Shoulder Dislocation 2021: Recovery Begins

In February, I went to iFly to get my progression on so I can rip with my boyfriend in the tunnel one day, or the sky.

Since I dislocated/subluxed my shoulder while skiing last year, I was apprehensive. My boyfriend argued that it would be low speeds, like a good stretch. He witnessed all my ski falls this year, and nothing terrible happened. I had done 4 months of physical therapy last year and was back to lifting heavy, doing pull-ups, and practicing yoga.

I went for two minutes and did fine, then I went for five minutes. I felt great, working on basics of belly flying—I could turn left and right, go forward and back, and go up and down. I could do some high fives and fly toward numbers on direction. Then, on my final minute, I did practice parachute pulls with my left arm (my right shoulder had been acting up from lifting, so I used my left). The first two felt fine, but the last one did not. It felt slightly painful, but not extremely so. I had 20 seconds left, so I did one more maneuver (up/down) and flew out of the tunnel.

My arm felt strange. Not painful. Loose. Droopy. No tears. Just awareness of something being out of place.

I left the flying area and asked the workers to call the paramedics because something was wrong. I could feel my arm slowly reaching a pain of 4-5, until I moved it—entering a pain of 6-7 out of 10. The paramedics cannot reduce a dislocated shoulder, so I had to go to the emergency room. The elevator was broken, so I just held my arm (upward and externally rotated felt best) into the ambulance and laid down there for the ride. After another 30-40 minutes, a PA reduced it and confirmed my first actual shoulder dislocation (some docs still don’t believe I dislocated it last year and put it back in on the ski slope sans tears). I got some ice and was free to go (no pain meds, so they couldn’t hold me). I walked two miles back to iFly, apologized, turned in my suit, and drove home, embarrassed.

No sudden hit or trauma, but I dislocated it?! I was flabbergasted.

My boyfriend drove into town immediately. He helped me out and drove me to see a doc who was like, “Well, you’re older than 30. Last year wasn’t a real dislocation. The chances of this happening to you again are like 15%. I don’t recommend surgery until the third dislocation, so you have like 1.5 more times to do this.” Bam Bam was more aggressive than me. He explained how I lived a very active lifestyle, and he requested an MRI, which the doc relented on.

I wrote my current physical therapist (I was having foot issues, so I saw Dr. Ryan Herr of The Jackson Clinics, Skyline location) about my issue and asked for a doctor recommendation. He immediately recommended Dr. Sameer Nagda.

I saw Marci Roach and Dr. Nagda, of Anderson Orthopaedic Clinic, and went over my history, MRI, and goals. Ultimately, we decided upon surgery. I worked with Dr. Dan Alcorn and Dr. Ryan Herr at The Jackson Clinic on getting some mobility and strength back. 

My MRI indicated an anterior-inferior labral tear, a Hill-Sachs lesion covering 20-25% of the humeral head, a type III acromial morphology, a small full-thickness tear of the supraspinatus tendon, and a partial surface tear of the infraspinatus tendon. The plan is to do a Bankart repair (labrum), Remplissage procedure (Hill-Sachs lesion), and subacromial decompression (hooked acromion).

I felt great by my April 8th pre-op. Even at work, I was able to do some activity. At PT, I was able to pull-down 60lbs, cable row 60lbs (30lbs single arm), reduced ROM fly at 20lbs, and push the sled (with only one plate). I could DB bench and incline press 10lbs each arm. It was the final banded exercises that killed me.

Yesterday, April 14th, I had my surgery at INOVA Mount Vernon Hospital. I had a GREAT team. Cara (RN) gave me my IV in my tiny right hand vein and checked me in. I cleaned myself with warm wipes, got into a gown, a mask, a hair net, compression socks, and warm grippy socks. The anesthesia group consisted of Marcus, Joby, and Yo. They were a phenomenal team who kept me laughing even before drugs were inserted. They gave me a nerve block with a 22 gauge 2 inch needle. I was able to watch on a screen. Yo asked for a high five, but my arm was not in my control no matter how hard I tried.

They inserted some antibiotics in my IV, started some mild sedation, and we headed to the operating room. It was so cool! It looked just like in the movies. I saw Dr. Nagda, who was moving my arm (but I felt like it was still by my side). I mentioned something about the Philippines because Joby showed me photos, and then the sedation hit, and I remember nothing. I was given ketamine, midazolam, and propofol—among other drugs for nausea, infection, etc. Memory zapped.

I woke up in the post op room and immediately had to pee in a bedpan. Alexa was the nurse putting up with me. My boyfriend came back to get instructions on me. I feel like I’m always loud and talkative after surgeries (wisdom teeth removal and lumpectomy). Embarrassing in hindsight. I think I said I would send the team cranberry juice and jerky (I think Yo said he did jiu jitsu and keto and liked jerky). Anyways, I went home happily after Dr. Nagda talked with Bam. I think he said something about me being Filipino giving him a hint about my thin tendons (might be the way I was born/maybe something isn’t as bad as MRI indicated) —I will learn more at my first post-op.

Bam Bam is a recovery Nazi. He helps me with sitting up, using the ice machine, getting me everything. We watched The Falcon and Winter Soldier, Thunder Force, and ate cauliflower pizza last night. I was still outta it, so I tried not to text much. My left hand was still warm and quite numb.

Today is day one of recovery. The nerve block wore off around 9am. I took some oxycodone at 10am, ate some food, and am chilling. I got told to stop putting things in the dishwasher, stop cleaning, stop trying to make espresso. I use the ice machine for 20-30 mins at a time. I take 81mg of aspirin twice a day for blood clots, and I’m still wearing compression stockings. I’m in an oversized t-shirt and sweatpants. No undies.