Banhart lesion, anterior instability and impingment oh my!
Time for a surgery update!
In early October I had long-overdue othroscopic shoulder surgery. First, let me say that hospitals are a freakin racket! The bill was over 16k, and another 1500 for the MRI before it. I'll have to scan the bill, there are some funny line items in there. I think I was charged about 300 for post-surgery prescription drugs, which amounted to 3-4 pills in the 8 or so hours I was there post-op.
I hurt it originally about 6 years ago snowboarding on Mt. Hood... It was a beautiful powder day and pretty deserted, and I found a nice steep slope that leveled off then dropped off pretty steeply where someone had built a nice jump. I went over it pretty slowly at first to test it out, and found the landing area to be a massive snowdrift. To snowboarders that's a license to get nuts, so the next time down I bombed over the thing. Well I forgot that landing in powder is very different than hardpack, and was leaning way too far forward. I landed fine, then catapulted forward in an impressive endo display. Being a goofyfoot, my right foot was forward so I landed on my right shoulder pretty hard. What was interesting was at the same instant my left arm then went flying up over my head, and I had to use all my muscle to keep from slapping the top of my head with my forearm. It hurt quite a bit, but I was poor and didn't get too many chances to ride. So I rode the rest of the day, taking it pretty easy. I didn't see anyone about it for a long time, until last year when I tried some PT. It didn't help. Finally I got a MRI and they found some damage, and I was stuck with surgery.
It turns out this was a good idea, because they found a whole lot more damage than they expected. I had 3 marble-sized 'loose bodies' floating around, basically pieces of cartilege that had torn off and was bouncing around the joint. They had to sew the cuff of the joint back to the bone in 8 or 9 places, and ground off part of the knuckle-shaped bone on top to make some room. It was a mess.
So I spent a couple of weeks mostly drugged up and sleeping, but never for more than a few hours at a time. Today was the second time in 6 weeks that I've slept for more than 4-5 hours in a row, and still the pain wakes me up. I can't lay flat without a good deal of pain, so I'm stuck propping myself up on the couch at an angle.
Last week the sling came off though, and today I started physical therapy. It's healing fast relatively speaking, but it will still be another 4-5 months before I can go back to full speed sports. A word of advice: don't injure your shoulder. It's the most complicated joint in your body and it's tough to do anything without using it in some way. Much better to hurt your ankle or even knee. Keep that in mind next time you decide to hurt yourself.
In early October I had long-overdue othroscopic shoulder surgery. First, let me say that hospitals are a freakin racket! The bill was over 16k, and another 1500 for the MRI before it. I'll have to scan the bill, there are some funny line items in there. I think I was charged about 300 for post-surgery prescription drugs, which amounted to 3-4 pills in the 8 or so hours I was there post-op.
I hurt it originally about 6 years ago snowboarding on Mt. Hood... It was a beautiful powder day and pretty deserted, and I found a nice steep slope that leveled off then dropped off pretty steeply where someone had built a nice jump. I went over it pretty slowly at first to test it out, and found the landing area to be a massive snowdrift. To snowboarders that's a license to get nuts, so the next time down I bombed over the thing. Well I forgot that landing in powder is very different than hardpack, and was leaning way too far forward. I landed fine, then catapulted forward in an impressive endo display. Being a goofyfoot, my right foot was forward so I landed on my right shoulder pretty hard. What was interesting was at the same instant my left arm then went flying up over my head, and I had to use all my muscle to keep from slapping the top of my head with my forearm. It hurt quite a bit, but I was poor and didn't get too many chances to ride. So I rode the rest of the day, taking it pretty easy. I didn't see anyone about it for a long time, until last year when I tried some PT. It didn't help. Finally I got a MRI and they found some damage, and I was stuck with surgery.
It turns out this was a good idea, because they found a whole lot more damage than they expected. I had 3 marble-sized 'loose bodies' floating around, basically pieces of cartilege that had torn off and was bouncing around the joint. They had to sew the cuff of the joint back to the bone in 8 or 9 places, and ground off part of the knuckle-shaped bone on top to make some room. It was a mess.
So I spent a couple of weeks mostly drugged up and sleeping, but never for more than a few hours at a time. Today was the second time in 6 weeks that I've slept for more than 4-5 hours in a row, and still the pain wakes me up. I can't lay flat without a good deal of pain, so I'm stuck propping myself up on the couch at an angle.
Last week the sling came off though, and today I started physical therapy. It's healing fast relatively speaking, but it will still be another 4-5 months before I can go back to full speed sports. A word of advice: don't injure your shoulder. It's the most complicated joint in your body and it's tough to do anything without using it in some way. Much better to hurt your ankle or even knee. Keep that in mind next time you decide to hurt yourself.
posted by Dave Rants at
4:24 AM
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