Posted by admin on January 28th, 2010 |
7 commentsJanuary 27, 2010
So most of you know that John had shoulder surgery almost 3 weeks ago…. for the second time. Yup, same surgery, just round 2! The surgery itself went really well. Turns out one of the permanent stitches that was placed around the ligament to keep it against the bone, popped out! After talking to the doctor, it sounds like the bone never grew around the ends of the stitch like it was supposed to. See… the stitches were originally placed into the a bone in the shoulder with dissolvable anchors. While the anchors dissolve, the bone is supposed to grow around the ends of the stitches, holding the ligament in place against the bone. This was the original problem… the ligament was pulling away from the bone from too many of John’s AWESOME volleyball swings!! 
The doctor said the floating stitch was probably causing 90% of his pain… just irritating things in there as he moved normally. The rest was from the ligament again beginning to pull away from the bone since that stitch was no longer doing it’s job. So this time around, he took out both original stitches and replaced them with just one this time in a new location. John will start physical therapy in a few weeks. Cross your fingers and your toes it holds this time!!!
After the surgery I got to sit with John as he was coming out of the anesthesia. I asked him if he wanted his picture taken. He was excited about it… kinda like a kid would be… said yes and then gave me his best pose and smile… like I said… high as a kite!!
I know most of you have heard the stories from last time.
John: is my career over?!
Me: you mean your job?
John: no…
Me: you mean volleyball???
John: yes, is my carrer over?!
Me: no, your church volleyball career will be fine!
There was no shortage of hilarious comments this time either! I spent the next hour laughing to myself and writing it all down! By the way… for full effect you have to imagine his voice much, much higher and extrememly relaxed sounding.
So apparently John announced to the nurses, “I just woke up! I’m awake!” when he first opened his eyes.
Then while gushing to me about how “awesome” the nurses were he told me he was making sure he smiled a lot because they get a lot of grouchy patients here! He described them as “awesome” many times and then turned to me seriously and said, “I’ve been trying to think of another word to use besides awesome.” I waited a minute, but he seriously wanted feedback. I said, “I don’t know, maybe great or super.” He says, “Yeah, those are awesome!”
The nurse had given him some saltines and he said they didn’t taste good…”it’s like they made the convalescent home smell into a taste.”
And for a while there he would kinda zone out for a few minutes and then all of a sudden perk up and state something weird, but be totally serious…like…
John: My thumb is super numb!! I like it. (giggling) I don’t want to be without my opposable thumb. I like it!
Or…
John: Where am I??!!
Me: In the hospital.
John: Oh, yeah.
Or…
John: I can’t see anything!!!!
Me: Um, you don’t have your glasses on.
John: Oh, yeah.
Or…
John: I don’t have any underwear on!!!!!
Me: It’s ok, you have a gown on.
I got a pic of his shoulder a few days after the surgery when he could finally take off the bandages… here are the 4 holes they used to do the surgery. Sure is amazing how they can manage to do all they did thru those tiny incisions.
John’s doing well now…. trying to use the arm while still taking it easy. He’s been off the heavy pain killers and is much more comfortable than he was for a while there. Next up… physical therapy!
