It has been 2 1/2 months since my last post. I guess I just have lost my blogging mojo. Some of it is not being on a trip (I always post more when traveling), and some has just been the blandness of preparing then recovering from rotator cuff surgery.
To start, we did get home from the Badlands. We stayed one night at the KOA in Mitchell, a nice enough place. We then spent a night at a Boondockers Welcome site in Truman, MN (southwestern Minnesota) before coming home. We thought we had to rush home to get to a rescheduled pre-surgery appointment only to get it rescheduled (for the third time!) a week later with a different practitioner. I wasn’t pleased, but there wasn’t much to be done about it. It didn’t get rescheduled until we were already almost home.
I had surgery on 30 July, and it was truly as awful as everyone says. I was so sore and hobbled with the sling and pillow. I also got an open incision instead of the arthroscopic surgery the surgeon had discussed. That made everything more sore and longer to heal. Six weeks in the nasty sling, PT every week day with the therapist just moving my arm (passive range of motion). I must have built up some scar tissue because the ROM sucked. The therapist basically had to break it up and that hurts! I actually cried a few times, and I was one fairly heavy meds. At 6 weeks I was liberated from the sling, and after 8 weeks I finally got an acceptable ROM. I am now in the strengthening phase meaning I can pick up a one pound weight and move it around below shoulder height. Slow progress, but definitely progress. I can drive! I can do my hair! I can dry my back! Funny how little things take a huge importance when you haven’t done them for 2 months. I get another 4 weeks of 3X a week PT plus exercises at home, then I get partially released. Good thing because we are heading to Death Valley with a detour through Salt Lake City to see friends. We won’t be back until the week before Thanksgiving, so I will be doing my exercises on my own then. After the trip, I will work with the PT some more. It truly is a long recovery.
We did enjoy a weekend with most of the kids and grandkids (plus a SIL and a girlfriend). We rented a spot at Pleasant Creek State Park, and my DD and SIL rented one next door. They stayed in our little motorcycle tent camper, and the rest of the family stayed in tents. We ate food cooked over the fire, and the kids all had a blast. I only have a few pictures. One of my children allows their kids a big social media presence while the other doesn’t.
I am hoping to get back some blogging enthusiasm soon. I am actually hoping to get some sewing done this weekend too! I can’t quilt (can’t push that much weight), but I can piece, so I want to finish the rows of a quilt for my daughter. Hopefully I stay feeling good.