Anyone w/ full back fusion had a shoulder replacment and can still roll out of bed?

[susancook]

OK Folks....strange question, I know, but I need your collective help!

I have ZERO cartilage in my R shoulder. Yikes! So, I saw an orthopedic shoulder surgeon who said that post op of a total shoulder replacement, I need to wear an arm sling for one month and not use my R arm for a month. I am fused from T1 to sacrum and am the "NW Poster Old Lady for log rolling out of bed" by rolling to my side and pushing up with BOTH arms to a sitting position. Well, I tried to do roll-over-in-bed-and-the-sit-up-with-only-my-L-arm and no go! I need both arms.

Please, please, please....I don't want to go to a Nursing Home, alias Assisted Living....lots of mashed potatoes and meatloaf and over cooked peas. Who knows how I can roll out of bed with only using my L arm?????

Eagerly Awaiting An Answer,
Susan

[titaniumed]

Susan, you could try with a power bed.....I don't know if this bed is going to work with full fusion, the only way to know is to try.

Here is a used one in Portland, Ore for $300 This used equipment is a dime a dozen....I couldn't get anything for my dads power wheelchair after he passed. It was a $14,000 chair.
https://portland.craigslist.org/sear...20bed&sort=rel

Assisted living is much better than a nursing home. The thing is that they will have one CNA for a whole wing, so if you buzz, you will have to wait. You can get a private room this way....I had my dad in assisted living with ALS. That took a lot of convincing on my part...and hired private CNA's round the clock.

We used a Hoyer lift for my dad when he had ALS
https://www.amazon.com/ProBasics-Pat...SIN=B0198LA5T2

I had a rotator cuff surgery and humeral head re-shaping. Not a full replacement. PT started right after that surgery. I can elevate by body with my left elbow, and many times I use a swift kick with the right leg to act as a counterbalance. Its a quick thrusting movement.....like a fireman getting out of bed.

When are you thinking of doing this surgery?

Ed

[susancook]

Susan, you could try with a power bed.....I don't know if this bed is going to work with full fusion, the only way to know is to try.

Here is a used one in Portland, Ore for $300 This used equipment is a dime a dozen....I couldn't get anything for my dads power wheelchair after he passed. It was a $14,000 chair.
https://portland.craigslist.org/sear...20bed&sort=rel

Assisted living is much better than a nursing home. The thing is that they will have one CNA for a whole wing, so if you buzz, you will have to wait. You can get a private room this way....I had my dad in assisted living with ALS. That took a lot of convincing on my part...and hired private CNA's round the clock.

We used a Hoyer lift for my dad when he had ALS
https://www.amazon.com/ProBasics-Pat...SIN=B0198LA5T2

I had a rotator cuff surgery and humeral head re-shaping. Not a full replacement. PT started right after that surgery. I can elevate by body with my left elbow, and many times I use a swift kick with the right leg to act as a counterbalance. Its a quick thrusting movement.....like a fireman getting out of bed.

When are you thinking of doing this surgery?

Ed

Ed, thanks for the info. I thought that I patented the quick kick to roll over.
Unsure when I will have a shoulder replacement. I meet with the surgeon on the 29th July. Her PA said that most people have surgery when they can't take the pain anymore. I use Canadian crutches and a wheelchair, so I really use my shoulders. I need to figure out when I can take 6 weeks off. I hope to go to Intensive Rehab at Rehabilitation Institute of Oregon (RIO) after surgery to learn to get in and out of bed, walk with one crutch, and conduct ADL. My husband is an awesome caregiver.
Electric bed idea is a good one. Thanks for the Craigslist find. You're the best!
First I need to figure put my back pain. I have a spinal myelogram next Tues and a visit with Dr. Hart at Swedish on Wednesday.
Aging is catching up with me and compromising my quality of life. I am very concerned about a shoulder replacement with osteoporosis. Can't be pretty.
Susan

[titaniumed]

How is the pain?

When I had my devastating ski crash 2 weeks before my surgeries and broke up my arm and shoulder, I didn't bother going to the hospital since I was going to be there in a few days anyway. The spine pain overrode the arm pain. I was almost in a pain shock. (not circulatory) I was whooped and a complete orthopedic disaster when I walked in. The surgeons told me that there was nothing they could have done with the shoulder since the humeral head had to fuse first....The scoliosis surgeries where happening first.

It seems that the worst pains override all other pains....How bad is the shoulder pain? and how is the spine pain? Is your lower spine ok with the large L2-Pelvis ALIF that Dr Hart did on you? Was that Dr Hart that did that surgery? That's a highly invasive procedure.

