Shoulder Replacement Experience

[Caver60 395]

I got my left shoulder replaced back in March. I am 48, so fairly young for this procedure. I had extreme osteoarthritis from a congenital defect in my shoulder, combined with playing football and an professional life filled with jack hammers and rock drills. The first surgeon I saw told me that my shoulder was "beyond him", and gave me a referral to another surgeon. So I went to see him. Let's call him Dr. W.

Skip ahead if you aren't interested in the medical procedure that I underwent-

Dr. W does a procedure called a "ream and run". Basically, the procedure involves replacing the humeral head (the top of the arm), as well as reaming the glenoid cavity to give it a new shape for the humeral head to operate within. A conventional shoulder replacement puts hardware in the glenoid cavity too, so that is the way that this surgery is different. I was attracted to the procedure because at my age, I can look forward to at least one more replacement operation before I die. Doing the ream and run would allow for a conventional shoulder replacement at that time, rather than a "reverse shoulder replacement", which has a lesser chance of being fully successful. All of the patient reviews I found on Dr. W were stellar.

Here comes the juicy parts-

Prior to the surgery, I did some blood work and a urinalysis. The day of the surgery, Dr. W showed me a few stretches I should be doing at home afterwards. I mean RIGHT before the surgery. He also told me to avoid "external rotation". I did the thing and went home. Of course it was a motherfucker. Home Health came in and asked if I had a rehab protocol from Dr. W. I said, no, but that he gave me several stretches to do and told me not to do any external rotation. All fine and good. I was stretching religiously, working with the home health PT, and making good progress. Or so I thought.

One day, about five weeks post-op, the joint started moving around strangely. I called Dr. W, and he said to come on in immediately. When I got there, he manipulated my shoulder and told me that I had torn my subscapularis. As a result, I would need a second surgery. I would start back at square one with rehab, too. This was all confusing to me. I walked Dr. W through the rehab and stretches that I'd been doing, and he told me that I should not have been doing some of that stuff. It was obvious to me that I had torn up the surgery through my own ignorance. That pissed me off. Maybe I should have started looking around for another doctor at that point. But I didn't. I scheduled the new surgery for the following week. I told my employer about it, and he was super pissed that our insurance was about to take another hit. He told me that I should make sure that this next procedure was free. I didn't do any of that, because frankly I was in shock that I'd have to go under the knife again at all.

This time, prior to the surgery, I got blood work and a urinalysis again. I also got a chest x-ray, an EKG, an info packet on the surgery, a rehab protocol, and some cleanser to use on my body prior to the surgery. I called Dr. W and went over all of this. Why had I not gotten any of this stuff prior to the first operation? If I had gotten this stuff, I wouldn't have been doing the stretches and exercises that I'd been doing. I wouldn't have fucked up the surgery and be having to do it all again. 

So surgery day arrives. Before the procedure, Dr. W tells me that while they are in there, he wants to look at the humeral component and see if it is matching up with my healing glenoid. If there is a more ideally shaped humeral head, they will replace mine with that. To do this, they wouldn't have to remove the entire prosthetic, just the round "top" of it, if you will. I said fine, go ahead.

I came out of the surgery to my wife crying in a chair beside the bed. She tells me that Dr. W swung by after the surgery and told her that they had indeed decided to replace the humeral head during the procedure. But that while trying to remove it, they had fractured my humerus. A fissure fracture, running down the bone. This had loosened the entire prosthesis, and they had to wire my bone back together and drop an entirely new prosthetic in. Not good, Bob.

So here I am, about 9 weeks after the second surgery. Shoulder has good days and bad. I am following the rehab protocol exactly, going to PT once per week and doing the rest at home. I'm thinking now that I just have to wait and see. If I start approaching the SOL on this thing and I have a piece of shit for a shoulder, maybe that's the right time to sue. But if things are going well, there will be no need to.

All of this has been real hard on my home life and my work life. After the second surgery I was in a real fog for a couple of weeks. My wife told me that she thought the whole thing had broken my spirit. That woke me up some. Any of you Surlies have any thoughts about my "wait and see" approach? 

[Dennis Taylor 18830]

Damn that all sucks man. Hate to hear that. Dr W sounds kinda shitty. And others can correct me if I'm wrong but I don't know if Dr's offer a 'warranty ' on their surgical procedures, except I've heard of a 'refund gap' but that's a way different type of surgery

[deadshank 24653]

16 minutes ago, Dennis Taylor said:

Damn that all sucks man. Hate to hear that. Dr W sounds kinda shitty. And others can correct me if I'm wrong but I don't know if Dr's offer a 'warranty ' on their surgical procedures, except I've heard of a 'refund gap' but that's a way different type of surgery

LOL. 

Those cocksuckers don’t warrant dick but will demand all sorts of warranties and guarantees if you do any sort of work on their house because they’re special, very special doctors; and, will try any stunt imaginable to not pay. 

