SHOULDER REPLACEMENT -- number 2

[Longbow58]

Joe glad to hear you’re doing well. Got a month until I get mine done and your confidence and attitude are helping me prepare for my procedure. I won’t be using that opioid base killer for long just can’t stand the way it makes me feel. I too am confident I’ll be hunting this fall and your comment on your draw shoulder versus your bow shoulder helped me. Thanks

[smokin joe]

John:
My advice for the next month until your surgery is to get the muscles around your shoulder as strong and flexible as possible -- don't worry about the joint, it's already bad. You will heal faster if the muscles are strong and flexible as possible going into the surgery. The other thing is that you will not be able to sleep comfortably in a bed for about 3 weeks or so after the surgery. So, set up your favorite easy chair with pillows and blankets and an ottoman for your legs. Use lots of ice on the shoulder after you get home. If you have any questions or you just need encouragement as you go through this, just let me know. I would be happy to help.
Joe

[Ron LaClair]

Thank you Joe for posting the progress of your surgery. My friend Tim Cosgrove of Kustom King had his shoulder replaced 11 weeks ago and I've been keeping in touch with him on his recovery. Reason being I'm scheduled for replacement of my bow arm shoulder near the end of June.

After years of shooting heavy weight bows I've come to the point where it's time to do something and I think total replacement is my best option.  At 82 years old some might say it's time to hang it up but a traditional bow has been a huge part of my life since I was 5 years old so giving it up at this point of my life is not even on the list, 

I have the best surgeon in my area and shoulders are his specialty. I've explained to him that my goal is to keep shooting my bow and he told me a new shoulder would make that possible. 

[Roadkill]

Ron, just do it.   My wife has to have this done to her right shoulder. Your stepping thru it has been beneficial for her.  She dis not like the looks of that scar. Thanks, Joe

[smokin joe]

Skip:
After about a year the scar will all but disappear. The scar on my right shoulder from my other replacement is just a very thin line. It is visible but just barely. I think that the modern way of closing after surgery, with surgical staples, leads to a very small and tight scar within a year or so.
Joe

[smokin joe]

Ron,
This shoulder replacement is my bow hand side -- I had my string hand side shoulder replaced a year and a half ago. I will keep posting updates so you have something of a time line and you know what to expect.

Just yesterday the physical therapy department cleared me to move on to more advanced weight-bearing exercises. The weights are pretty light -- like a 15 pound machine bench press (that is nothing, but it is difficult right now) -- but the expectation is that with daily workouts I will progress quickly to good functional strength. I'll be shooting well by deer season.

Above all, Ron, try your best to be as strong as possible and as flexible as possible going into the surgery. And be patient with the physical therapy afterward -- it progresses slowly for the first two months. Strength and movement will come back with time and effort. Remember, it is a very major surgery and you have to follow the doctor's orders about physical therapy and healing.

If you need any insights or encouragement, feel free to contact me.
Joe

[Ron LaClair]

Been there done that Joe, I had both knees replaced some years ago so I know the importance of therapy for good recovery.

My wife has to have this done to her right shoulder. Your stepping thru it has been beneficial for her.  She does not like the looks of that scar.

Skip, tell your wife I said I think scars are sexy...

[smokin joe]

Ron:
I have had one hip, one knee and both shoulders replaced. The hip is the easiest recovery (if anything about joint replacement can be called easy) and the shoulder the most difficult and the knee somewhere in between. If you have had both knees done successfully, you have a pretty fair idea of what the work of the shoulder rehab will be like.

My mantra through physical therapy for the shoulder replacements has been "Do the work, get the result." and it has served me well -- and kept me doing the exercises.
Joe

[Longbow58]

Thanks Joe,been doing some weights to strengthen. Sounds gross with crunching and cracking but doesn’t hurt to bad. Thanks for the tips they will help me for sure.

[Ron LaClair]

Hey Joe, it's been almost a week since your last post and two months tomorrow since your surgery, any progress to report. My buddy Tim said he was pulling a 20# bow 11 weeks post surgery of his replacement on his bow arm side.

[smokin joe]

So, here is my 2 month post-surgery report.

I am now working on strengthening exercises for my physical therapy. Everything feels solid and stable, and remarkably weak. I am not surprised by the weakness -- the doctor explained the extent of the tissue trauma that is part of the surgery. I have a whole bunch of strengthening exercises that I do with stretch cords, pretty much working my shoulder joint from all angles.

I can now simulate pulling a bow with a 15 pound stretch band, and I can do it pretty comfortably for a few sets of ten reps. Next I will move up to 20 pounds for a while and then 25, and so forth. I think that I might be able to shoot a 30 pound target bow before too long -- that's the lightest real bow I have access to.

Just like with the other shoulder, I have been told to stay under 45-50 pounds pull weight. I have a handful of high-performance, souped-up bows in that weight range, and with 10-12 GPP arrows and razor sharp broadheads I won't be shy about shooting game.

The shoulder is still stiff and sore in some places, and stretching is still an important part of the recovery process. I still use ice too, and it kills minor pain and relieves soreness.