The log roll kick method works great until you kick your caregiver, then its all over....(smiley face)

In regards to Osteoporosis, the outside bone layer (cortical bone) is where the holding strength is. Its the inside bone (cancellous bone) that's the problem. Most of the holding strength with pedicle screws in spine happen in the thinner outside cortical layer. Sometimes, surgeons will use bone cements to help support and solidify holding in the cancellous bone. I don't know which analogy would be best to use so I have always thought of it as being like styrofoam. Drive a screw into styrofoam, and the holding strength will be much weaker that driving a screw into a material with more strength. I know you know this, but I post in general many times so other readers get some sort of understanding on why we need to take things easy in the immediate recovery period with scoliosis surgeries. No BLT's (No bending, lifting or twisting!)

My shoulder surgery worked out great....It would seem to make sense in saying that shoulder and knee surgeons have twice as much practice than spine surgeons. I took only one NSAID, and no other meds for that surgery and the pain was minimal. I think that since we do such painful spine procedures that all other procedures are easier. (Except bone spurs in the mouth) I have a whole new respect for dental pain. I would ask about incisions, incision length, and bone pastes....I had no bone used in my scoliosis surgeries 11 years ago. None. Only BMP and synthetics. And of course, no digging on the hip for autograft. Also, do the procedures and implants change in osteoporosis in regards to cement injection with shoulder surgery? I am sure they have this dialed in by now.

When I did my shoulder surgery, they had me get on the special "shoulder table" or frame while being awake, then knocked me out "after" I was strapped in. You lay sideways....I was out when they took me off that table. It was a high table....not a standard table. In other words, the surgeon had my shoulder up high so he didn't have to bend over while he was standing. I went up a few steps. It was the operating room for shoulders....

Ed

[jackieg412]

Hi Susan , sorry about your shoulder. I think you can do it. Even if you rent a hospital bed. I haven't had shoulder surgery yet, but friends of mine have and they say sleeping in a recliner is best . If you have one try that. You a position a stable walker of chain near by.
When I broke my neck in a car accident in September , I couldn't use my right arm because of nerve pain. I could use just the left. Try the recliner. It may be ok

[susancook]

Hi Susan , sorry about your shoulder. I think you can do it. Even if you rent a hospital bed. I haven't had shoulder surgery yet, but friends of mine have and they say sleeping in a recliner is best . If you have one try that. You a position a stable walker of chain near by.
When I broke my neck in a car accident in September , I couldn't use my right arm because of nerve pain. I could use just the left. Try the recliner. It may be ok

Thanks Jackie, good advice. I am further hampered by my Partial Paraplegia [I use Canadian crutches and wheelchair] , so I need both arms to get in and out of bed.
When will this madness stop? I am also due some Good Karma.
We are survivors and poster adults for "All that can go wrong with surgery".
Hugs,
Susan

I am going up to Seattle for a full spine CT myelogram and a visit with Dr. Robert Hart. He always asks, "Tell me the main place where you have pain." So many choices, how does one choose?

[susancook]

Update: I had the shoulder arthroscopy, debris clean-out of joint, and inj of some slippery gel lube into the joint in early Dec. Rotator cuff is trashed. I have about 50-75% decrease in pain which lasts 1-5 years. Some day....the entire shoulder replacement.
Susan

[titaniumed]

Update: I had the shoulder arthroscopy, debris clean-out of joint, and inj of some slippery gel lube into the joint in early Dec. Rotator cuff is trashed. I have about 50-75% decrease in pain which lasts 1-5 years. Some day....the entire shoulder replacement.
Susan

Susan

Did they install grease fittings? You could go in for a grease job every once in awhile and skip the shoulde replacement surgery. (smiley face)

So what do you think? Pretty easy surgery right?

Ed

[jackieg412]

Hi Susan glad it helped you. I hope it stays for a long time. I am still waiting for my shoulder to be fixed. I developed a non healing wound. The spinal hardware under the wound will be removed on Jan 21.
Then maybe next step

[susancook]

Yikes, Jackie! Hope that you heal quickly! I had a leg wound [not related to surgery] and finally had a culture, then antibiotics, and then loving treatment by a certified Wound Care Nurse. It was depressing for me to have a gooey dripping lower leg ulcer that the dermatologist basically gave up on. The WC nurse was so positive and excited about the pink edges and the mm by mm improvement.

I am going to have my L T1 screw [that has lucency] and one of my 5 rods removed, in early March with Dr. Bob Hart in Seattle which will hopefully help my L thoracic pain. I will probably have a Spinal Cord Stimulator implanted [is that the right word?] 2 months later for my R leg pain with distribution of L 4-5. I currently wear Lidocaine 5% patches on my leg. I saw a neurosurgeon who specializes in SCS who said that he has put many in for Dr. Hart's patients [unsure what that means....??? Dr. Hart's patients have lots of postop pain?]. I imagine that I will have my R shoulder replaced within the next year.

Meanwhile, I continue to use forearm crutches, wheelchair, and a scooter and try to remain in the "mainstream of life".

Sending you healing thought/wishes and of course HUGS,
Susan

I will also send you a PM.