Bionic shoulder

[fabricator]

I just found out both shoulder are bone on bone, zero cartilage left, next Thursday I get a bionic right shoulder, sounds like a long drawn out recovery, anybody here had a total shoulder replacement?

[Jetpilot]

Didn't even know that was anything that was being done.  Hope all works out for you.

Derek

[Tom]

No shoulders, but I know a few with knees and hips. Keep moving and stay motivated on the rehab to speed your recovery. And remember, if it hurts, you're still alive. Good luck with the operation.

[dieselgman]

Good luck with that Dale!  I have only had rotator cuff tendons worked on, not the actual joint. Very long recovery time. I have relatives and friends with knee replacements - some have had excellent results with minimum recovery problems and others have had to work pretty hard at recovery and rehab. Shoulders are quite a bit different than knees of course.

dieselgman

[Horsepoor]

Wife, while chasing our little miniature horse, grabbed his tail trying to catch him. This resulted in a torn rotorcuff, she had surgery with anchors drilled into the joint to which the tendons were reattached. This surgery failed about a year later so she the total shoulder replacement which is what the physician told her he should have had done in the first place. Long and painful recovery (I assume you want the truth), 3 months to lifting 25 lbs, 6 months to get back to about 50% strength and she will never get back to 100%. In her case, the best she can hope for is about 75%. Be VERY careful with the use of pain medications, addition is another issue.

Bruce

[fabricator]

Thanks HP, that is pretty much exactly what the surgeon is telling me, but he says within a year I should be close to 95% pain free, just in time to do the other one, I guess you don't handle untold tons of steel over 33 years and expect to get away with it untouched.

[ronmar]

But don't skip on the pain meds either.  That is usually the largest hinderance to hip/knee replacement patients.  They skimp on the meds, and then hurt when they move, so they don't move/do their therapy ASAP and on schedule and wind up having a much longer than necessary recovery.
BIL just had a knee replacement and he is on just a cane now after about 2 weeks and getting stronger every day.

Good Luck to you...

[Horsepoor]

He is correct on the pain medications. Fact: The three southern counties in Florida (Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach) dispense more Oxycontin than the ENTIRE rest of the united states combined, so says the DEA. With all these pain clinics and people coming down from all over the U.S. to see the doc in a box who Doesn't speak much English, well we have a different problem here. Too easy to get addicted

[fabricator]

The doc already mentioned that also, stay ahead of the pain, don't let it get bad before you tale a pill, he told me to let him worry about addiction and that people who are in actual pain cannot become addicted, although It's gonna be something I gonna keep a close eye on because I have a high pain tolerance but at the same time I'm very pain averse.

[mike90045]

Mike here, one rotator cuff done, and other shoulder in line for it too.  Recovery is long & painful.  I can't imagine a knee being done.

[BruceM]

There are other health issues at stake with bionics; they now find that stainless steel in the body causes a susceptibility to infection that is very serious...my Dad now has to have antibiotics for even minor procedures, even teeth cleaning.  Of course after so many years of frequent antibiotic use he is now allergic to all of them, and gets very ill from them.  Despite spinal surgery with Herrington rods, two knees and a hip, he's still in terrible pain all the time. 

I don't know if the shoulder replacements now are all ceramic or not. And who knows what the future problems of some of the ceramic materials will be. 

I'd be very skeptical about bionics, myself.   My Dad (skeptical MD radiologist) also had many years reprieve after going to an Environmental Medicine doc and finding that wheat and dairy allergy set off his arthritis pain (and disease progression) greatly.   He got about 15 years of doing much, much, better by modifying his diet.  Now he's getting steroid injections for pain, which helps greatly with pain but seems to be causing a cascade of other health problems.

Best wishes on your decision. 
Bruce M

[fabricator]

The one they are using on me is made by DuPuy, the humeral head and stem are made of a propritary cobalt chromium and the glenoid cup side is some kind of high tech plastic.

[cujet]

Wishing you a speedy recovery!

[fabricator]

I'm back home, I was only in the hospital for around 26 hours, I've been doing a lot of sleeping that last couple days, I got an electrical stimulator pain control dohickey, it's got four stick on pads, it's all patient adjustable so you can change the level of stimulation for pain relief, I also got good old vicodin for overnight periods, I think this is gonna be along drawn out physical therapy thing.

[Tom]

Glad your back home and sound reasonably comfortable. May you have a rapid and complete recovery.