I am very confident I will be ready for the deer woods by fall. I wonder if us "bionic men" with artificial shoulders should try to organize a Trad Gang group hunt for old guys with new shoulders.
 

[Ron LaClair]

Thanks for the report Joe, sounds like you're coming along. My surgery is scheduled for June 19th which will be here before ya know it.

This joint replacement thing seems to go with our ageing process. I wrote a poem a while back that might be appropriate

We Was Mountainmen

I remember when we was mountainmen
seems like it wern't long ago
We was Bullhide tough and we played real rough
there wern't a man that we couldn't throw

When we drawed down on a deer our eyes was clear
an that critter was soon on a pole
We Mountainmen,... you'd a thought back then
that we would ever grow old

We shoot light bows now, bad shoulders ya know
so we stalk our game an we get real near
we hone them arraws till they shave hair
an we still manage to kill us some deer

We still rendezvous an we still count coup
but it ain't like it use ta be
Our joints is worn an it's hard ta run
when ya got a titanium knee

Then there's them pipes, ya just never know
if they're in the shape they should be
So the Doc he say's, Son I think it's time
ya got a colonoscopy

Can't sleep no more on the cold hard ground
since we got that new plastic hip
use ta drink a whole jug round the fire at night
now it's just a few little sips

The day will come...not far down the road
when they'll wanna put us in a home
They'll say we're too old ta be out in the cold
too old ta hunt on our own

When they come ta take me to that old folks home
on some cold dark rainy night
They'll sure be surprised when this old Coon say's
"BOYS, THAT'LL BE AFTER THE FIGHT!"

But if they win, an I'm put in
to that fearsom lonely place
to swaller pills cuz I got the chills
mongst wrinkles on my face,

Then remember me, ya all that's still free,
an hold to the mountain creed
To never rest, but fight yer best
Til the old coon is finely freed
     

[smokin joe]

That's some great writing, Ron. It reminds me a little bit of the work of Robert Service. Thanks for adding the poem to the thread.

[Ron LaClair]

Thanks Joe.  Here's another one that I wrote some time ago. I gave a copy to the Doctor that replaced my last knee and as far as I know it still hangs in his office

:FORWARD: by Ron LaClair

The years go by and before you know it
your youth is gone and now you show it
Youthful shine and unwrinkled skin
will never be your look again

Color is going from your hair
as white and gray take over there
Your knees no longer let you run
wind in your face that joy is done

Physical strength of your early years
is waning, waning, replaced by fears
Fear of losing what once was you
fear of not doing what you once could do

Do not believe that all is lost
this look you have you've paid the cost
Those lines and wrinkles on your skin
are maps of battles fought hard to win

The drawn tired look, the sighs of strain
They are evidence of suffered pain
Wear this look as a badge of life
It shows you've gone through trail and strife


Experience,... the price is high
and you'll keep paying until you die
but just set your sights on goals ahead
and don't look back but FORWARD instead

[Sam McMichael]

It looks like you are making good progress. I hope it continues. Good luck.

[Longbow58]

Sounds like like the shoulder is coming along great Joe. Mine gets done June 5. More great poems Ron thanks always enjoy them.

[MrBok]

Wishing you a speedy recovery Joe. I'm a year and a day post replacement of my left (bow arm) shoulder. It feels great, I'm generally getting stronger and have been shooting a hunting weight bow for a few months now. If you survived that recovery room ordeal you got what it takes, you'll be ready for deer season. Best of luck.

[MrBok]

Thanks Ron, good stuff

[smokin joe]

Thanks for the encouragement.

As of today, I am 10 weeks post surgery. With my first shoulder replacement (my string arm side) I was able to shoot a hunting-weight bow at the 10-week mark. The bow-hand side is absolutely a slower recovery process than the draw-hand side.

My left shoulder, the bow-hand side, is a slower recovery due to the fact that tendons in the front of the shoulder have to be severed and then stitched back together during the surgery. Since the front of the shoulder is involved in pushing the bow away during the draw, it makes sense that the recovery process would take longer.

At this point I can simulate shooting a 20 pound bow with a stretch cord for three sets of ten reps.  So I don't think I am too far from being able to start shooting a 30-pound bow -- maybe a week or two. Then I will work my way up at the gym with dumbbell presses, while I keep shooting 30 pounds, until I can handle my hunting bows.

At this point I have no appreciable soreness from the shoulder workouts, and I am making steady but slow strength gains.

All of my future hunting bow shooting will be between 40 and 50 pounds. I have three high-performance bows that are all coincidentally 43# at 29" and I am pretty confident that with razor sharp broad heads and well-tuned arrows I will be able to kill deer, hogs, coyotes and other critters I am likely to hunt.

I wish all of you who are destined for shoulder replacement the very best good fortune. Be patient with your recovery, it happens in its own time.

[smokin joe]

So we have a June 5 (John) and a June 19 (Ron) coming up. Any others out there scheduled for shoulder replacement?