[washparkhorn 9939]

Shoulders (and ankles) are complicated as hell. Much of our body was designed for four legs, not two. The best shoulders surgeons I see are sculptors, not carpenters. more sculpture than anything else.

Sorry for what you are going through.

Spoiler

Get a good second opinion from someone trusted, if concerned. That is not an unusual step and shouldn't cause conflict with any doctor - since your primary goal is to get better with the shoulder. If concerned though, my first step would be to talk to the Doc about the concerns. sounds like you have a lot of shit bearing down on you. Good luck. Hook 'em

It sucks. I woke up from a knee scope that became an ACL reconstruction. My whole timetable/life was changed with the PT/rehab requirements. 

PT is important for shoulders. PT/Rehab needs to become you obsession. They can work miracles and keep range of motion in that shoulder of yours. Follow their advice.

I assume you are doing rehab/pt. If not, ask the doctor for a good list of the best PT/Rehab people he knows since you want to do it correctly and hopefully in person. 

You got this. Just take care of that shoulder. 

Edited August 13, 2021 by washparkhorn
yours from your - no idea if the grammar is correct.

[Mother mopar 3319]

I've had 2 full shoulder replacements in the last year (June '20 rt shoulder, and Jan '21 left). As a 40 yr old it's tough but having the right doctor makes all the difference. I've had 4 shoulder surgeries in total and having the doc and PT team on the same sheet of music was crucial to my success.

It sounds like your doc is an idiot and a comms broke down somewhere and you're having to pay for it physically and mentally.

Keep your head and don't push the PT too hard in the beginning. It's tough to hold back when you just want to get to the finish line but it's a journey, not a sprint. Here are a few pics of mine.

[bluto 4932]

Holy shit that’s a big screw

[Caver60 395]

14 hours ago, Mother mopar said:

It sounds like your doc is an idiot and a comms broke down somewhere and you're having to pay for it physically and mentally.

This is certainly what Dr. W pled. He said that he had a very good assistant who left prior to my surgery, and that the staff at this particular branch of UTHSC was just not up to speed yet.

I get it. It doesn't make the whole thing less infuriating though. Maybe more infuriating, actually, since he knew that his staff was not functioning at 100% yet.

[Caver60 395]

[Mother mopar 3319]

Holy shit that’s a big screw

That's what she said. I'm a big dude...6'4 275.

[Dennis Taylor 18830]

Fuck that shit. I feel bad for you guys. Definitely don't want any of that kind of hardware. If I don't get right in the gym I've been told I'm not pleasant to be around 

[Jkwellborn 6709]

Never had replacement but I feel like it’s coming eventually. I’ve dislocated mine around 3 dozen times. I’ll make sure not to use your doctor when it happens OP.

[HornOnTheBayou 8931]

12 hours ago, bluto said:

Holy shit that’s a big screw

is what your mom said when I showed up at her place last week.

[ERhine 1894]

If I start approaching the SOL on this thing and I have a piece of shit for a shoulder, maybe that's the right time to sue.

If that’s the route you’re going you need to do it way in advance of the SOL. Med mal isn’t simply a file it at the deadline type case. Also understand in advance how few med mal cases make financial sense to bring based on tort reform.

[Caver60 395]

9 hours ago, ERhine said:

 

If that’s the route you’re going you need to do it way in advance of the SOL. Med mal isn’t simply a file it at the deadline type case. Also understand in advance how few med mal cases make financial sense to bring based on tort reform.

 

Thanks for this. It's a strange position I find myself in. I'm not the lawsuit type. I'm not even sure that what has happened to me warrants one. It for sure warrants being highly pissed off. It's a wait and see sort of thing, I think. In the end, if the thing doesn't work out, it's not even something that money will be able to fix anyway.

I think I don't really have much choice but to do my best to keep Dr. W and his team, such as it is, on my side through this thing. I wouldn't choose him again, that's for sure.

[TwiceHorn 31495]

7 minutes ago, Caver60 said:

Thanks for this. It's a strange position I find myself in. I'm not the lawsuit type. I'm not even sure that what has happened to me warrants one. It for sure warrants being highly pissed off. It's a wait and see sort of thing, I think. In the end, if the thing doesn't work out, it's not even something that money will be able to fix anyway.

I think I don't really have much choice but to do my best to keep Dr. W and his team, such as it is, on my side through this thing. I wouldn't choose him again, that's for sure.

Yeah, that's really shitty.  Not only on the doc's part, but seems like the PTs and home-health people would check with the doc first for special instructions, regardless of whether the doc routinely issues them.

A malpractice suit may be economically unfeasible, but it seems like a formal complaint to the Texas Medical Board and/or Physical Therapist licensing entity may be worthwhile, as appropriate.

[HeHateMe 886]

I remember when @NowThis posted the films from his hip replacement.