Am i able to get help after returning home from surgery?

Savvy_Sue

Trialia wrote: »

I'm pretty certain it depends where in the country you are; here in Manchester, I got help from Reablement after coming out of A&E with both arms stuck in slings for a month...

well, that trumps me, doesn't it!

OP, I had a replacement half shoulder done at the end of November, so I guess I know the kind of sling you mean without googling it! I'm now on weekly physio (how can such a small and sweet looking young lady cause so much pain?) and getting there. It's a long haul, although yours may be shorter.

I'm now back at work (just), and mostly typing two handed.

My advice:

• Think simple and loose fitting in all things: zips on trousers are a big fat no-no, and getting yourself on and off the loo takes longer, whatever you're wearing, so go before you absolutely have to!
• Consider where the loo roll holder is in relation to 'the arm' in your primary residence. If you can't reach it with the working arm, move the loo roll to where you can reach it. If you have difficulty tearing sheets off, get someone to make you a suitably large pile and leave them in a safe and reachable place ... (I could, fortunately, both reach and tear! but it can be awkward when out and about!)
• Forget bras, assuming you need them (nicki could be either girl or boy!) Your arm will be giving some of the necessary support, in any case, and you simply won't be able to put one on single handed.
• I wore vests with large arm-holes, and had a stock of large shirts, tucked the left sleeve in (to stop it catching on things!) and only put the right arm in. Kept the middle buttons undone so I could poke my hand out. After a few weeks I felt able to take the sling off and put 'the arm' through a sleeve more often.
• To save getting in and out of said vests, I put a clean one on each morning, and then slept in it that night. Having one arm tied to your body increases your core temperature so I was plenty warm enough!
• With sleeves / arm holes, always put 'the arm' in first, but take it out last.
• Astonishingly, I found I could manage thick tights - would probably have gouged holes in thin ones, but thick were OK for special occasions.
• Keep that hand mobile! The elbow will seize up, nothing to be done about that, but keep the wrist and hand going. I had a stress cow (a stress ball in the shape of a cow) which I kneaded regularly in the early days to keep swelling at bay.
• In the shower, I put 'the arm' in a simple triangular sling, which could then get wet. And I had help for drying and dressing. Actually, for the first couple of weeks I had a wash and quick dry at the hairdressers and strip washed because it was just too difficult!
• Get your finger and toenails in shape before surgery! Mine was unexpected, so no chance ...
• Microwave ready meals - home cooked in advance if you like - were invented for this purpose, and can be sorted with one working arm and a hand tied to the body. Just think where you are going to put what and how: I used a thin silicone pot stand a lot, could slide hot things onto it, and then support it underneath, slide them on and off etc.
• If people offer help, accept - a meal for the freezer, shopping, laundry, housework, washing up whatever. BTW you'll struggle to push a supermarket trolley one handed for some time! but you can use your body to help.
• If you really are on your own, use disposable plates / cutlery when necessary. Washing up should be the least of your worries.
• You might find an extra pillow or cushion is useful in bed to support 'the arm'. Now I'm post-sling, I start by lying on my back with a pillow on my stomach, and 'the arm' on that. When I roll onto my (good) side, I tuck the pillow under 'the arm', and drape 'the arm' over it until it feels comfy. It's easier to fiddle the pillow around than to try moving 'the arm'.
• The sling may well be a murky green / grey colour. And if it's anything like mine, there will be nasty bits of velcro. The ones on the waist and shoulder strap will eat your clothes, because inevitably the teeth will stop lining up exactly over the fabric. I had an old silk shirt only fit for the rag bag, I cut a few strips of fabric, may 3" x 6", and wrapped them round the velcro bits (OK, I got DH to do the wrapping initially!) These were in much nicer colours than the sling itself, and became a bit of a talking point, especially once I bought some pretty pink hairclips to secure them. I do recommend brightening the sling up in some way, and hairclips were a really easy way to do it. The chaps in X-ray had never seen the like and thought it was brilliant.

Hopefully you won't need advice on what style of woolly hat you need, I've been wearing a fetching Peruvian style with ear flaps, which does absolutely nothing for me apart from keeping my ears warm, but it's the only one I could put on without assistance. :rotfl:

Final piece of advice, painkillers! in the early stages, take them before you need them (although it was BLISS to wake up post op because there was NO MORE PAIN - until I had to move it!). and once you start physio, take them BEFORE physio.

Trialia

Good advice, Sue! I had a failed stabilisation, and those braces are such a pain in the neck.

I definitely agree on the painkillers-BEFORE-physio thing. I always take mine before I get in the hydrotherapy pool, always, otherwise I hurt even more afterwards. (I have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, hypermobility type.)

Savvy_Sue

Trialia wrote: »

Good advice, Sue! I had a failed stabilisation, and those braces are such a pain in the neck.

I definitely agree on the painkillers-BEFORE-physio thing. I always take mine before I get in the hydrotherapy pool, always, otherwise I hurt even more afterwards. (I have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, hypermobility type.)

And there was me thinking hydrotherapy might be nice! Certainly a hot tub / jacuzzi is very nice, and while on holiday I decided that doing exercises in the sunshine / sauna was much nicer than doing them at home.

final thoughts:

• make sure that the tea bags / coffee jar are easy to open and within reach, and if you can't manage big bottles of milk get a jug or something. being able to make as many cups of tea as I needed made life bearable ...
• opening things in general can be tricky: scissors are good for cereal packets and the like, and one of those grippy things for screw tops is useful. You can grip things between your knees if that helps, and turn with the good hand!

Trialia

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

And there was me thinking hydrotherapy might be nice! Certainly a hot tub / jacuzzi is very nice, and while on holiday I decided that doing exercises in the sunshine / sauna was much nicer than doing them at home.

