MUA

It has been a rough 12 weeks.  The recovery from my shoulder surgery has been more frustrating than I could ever imagine.  A few weeks ago I met with my surgeon and told him I was done trying to rehabilitate it.  My plan was to just let it heal on it's own, which I knew could take 18 months or longer, but I wasn't making any progress at physical therapy and the visits were adding up.  Turns out I had adhesive capsulitis which means that my body had laid down so much scar tissue that it had encased my shoulder joint, making it extremely hard to gain any range of motion.  This happens to about 1% of those who undergo shoulder surgery.  The surgeon recommended we do an MUA (manipulation under anesthesia) which means they would put me under and manipulate my shoulder in every direction to break up the scar tissue and get my ROM back.  With Christmas right around the corner I knew it was either pay for the surgery or buy the kids Christmas presents.  We couldn't afford both.  It wasn't a hard decision, I told him I simply couldn't afford it.  When he asked why, I burst into tears and explained the situation.  He immediately said that he would do it for free and that he would talk to the surgical center to see if they would waive the portion that wasn't covered by insurance and also talk to the physical therapist to see if he could help too.  I would have to pay the cost of the anesthesia and some for physical therapy.  A few days later my dad called and said he would cover the anesthesia.  Feeling overwhelmingly blessed I scheduled the surgery.

The MUA went well.  I immediately had full range of motion, but the next day when I went in for PT my body was already laying down more scar tissue.  I had lost 10 degrees of motion overnight.  I started to panic a little, pray a lot, and stretch my arm as much as I could at home.  The first week of PT post surgery was awful, but finally over the past few days I think I have begun to turn the corner.  The pain isn't nearly as strong, my range of motion is starting to come back, I finally feel some hope!!!

On the eve of Thanksgiving, my heart is full of gratitude to my surgeon, physical therapist, the surgical center, and my dad for making this surgery possible.