgery I decided to get my underarms waxed. I’d highly suggest this whether you’re a man or a woman. I personally just didn’t want to deal with prickly underarms the first couple weeks. But I learned the day of surgery they would have shaved my underarm if I hadn't already waxed. Be aware before surgery they will also probably shave your arm hair from the shoulder down to your elbow also.

Here is a list of the things I needed post-surgery:

· Loose button up or large t-shirt

· For women: front-zip bra

· Floss picks (one handed use)

· Pump shampoo/soap bottles

· Pillow wedge

· Ice sleeve with a timer (your insurance may cover this)

· Bag of ice (dependent on ice sleeve type)

· Electrolytes for the night before surgery (ex: Biolyte)

· Sweat bands to cover rough sling areas

· Stool softener (to counteract pain meds)

· Removable showerhead

The button-up shirt and zip-up bra were great! I’d highly suggest them for your surgery day outfit. On the bottom I wore loose pants, socks, and sneakers. While all this was easy to put on post-surgery, in hindsight something like Chaco’s might have been still simpler. Post-surgery my husband brought me home to a house prepped for me. I had made sure to fill my pain prescription the day before, so it was ready when I needed it and I had tried to think through anything else I’d want ready to go. Note on the pain meds, it’s important to stay ahead of the pain those first few days. I made sure to take my meds as soon as I started to feel my arm some, so it had time to kick in before my arm started to truly hurt.

After sleeping a few hours at home, I woke and was ready for some food. Directly post-surgery I had expected to be ravenous as I hadn’t eaten since 12pm the night before, but I actually was fairly nauseous. They gave me a saltine cracker and ginger ale before being sent home and I waited to eat until after my nap. I was surprised but I didn’t have any trouble sleeping normally on my back. I ended up not using the pillow wedge despite everyone telling me I wouldn’t be able to sleep normally for weeks. I was thankful for this as we did not own a recliner and that had been the suggested furniture of choice for sleeping.

I woke up hungry from my nap and had a burger before showering. My husband assisted me in washing below my sling, totally ignoring my upper body for the first day. I highly suggest having a showerhead that you can move around, ours was a fixed showerhead which left us using cups and the bath faucet to avoid having the showerhead get my shoulder wet. I was up quite a few hours, not nearly as sleepy as I expected and not experiencing any pain. My left side was almost completely numb from my fingers all the way up to my left cheek. It would stay somewhat numb about a full week.

Right after Surgery

A few days post surgery

Surgery Day Afternoon

It’s important to make sure you have enough ice ready to utilize your ice sleeve. It takes a decent amount to fill up the tank if it’s ice based. Some machines run using frozen water bottles, others ice and water. Whichever model you get, it’s nice to have a timer setting so you can utilize the machine while you sleep. I realized after the fact that mine did not have a timer, so I simply chose not to ice overnight. Since my pain level was low it was not an issue but most people experience a lot of overnight pain, so being able to ice while you sleep is a major benefit.

I had trouble sleeping the very first night after surgery, but it wasn’t due to pain. I think being asleep for surgery, then napping shortly after simply threw off my sleep cycles. That mixed with taking hard drugs for the first time left me very alert but physically tired. Since I was up, I went ahead and took my pain meds every 6 hours figuring it was better to stay pain free the first day post-surgery. After that I only took the opioids before I went to sleep each night. Whether that has been necessary I’m not sure, but I’d rather take pills and have restful sleep than not be able to recover as fast due to poor sleep. Soon I switched to just Tylenol before bed, then only as I experienced pain.

I waited to take my first full shower until three days post-surgery, when I could remove my large surgery bandage and just place band aids over my stitches. Day one and two I had just used a washcloth on my upper body and utilized our new movable showerhead for my lower half. While my bandage was now gone, I still wasn’t to get the incisions wet so we taped plastic wrap over the shoulder area and my husband helped me wash so I avoided getting that area wet. It felt absolutely amazing to be fully clean. We found the best way to remove the extremely sticky tape residue from my large bandage was to soak cotton balls in rubbing alcohol and then rub until the area was no longer tacky. This process actually took a few days until all the residue was gone. It was extremely adhesive, and my skin got sensitive if it was rubbed too long, so we just took our time getting it fully removed.

Warning: I am someone not easily squeamish, I enjoy watching needles being used and stitches being placed, but for some reason just seeing my shoulder stitches made me extremely nauseous and feel close to fainting. I’d suggest sitting down for this part on the off chance it affects you, especially if you’re alone. Sometimes surgeries can affect us more mentally and emotionally than other more superficial injuries.

I was told to start doing my “exercises” the day after surgery. A simple elbow bend and a non-active shoulder swing in different directions for about five minutes, three times a day. The extremely tight feeling in my shoulder was hard to stomach and would continue to mentally challenge me. But even on day one I could feel it loosening by the end of the five minutes. The best way to describe the tight sensation, was like my shirt sleeve was too tight and thus limited my shoulder motion. Overall, all the muscles on my left side were tight and angry. It was challenging to relax them as they were making up for my inactive shoulder. I was thoroughly grateful for my strong abdominal muscles that could help make up for some of my restricted motion. Things like getting out of bed from a fully lying position would have been very challenging without the ability to simply sit up without use of my arms.

I expected to be exercising my legs right away after surgery, but quickly found more than just my left arm was out of commission. My entire body was extremely exhausted the entire first week post-surgery. I slept 8-10 hours a night and still woke up tired. By the afternoon I consistently felt myself almost falling asleep. A week post-surgery I took on the task of folding a load of laundry which left me exhausted. I may have pushed too hard for a few hours later I was in a decent amount of pain. It came in waves, totally disappearing then returning with a vengeance. I took some Tylenol, wanting to wait before bed to take my prescription. After my shower the pain finally subsided and thankfully didn’t return.

It wasn’t until 8 days after surgery that I did my first workout. A short nine minutes of glute work and only three minutes in my heart was racing. I paused my timer a few times just to let my heart rate settle, not wanting to go too hard my first time back. And slightly worried I’d push myself too hard and experience the intense pain I had the day before. Tomorrow was another day and I’d have plenty of time to work out later. I think some of the heart racing may have been from my pain meds. I also noticed when I stopped the prescription drugs I wasn’t nearly as tired during the day.

One worry I had before surgery was how I would properly wash my single usable hand. The first few days when I was exceedingly protective of my left arm, I would put a little soap on the side of the sink so I could clean the back of my hand there and rinse it off. I could get my hand fairly clean without the sink, but I disliked not being able to really get the back of my hand. After my injured arm was a little less tender, I began to use my left fingers to wash the right hand. By a week post-surgery I was told I could have my arm out of the sling some, giving me opportunities to wash my hands normally. Where there’s a will there a way I guess.