Back from the ER

Posted on May 14, 2007 by | 4 Comments

Yup, it happened again. My left shoulder popped out of the socket, right around 12:30 after midnight. I used to be able to put it straight back. My wife did it a couple of times before – she’s a nurse after all. It first happened at a horse show when I was abotu 18 or so and had it fixed on the spot by a sports medicine doc. I had it put back by friends, passers-by, medical students, veterinarians, but as the time passes it gets more and more difficult to put back. This is the second time in a row (last time was about 5 years ago) that I had to go to ER, be put to sleep and wake up with the arm in place. It usually hurts like hell for a few days afterwards, so i got some pain medicine.
I am supposed to teach tonight and meet some people over the next couple of days – I hope I am able to do so.

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4 responses to “Back from the ER”

  1. coturnix's avatar coturnix | May 14, 2007 at 7:52 am |

    Sleeping under morphine does not actually rest you, so I’ll go back to bed, but I do have a few things scheduled for automated posting for the rest of the morning. Then I teach tonight and will be back onlin later tonight.

  2. Davak's avatar Davak | May 14, 2007 at 8:41 am |

    Coturnix:
    Yikes. I have had subluxing shoulder issues since my skateboarding/footballing days in high school. I used to sleep with an ACE bandage keeping my arm strapped to my side so it wouldn’t fall out during the night.
    I took a few days of PT to show me how to strengthen the rest of my rotator cuff to prevent it from falling out. Since then I have had very few problems. I was even able to try some wakeboarding last year which pulls the heck out of the shoulders.
    It might be something that you would want to consider to put off the eventual surgery you’ll need.
    Best of luck to you.

  3. Anton Zuiker's avatar Anton Zuiker | May 14, 2007 at 9:12 am |

    Bora, let me know if I can help, and if we need to reschedule our coffee chat, no problem. I’ll call you later today.

  4. Charlie's avatar Charlie | May 15, 2007 at 7:11 am |

    I can honestly say that I feel your pain. I’ve dislocated my right shoulder too many times to count, and just went through surgery #4 (one more and I get a free set of steak knives). I should join Dislocaters Anonymous (Hi, I’m Charlie, and I’m a dislocator. It’s been 3 months since my last dislocation). I tell people that dislocations only hurt for the first four hours; by then it’s back in the socket.
    My best wishes for a good recovery and a well-articulated future.