[CAUT] Lessons from shoulder surgery

[Loren Miller]

    Hi, my name is Loren Miller, not Bob.  Anyway, I sent your email
to a friend of mine, who's going to have some ankle surgery.  Thanks
for the info!

On 12/19/07, Jim Busby <jim_busby at byu.edu> wrote:
> Alan,
>
> I did the shots, but when it kept coming back I pushed for the surgery. ("just go in there and fix it Doc...") Mind you, I HATE the knife, but in my case this would have gone nowhere but downhill fast. (I'm glad I had the "feeling" to go ahead.)
>
> Good luck!
>
> Jim
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Alan McCoy
> Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 2:17 PM
> To: College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>
> Subject: Re: [CAUT] Lessons from shoulder surgery
>
> Hi Jim,
>
> Interesting that you wrote this today as I just spent some time with an
> orthopod this morning. I've been dealing with shoulder impingement syndrome
> for about 7 months. Have had bursitis for several years, then this summer it
> got worse. Luckily it's in my left shoulder, which is great except for the
> fact that I tune verticals left-handed. I got a cortisone shot this morning
> to see if it will have any effect. Exercises and anti-inflammatories were
> ineffective at best, and the exercises seemed to actually make it worse.
>
> Thanks for reporting on the surgery. If it doesn't clear up, I'll feel a bit
> more receptive to surgery. Though I've been thinking that this might be a
> way to get out of tuning verticals....
>
> :-)
>
> Happy Healing.
>
> Alan
>
>
> -- Alan McCoy, RPT
> Eastern Washington University
> amccoy at mail.ewu.edu
> 509-359-4627
>
>
> > From: Jim Busby <jim_busby at byu.edu>
> > Reply-To: "College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>" <caut at ptg.org>
> > Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:21:36 -0700
> > To: "College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>" <caut at ptg.org>
> > Conversation: Lessons from shoulder surgery
> > Subject: [CAUT] Lessons from shoulder surgery
> >
> > All,
> >
> > Last Tuesday (Dec. 11) I went in for shoulder surgery and came back today with
> > some things I'd like to share. In the surgery the doctors removed calcium
> > buildups (I DON'T know all their fancy names!), some arthritis, bone spurs,
> > and shortened/smoothed the bone around the ball joint (hey, that's what it
> > looked like to me). Anyway, the excess bone was digging into the rotator cuff
> > (sp?) and soon would have required replacement and/or other major work. "It
> > was tearing through like a knife". All I know is that it hurt to tune.
> >
> > After one week, I'm a bit sore but back to work! If I had waited another 3 or
> > 4 months they told me it would have been MUCH worse! What I want to share to
> > you;
> >
> >
> >  1.  Don't put it off! It may get way worse.
> >  2.  Find a great surgeon who won't just give you cortisone shots month after
> > month. (This guy does the BYU athletes and my doctor friends and nurses say
> > he's the best.)
> >  3.  Surgery really wasn't that bad, although the first 3 days after I wanted
> > to die...
> >  4.  Learn to tune left handed. Today I tuned a piano left handed (no problem
> > because I've learned to) and pounding the key with my right hand was no
> > problem. It's impossible for me to tune right handed for another 3 or 4 weeks.
> > (Hurts like hell to even raise it!)
> >
> > You can read all these articles on how to "avoid" such surgeries but in my
> > studies I found that;
> >
> > 1.                   Part of this comes with age/work and is somewhat
> > inevitable for certain people
> > 2.                   Part of it is in the genes. Bone spurs, arthritis, is in
> > my family...
> > 3.                   Exercises, techniques, etc. can help, but sometimes
> > 20,000 piano tunings and age win out.
> >
> > Prognosis? 10 to 20 years of pain free tuning! Well, after another few weeks
> > of torture...
> >
> > I also learned I'm one tough buck. They gave me pain pills but I'd rather take
> > the pain than put that crap in my body. It always makes me feels much worse in
> > the long run, and I can't make the hour long drive to work with that in my
> > system. They were amazed that I didn't take anything and that my recovery was
> > so fast.
> >
> > Jim Busby BYU
> >
> > p.s. I'm 52 years old.
> >
> >
>
>
>
>