Oh, it's doing me good, and it's much less painful for me when I'm *in* the pool. It's when I get *out*, and gravity remembers I exist, that I start hurting. Plus, it uses up enough spoons that I'm in bed most of every Friday and Saturday (my hydro sessions are Thursday afternoon). But it's worth it.

Savvy_Sue

Another long term thought: I used to wear big necklaces, now I wear floaty scarves. I have some nice scarf clips I use on some of them: with them I wrap the end round my left hand and just hang when 'the arm' needs a rest. Some others, and especially any I wear with my coat, are knotted at the end at just the right spot to pop 'the arm' in when it needs a rest. And sometimes 'the arm' goes in even if it doesn't need a rest, for example when I'm about to get on a train or bus, just to flag up that I'm not in perfect shape and would appreciate a seat, or at least something to hang onto with my right hand!

BTW, I've been on a bra buying trip today, which wasn't a lot of fun, followed by a trip to the gym with DH as they had a 'bring a friend for free' day. I just sat in the jacuzzi and steam room and waved 'the arm' around gently. but THEN I had an underarm wax, ever so slightly overdue, but that was 'interesting'! good results though, lovely young lady doing it!

code-a-holic

A BRILLIANT THREAD! I am having a right shoulder op on Thursday. I am mother to 4 children between 1 and 8 and we live out in the sticks so daily car journeys are the norm for anything. Not sure how i'll cope! DH is taking thurs and fri off work but then has to go back as he is manager and its very busy at work!

Off shopping on monday for front fastening bras and easy wear clothing!!!

daska

Just a couple of thoughts on shopping. On-line is an obvious one - most supermarkets make a point of advertising that they deliver your shopping to the fridge. Less obvious is that a lot of supermarkets will arrange for a member of staff to assist you in store - but only if you give them enough notice.

shegar

code-a-holic wrote: »

A BRILLIANT THREAD! I am having a right shoulder op on Thursday. I am mother to 4 children between 1 and 8 and we live out in the sticks so daily car journeys are the norm for anything. Not sure how i'll cope! DH is taking thurs and fri off work but then has to go back as he is manager and its very busy at work!

Off shopping on monday for front fastening bras and easy wear clothing!!!

Oh dont worry about doing up a bra, I didnt for 4 months I couldnt and also the straps are very painful on your shoulder after op.......

OP im sure you will cope, I had 2 Arthroscopic subacromial decompressions (not at same time) I must add.........Iwas in agony for weeks, Ive got a disabled husband that needs 24/7 care, social services allowed him to go in respite care for only 2 weeks........I found it so hard indeed, they never offered me any carers to come and look after him while I couldnt do my normal duties , it took months for my shoulder to get better, still not right, espeically trying to inject myself 4 times daily and check bloods etc.......but somehow you have to get through and we do......you will be fine .....

Savvy_Sue

just to say recovery can be 'up and down': for some reason mine went into meltdown on Saturday, haven't been in so much pain for a long time, and I wasn't aware of doing anything to upset it at the time. Back on the Tramadol during the day as well as at night. Will have to phone physio tomorrow if no better then for advice on what to do / not do with it!

bluedog

There's some very good advice about preparing yourself and home for your op by the other people here and I have nothing to add to it. I wish I'd thought of posting to ask the very same thing as I've recently had major surgery, although not on my shoulder. I would like to share my experience incase it may help you or anyone else in this kind of situation.

I only got a weeks notice of it happening as it was classified as urgent. I live on my own (son at uni), my family are spread out all over the country and out of my friends, there is no-one that could help me continuously afterwards, especially at short notice.

I didn't have much time to prepare especially as they let me know about it by ringing me. The pre-op was the day before the surgery and I didn't get information about it until then as they kept the letter incase it didn't arrive in time.

In hindsight, I wish I'd made it a priority to see my gp or at the hospital to discuss the op, how it could affect me in the sense of what limitations I could expect (ie day-to-day things from showering to shopping), recovery time and what help I may need afterwards, for how long and if any help from anywhere would be available for me, even if I had to pay for it - and if so, how to go about arranging it it.

Cutting a very much longer story short, as soon as I was able to shuffle about, the hospital was planning to send me home. I hadn't bargained on the op affecting me and aggravating other health conditions I have in some of the ways it has, but it was clear that I wouldn't manage on my own as things were in my home and situation. My lovely nurse helped organise an assessment by the OT who sorted out some equipment on loan for me to take home to start me off.

She also tried to arrange help at home from the Red Cross, but found out they don't operate in my area. I live 1 1/2 miles inside the neighbouring county of the hospital and this posed problems too as for whatever reason, she didn't have any information as to what is available in my area! I ended up being given the telephone number of THEIR counties Adult Care Services and was left to arrange it myself once I was home.

It took 2 weeks and 2 assessments before the help started and they said it should have been arranged before hand so I wasn't left to muddle along like I had to.

The help I'm getting is run by the council for people in this kind of situation and is free for up to 6 weeks. If people need help for longer, it is chargable depending on individual circumstances and finances. They help with basic care needs such as washing, cooking and dressing but can't take people anywhere, (ie: doctors) or do things like chores, shopping and paying bills. They are (hopefully) sending me some information about those things as it will still be a few weeks before I can get out and about again although I will probably have to pay for this service.

It's not been easy, is still early days for me with nature of the op, but I'll get there and be doing cartwheels down the garden path by summer ... in my dreams, lol . My friends and my aging aunt, who lives 25 miles away, have all done bits to help where they could before the carers came in.

It may be worth asking your doctors or ringing your council about it as if you do need help, then you will hopefully be able to get it in place in time for when you are back home. If you find you will be able to manage, it is easy to cancel it.

Hope it all goes well for you and you have a good recovery.