Patient Name: John
Procedure: Shoulder Surgery
Location: Sentara RMH
I was honestly in so much pain that I couldn’t sleep at night. During the day it was difficult for me to find a comfortable sitting position. Lifting the lightest of objects could be agonizing. Even something as simple as reaching out and flipping the turn signal of my car was a tormenting—often impossible—task.
And all the frustrating problems I was experiencing were due to a problem with my left shoulder.
I’m a semi-retired architect from Keezletown, who had always been active, finding hours of enjoyment in playing golf and racquetball. But the agonizing pain in my shoulder had made many of my activities unbearable. In hopes of addressing the issue, I consulted with an orthopedic sports medicine surgeon with Sentara Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Specialists.
At first, we treated the shoulder with a cortisone shot, which relieved the pain for a few months. But the pain would always come back (usually with a vengeance) and a second cortisone shot didn’t help. My shoulder was killing me. It became obvious that simply managing the pain wasn’t an option—I had to have surgery.
I think it’s natural for everyone to have at least a little apprehension about surgery, but my experience at Sentara RMH was better than I thought possible. Everything about the surgical process was painless, or very nearly so. Before surgery, the anesthesiologist gave me a ‘nerve block,’ which was an injection that numbed the pain in my shoulder. That didn’t hurt. Of course, I don’t remember anything about the surgery itself. I woke up and went home wearing a sling, with a pillow between my body and my arm.
During the procedure, my surgeon removed several bone spurs, scraped away calcium that had built up around my tendons, removed a cyst and repaired a 15-year-old rotator cuff tear.
I took pain medication for three days and ibuprofen for one day. After that, I didn’t need to take anything at all. I was essentially pain-free from the time I came out of surgery.
As for the shoulder condition that had been giving me so much trouble, that pain was gone, too!
It was amazing. And the only evidence that I’ve had any surgery at all are seven small incision marks, each about the size of the tip of a drinking straw. Today, after having gone through postoperative physical therapy, I have 100 percent usage of my shoulder. I can do everything I used to do, including playing golf and racquetball. I’m incredibly grateful to my surgeon and the entire staff at Sentara RMH.
According to my doctor, the obvious advantage of arthroscopy over traditional shoulder surgery is that the joint doesn’t have to be opened up fully. This less invasive method, he says, is known for reducing recovery time and increasing the overall surgical success rate, since the procedure involves less trauma to the connective tissue within the shoulder. There is a cosmetic advantage as well, since there is far less scarring with arthroscopy than with traditional surgery.