It has now been just over four weeks since my surgery. Mostly I'm bored. There's only so much Criminal Minds and Operation Repo one person can watch. At least I can still do my morning walks, and weekly choir rehearsal breaks up the mind-numbing monotony.
I started physical therapy a couple weeks ago. At this point it's passive. I lay there and the therapist moves my arm around. Of course, my range isn't what it was before the surgery. So she moves my arm until I object, then ignores me when I try to tell her what muscles are restricted. It's more than a little frustrating. At my last session, she was gently massaging a muscle that wasn't causing a problem. I might as well have been informing her that the sky is blue when I was pointing to the back of my shoulder and saying that was the muscle that was hurting. She's a very nice lady and I'm sure she's well educated. She just seems to be so sure she knows better than me what I'm feeling. Besides, she really doesn't do massage. I'm always vaguely concerned that she's trying to come on to me.
Along with the physical therapy, I have been seeing my massage therapist once a week. She does the same passive motions, with the exception that she works the muscle that's causing the issue. This past week, she discovered that one of my incision scars has adhered into the muscle. This means the skin at that point can't move over the muscle. It seems to be the primary reason I don't have better range. So now I have to convince the physical therapist of the problem so it can be addressed. My massage therapist doesn't think it can be broken free without going in and cutting it loose. I suppose that's what I get for not removing the stitches earlier.
The drugs still make me a little sick. I've had to address a queasy stomach with Dramamine a couple of times now. The physical therapy compounds the issue. While in the long run it will help me regain my range of motion and strength, in the short term, it means I experience more pain than I did before. So I really need to take the drugs more often than I was. I don't want to do this. It means I'm sick more often! Something of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.
Hoss is clearly beginning to suffer from boredom, too. It's not as bad as it could be. He gets to come along on walks, which he clearly enjoys. I lunge him every few days, which reminds him just what "boring" is. My daughter rides him a couple of times a week. He has clearly deduced that the sling has something to do with why we're not riding. He has bitten at it several times now.
My roommate bought tickets to a walking tour of San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter. It was an effort to get me out of the house and doing something other than sit still. It was a really neat tour. We got to hear about some of San Diego's colorful history, including the brothel that didn't close down until the late '80s. It was a nice little diversion. Included in the tour was the opportunity to sample some of the cuisine of the Gaslamp, so we were well-fed, too!
The dogs are starting to get particularly nutty with the shortage of exercise. Ash had to go in to the vet twice in two weeks, as the new vaccine he got the first visit required a booster. He gained a few pounds over those weeks. I'm gonna have my work cut out for me getting these dogs slimmed back down.
My little old lady dog, Roxy, has been doing astonishingly well. Since she blew out the cruciate ligaments in both hind legs, I've been watching her carefully, sure she would start to decline at any time. I started her on a joint supplement some months ago. It was clear pretty much immediately it helped her. Since then, taking the supplement regularly, she has gradually continued to improve. Where she was struggling to keep up, she's been getting well ahead of me. She does quite regularly end up far behind, but it's only because she wants to smell all the roses. Now when I stop and call her, she happily comes running to catch up. She has also started heading off into the underbrush again. She is really feeling confident again. I am very happy to see her so happy.
It will be many more weeks before I'm able to do many of the things I can't do right now. I haven't mentioned going back to riding to my therapist yet. I'm pretty sure I won't like what she says. So I figure when the doctor frees me from this ridiculous sling (it's getting smelly; I really want out of it), I'll see how it feels and go from there. I have to be very careful so I don't undo the repair, so it still may be a while before I can get a saddle on Hoss. My therapist says another eight weeks until I can "get a cup of coffee to my lips" with my left arm. I refrained from mentioning that I don't drink coffee, and I can get my left hand to my face, thank you very much! I'm sure if I inform her of the second, she'll tell me I'm doing too much!
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