It is April 15th.  I feel much better about my shoulder.  For a long time, the sterno-clavicular area was unstable.  The tendons and muscle around the joint would pop and grind.  I was always scared to move my arm in a way that would make this happen, however, with time, the pain and the level of popping has slowly diminished.  I am no longer as hyper-aware of my shoulder's pain, but I do feel my shoulder everyday.  The distal end of the clavicle has raised some and the bone is no longer flush with the shoulder as it was.  The pins holding the cables in my clavicle under my skin do not bother me as much as they did.  The shoulder does fatigue easily.  And the muscles that were reattached are very sensitive and I often try to massage and stretch the area.

I am doing a horrible job of stretching out on my foam roller.  I should be stretching for ten minutes at a time at least 3x a day.  I should also be doing strengthening work, but I can't seem to find the motivation for it.  It must be because I am feeling better.  It also must be because I have given in to the fact that I will never bee the same athlete that I was prior to these last three surgeries.

Time will tell though. I do have a six week plan to get into good riding shape... good enough to complete 85 mile Sonoma County Backroad Challenge. 36 but I'm not dead yet.

Shoulda Surgery

Pain level

Shooting up my neck, pain in the tricep, top of the pectoral, top of the scapula.

Sunday Sept 4th

I woke up at 2:30 and my deltoid was aching. It happened again around 6:00 am. I was fine until the A's game. I felt like I was stretching my shoulder and using the muscles around it too much. There was a point where I felt like I was pulling my shoulder apart and it popped a little out and in. I felt something like that when I got home. Now, I'm just icing my arm and feeling lousy about not resting it.

Saturday September 3rd

Wednesday I reluctantly went back to work. Wednesday after work I was exhausted but I managed to do the work. Thursday turned out to be better, I actually drove to Santa Rosa to watch my boys compete at the Junior College wrestle offs. I definitely was exhausted after that. Friday I completed work without a hitch but felt I made a dumb mistake by inviting my best friend over. He brought a bottle of my favorite, (bulliet bourbon). The drink made me wrestless all night and I think that has affected my shoulder negatively.

I feel like I may be doing to much, but I don't see how it could be otherwise. I am quickly gainin strength back, however I am developing an awareness of the pain in my arm. Specifically I feel like my deltoid muscles have a pinched nerve that is doling out pain as well as making the palm of my hand numb. Will this go away? I feel like if I could just move my arm into the proper position I could alleviate this pain and numbness. It isn't intense, it is just bothersome. I see the doctor on thursday next week to discuss.
One of the better things to report is I have figured out how to wear the sling so that it feels like it is supporting my arm. Before, I felt like the sling was a little useless. Now it can be really comfortable when working. When I have the sling on, I hold weight in my affected hand / arm... I think that it is not ok, but I just can't help myself. it is just much easier to do these small tasks with both hands.

Hopefully this weekend will take a turn for the better. Rest, rest and more rest. But tomorrow I'm going to the A's game with my wife for our Anniversary! I should be fine:)

Surgery and Post surgery

Thursday I went in around 4 and came out around 7-7:30. Thursday night was rough as the anesthesia wore off and the Norco set in, 2 AM was the height of the pain. I was better Friday and Saturday. I went off the Norco on Saturday night and had a fitful sleep. Sunday Afternoon I went to the classroom and did some typing in preparation for the Sub. I had originally intended on going in on Monday, but didn't make it. Sunday night was by far my best sleep and left me feeling great all Monday. I think I did too much monday as I walked around with my strap of the sling off. It felt comfortable to just press the block against my ribs withouth the strap, so I did it. Plus the sling does not feel as supportive as I thought it would. I went to bed that night without confining my arm to the sling and I woke up around 1:30 with major pain in my shoulder radiating down the side of my armpit down to my bicep. It felt like I was being injected ny a needle over and over. I feel like in addition to the work I had done with my arm on monday along with wandering night arm, I had hurt my muscles. It took an hour for vicodin to set in along with an ice pack for me to get any relief. It hurt badly. Tuesday and I'm taking it easy again, knowing I AM going to work tomorrow.

Separated Shoulder Grade 3