Shoulder Surgery

On Thursday, June 24th, I went under the knife and had my right shoulder operated on. I hurt my shoulder while playing volleyball on May 28th at regionals and after getting back from nationals I decided to get an MRI. The MRI showed that I had a tear in my labrum and in my rotator cuff. Based on this information, and talking to about 20 of my friends who have had shoulder surgery, Stephanie and I decided that having surgery would be the best option, as opposed to just physical therapy.

The doctor left me a note and told me that the surgery went well. Here is what his note said:

You had:
1) Shredded Labrum.
2) Also damaged bicep tendon (too hammered to save)
3) Significant (75%) partial-thickness rotator cuff tear

We did:
1) Cut the bicep tendon inside the shoulder & attached it outside the shoulder so it will work fine (normally)
2) Trimmed back all the labral damage so it won't hurt anymore
3) Removed a large bone spur rubbing on the cuff
4) Repaired the cuff (good repair)

Since last Thursday, I have been in a sling and on heavy pain meds. I am not working on weaning off the meds and getting my small post surgery exercises in. Everything is going good so far and I head back to the doctor on Friday for the follow up. Hopefully everything will be looking good enough so that I can get my physical therapy scheduled and started.

Though I don't have any pictures of the surgery, here are a couple of the after shots when we took the bandage off.

Our Smiling Son

Here are a few miscellaneous pictures from the past month or so. This boy has a good imagination and loves to smile!

1 month??

It is true, we are but a month away from Baby Bro's arrival. We have weekly ultrasounds/doctor appointments and Steph has to go in twice a week now so that the heartbeat of the babe can be monitored. Just a few more weeks and Jace will have a brother!

Our trip to Rattle Snake Lake

On our first really nice weekend of the summer in Western Washington, we decided to take a trip east of North Bend to Rattle Snake Lake. We have hiked Rattle Snake Ledge in the past and its a great trip up a fairly steep hill to a ledge that gives an amazing view. It was very beautiful at the lake, but it turns out we weren't the only ones enjoying the beauty of the lake and the first nice weekend of weather. So, after walking around the lake a bit, we found a great spot that was quiet and allowed us some family time.

It was also the perfect day to teach Jace how to pee standing up... What a great day!