Jim’s shoulder surgery had to wait until Monday, Aug 29,
because the surgeon was so busy. I
remember hoping for a similar outcome with the shoulder surgery as had occurred
with his leg surgery – ie, pain cessation.
Monday finally arrived and I accompanied Jim, once again, to
the pre-op room. This time, they were
going to put some kind of nerve block in his shoulder prior to surgery. That should have given me a clue as to what
to expect post-surgery, but I didn’t pick up on it.
While in the pre-op room, the funniest thing happened. They started Jim on some kind of sedative and
he was kind of loopy. The nurse started
asking him questions (I’m not really sure why the questions were asked AFTER
the sedative was given, but oh well).
She asked him, “Do you have any metal in your body?” I’ll never forget. A couple of seconds passed. Jim laid there with his eyes closed, and I
thought he hadn’t heard the question.
Then, all of a sudden, he raised his head, looked straight at the nurse,
and asked in a loud voice, “Do YOU!?” I cracked
up and the very serious nurse stifled a smile.
Then they wheeled him back into a different room to give him the nerve
block. I was worried about that, because
I knew they had to stick a very long needle into his shoulder joint and hit a
particular nerve to inject it.
Thankfully, he was doped up enough on whatever it was they had given him
ahead of time, that it wasn’t horrible for him.
So, time passed….the shoulder surgery was finished and I met
him back in his room. I tucked him in,
said goodnight, and went home, hoping and praying he would be all better in the
morning. WRONG!!! Sometime around 3 a.m., the nerve block wore
off. Jim said it felt like he had broken
his shoulder all over again. The pain
was horrible and there was pretty much no amount of pain medication that would
keep it under control.
The nurses and staff at Community North were wonderful. They gave Jim as much pain medication as they
safely could and kept his shoulder iced constantly. Days passed, and eventually, Jim’s shoulder
pain ebbed.
It was then time to find a place for Jim to stay to
rehabilitate his leg. Going home was not
an option. Labor Day weekend was near,
and apparently, it was difficult to negotiate a transfer from the hospital to a
long-term care facility, so he stayed on at the hospital for a total of 2
weeks.
The next phase of Jim’s recovery occurred at Allisonville
Meadows Assisted Living Center. This was
a dark chapter in Jim’s life – in both our lives, really. He felt surrounded by death. In fact, the resident in the room across the
hall died two days after Jim arrived at the facility. But, despite the depressing surroundings, Jim
remained committed to his recovery.
I visited him daily, of course. One of our favorite rituals became me
bringing our dog, Blaze, to visit, along with a thermos of margaritas to sip
while we watched TV and talked about whatever.
I don’t know how helpful the margaritas were to his healing bones, but
they were very helpful to his healing soul.
At some point in his convalescence, it was time for Jim to
see his shoulder surgeon to have his stitches removed and to take post-op
X-rays. I picked him up from the
assisted living center and drove him to the surgeon’s office. It was the first time in three weeks he had
been outside of a hospital setting. He craved
something other than senior center food, so after the appointment, I drove to
the nearest Arby’s. I remember we sat in
an empty parking lot eating our roast beef sandwiches and staring through the
windshield at the gray September afternoon.
Our former life seemed very far away.
It was tempting to think it would never return.
Another week passed. Finally,
based on his ability to get around using a quad cane, the physicians at
Allisonville Meadows determined Jim could be discharged. One month after his bicycle accident, Jim was
coming home!!! In the interim, Summer
had turned to Fall.
Once home, Jim began in-home physical therapy. It was weird having a stranger in our house,
but it was better than me having to take off from work to transport him back
and forth between home and his physical therapist’s office. Over time, Jim became capable of doing almost
anything that didn’t require both hands at once. Here he is icing his shoulder while vacuuming
the family room. Ya just can’t keep him down for long!
All told, Jim spent 1 month in the hospital/assisted living facility,
and then 2 months at home rehabilitating before he was able to return to work. I was so proud of his determination and
positive spirit. He never accepted a
thought of defeat. He drew closer to God
throughout his experience and set his sights on a full recovery. His shoulder surgeon said his recovery was a
“poster child” for the type of reconstructive surgery he had. Today Jim can do 14 unassisted pull-ups –
something that is pretty much unheard of in the shoulder surgery world.
Here is Jim today (Jan, 2019) engaged
in a workout routine, as usual. Our God
is a god of healing. Never give up,
people. Never give up!
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