We went over some paperwork and then she gave me a gown, socks, and hairnet to put on. When she came back to the room she explained that they were going to do a nerve block in my shoulder, this would numb my entire arm and shoulder area . There are two types of blocks that happen, motion and sensory. I was lucky enough to enjoy both .
The Dr. came who was going to administer the nerve block and explained how it would work. First a small shot of lidocaine into my neck. This would be followed by another shot that injects some sort of fluid next to the nerve bundle. The doctor used an ultrasound machine to locate the nerve bundle which is under your collarbone. The Dr. pressed so hard with the ultrasound that it hurt but not hard enough as the shot needle was huge (as thick as pencil lead) . He directed the needle and when it was in the right spot he told Christie to start injecting some fluid. On the ultrasound machine when the fluid was injected next to the nerve bundle you could see muscles being moved away from the bundle, it was pretty cool. The Dr. did this same routine three or four times. How the nerve Block Works is the fluid goes around the bundle and I believe swells to prevent it from allowing the flow of nerve signals to your extremities. This is a slow process and can take up to one half hour to start working. My entire shoulder down to my fingers was the motion block, all of my fingers on the other hand had the sensory block. My fingers felt like they had fallen asleep and I got too enjoy that feeling for the next 30 HRS.
About 9:15 AM a different anesthesiologist came in to the room and explained what he would be doing in the operating room. Right after he left the nurse came in who would be working in the operating room also. He had a Star Wars cap on which was fun to look it. (I make it a point any time I go in for surgery to thank all the people that help me through the ordeal. When I explained to Christy how much her help meant to me, she almost started crying. I told the second nurse how much I appreciated his help in getting my life back to normal and he said he really enjoyed doing this job. Other nurses & folks that helped really appreciated the kudos as well. It was their normal day at work but for me it was fixing my shoulder for the REST of my life! He then walked me to the operating room.
In the operating room the bed I was to lay on looked like the injection table for a prisoner being put to death. I made a joke about that and the three guys chuckled that were in the room. I knew two of the three men in the room. One of them asked how I hurt my shoulder. I mentioned I got tripped by a parachute line while taking powered parachute flying lessons. While chatting with the guys I felt a cool fluid starting in my left arm up the IV. The anesthesiologist said he was giving me the general, I immediately thanked everyone for their help today and then I woke up and in their recovery room.
My next nurse was about my age and again very helpful. I don't remember what all she did but she made me comfortable and removed some wires and hoses I think, maybe got me some cookies & juice, then she disappeared. Then my final nurse Carrie went over paperwork and what I was supposed to do my first week she did other things that I don't remember but then helped me out to the car. It was funny that she kept stressing me to bring back the schmock, like it was made of gold are something.
The ride home was fairly uneventful however I was surprised that it was now 1:30 in the afternoon. I think my biggest complaint was my fingers feeling like they had fallen asleep and there was nothing I could do about it. I lay down the lazy boy for the rest of the afternoon .
The most difficult thing to do was go to the bathroom because you had to do everything with only one hand, remove & put back on clothing. The other problem was getting out of the lazy boy chair as the arm to change the chair position was the arm that I had worked on.... I had a cane that really helped a lot to get out of the chair and steady myself when taking my first few steps.
If I remember correctly Carrie called me that afternoon around five to see how I was doing. She again emphasized me to bring the schmock back I told her I wanted to wear it for Halloween ha ha ha, bringing it back must be tied to her bonus. lol
My surgery was Thursday morning and Friday evening Dr. Cameron called to see how I was doing. I mentioned a few issues I had and he said things were progressing quite normal. I go back to see him next Friday.
I took the pain medication for two days straight and on the third day stop taking them has the main pain had gone away. Like I mentioned earlier, the nerve block took 30 hours to go away. Currently the major pain I have is when I make an abrupt movement like getting out of the chair, turning, or bumping into something. The sling is a pain but really keeps your arm immobilized and in the right position for healing.
Sunday I was finally able to take a shower woo-hoo! We get to remove the monster bandages and see what had actually happened to me. The Dr. put four holes in my shoulder, I told him to make it look like bullet holes. Lol
