Multiple Shoulder Surgeries?

[Veggie]

I have had rotator cuff surgery on my right shoulder once and twice on the left. I have been experiencing a lot of pain in my left shoulder again and have limited movement with pain. Has anyone had multiple surgeries and got good movement in the shoulder?

[here to go]

i have only had to have one rotator repair done on my R one, thank god. that has to be one the MOST painful and excruciating types of surgeries around. mine was pretty hellish to say the least. i have problems with my L one too but will not go there again unless i have absolutely no choice. i have had way too many other surgeries too. i cannot even imagine what having two seperate surgeries would be like on the same shoulder?

just what were the main problems to begin with on that left that required the first surgery and why was the second surgery actually needed again? usually one good thorough surgery is all that is needed in most cases. how good is your surgeon? from what you are describing here it really sounds like a tendon problem with that loss of ROM? or depending upon just how much PT was done and where you were able to actually get back to with ROM post op, there is always that possibility of a frozen shoulder type of situation too ya know?

right now i think your very best next step would be to just have that L shoulder MRIed again to see what could be the underlying problem. at least you would know ya know? have you been back to actually see your surgeon at all just to have him evaluate it? i really do think just finding out whats going on in there right now with that new MRI would be the best place to start in finding out alot of things. i really DO feel for ya with having to keep dealing with this type of a problem. i just remember the whole thing with mine(that block dissipation alone was sheer hell) very very vividly, owie. good luck with this and please let me know what you find out,K? FB

[dustbin31]

I too have had other surgeries so I have put the shoulder on the back burner, but now it's really getting worse.

My surgery on the rt was misdiagnosed for about 3 years. They gave me steroid shots that never worked. I moved and the next doctor diagnosed it as bursitis. Nothing worked and after 1 1/2 years I was finally referred to an ortho doc. He did an MRI and diagnosed it as torn RC. I had surgery and am [retty much OK. Just a twinge every now and then.

The Lt shoulder problem started when I fell on it while riding a dual sport motorcycle. It was diagnose within a few months as torn RC. Had surgery and about 2 weeks later I went to move in bed and felt a "pop" in my shoulder and had excruciating pain. I told the doc and he said it would be alright. I went 5 years until I couldn't hardly use my arm and had so much pain. Had another doc and surgery for torn RC and I think a torn tendon.

I was in an immobilizer sling and 5 days later I was at home when my home caught fire and I was lucky to get out. Had to move in with a friend. After a week the friend stated outloud(not directly to me, but I knew who she was talking to) that nothing was going to get done if no one did anything. Her daughter was trying to prepare a trailer for us to move into temporarily. Well, I wound up taking the immobilizer sling off and had to clean out the trailer and the yard. So, it was my own doing that I screwed up the surgery.

I went back to the doc and told him what had happened and he said that he didn't think anything else could be done. My cousin told me to seek a second opinion. The thing I worry about is losing the mobilty of my arm. My mother had 2 surgeries for basically the same thing and wound up not being able to lift her arm above her waist. She could lift it and put it up on the table or counter and use it that way. She just couldn't lift it on it's own. I fear that is happening to me. I can lift my arm but it is excrutiating past a certain point. For instance, when I'm lying in bed on my back I can lift my arm and out it behing my head on the pillow. When I go to take it down I have to use my rit hand to hold my arm to get it down and it hurts like heck.

Also, I never had PT after any of my surgeries. The doctors didn't feel that I needed it.

I'm just wondering ifI seek a 2nd opinion and the doc thinks he can fix it, will it wind up worse than it is. Would it better to just live withe pain? Will it come a time when I can't live with the pain or can't lift my arm?

Anyway, I just had a total knee replacement and had problems after that. I'm having a hard time straightening my knee out comletely. I'm going to PT for that. I think that between the crutches and walker it put too much of a strain on my shoulder and it started hurting more. I've already decided that I will not have the left knee done until it comes a time I can't walk on it anymore. Until that time it will just have carry me along.

Last Oct I had weight loss surgery and now I have to have a hernia repair from that. I really thought that after the weight loss I would have been in better shape, but it appears that my body is falling apart.

Anyway, I hope that I can get more opinions about my shoulder and it's future.

Feelbad, thank you for your response. After I get the hernia taken care of I will see about an MRI to see what's going on with my shoulder.

[i see sounds]

honestly? the mere fact that your surgeon NEVER actually had you go thru what just IS a very very crucial hands on PT with either one of these surgeries could BE the real underlying reason you not only had to go thru that second surgery but just are feeling like you are now too. in all the six surgeries i have had to have done that most of were indeed some type of actual ortho ones, i never really had to have any PT, just at home excercises, that was until that horrid rotator one. this particular surgery just being done on the most mobile and totally able to rotate around type of joint and surrounding shoulder area just kind of hugely dictates that real need to have that PT help in just even being able to have it gently(at first) moved in every single possible direction that that highly movable joint just moves, just to try and prevent that nasty capsule and scar tissue from forming at all, ever.

the amazingly huge ways that the shoulder joint just moves, well in order to even begin to regain ALL ROMS back again, they just have to be actually run thru again and again or scar tissue gets developed in the areas that do not get bathed in the very crucial synovial fliud that simply keeps the joint kind of well lubricated. it just is having that synovial fluid going over that entire ball in that joint socket that keeps it moist and from drying out,which is when those nasty adhesions will simply grow from the dryness and attach and anchor that entire shoulder joint would simply NOT even be ABLE to even go past that particular frozen ROM level. ya know what i mean?

i seriously am wondering just why, espescially since you like me are a female without alot of the more heavy muscle that men just have that can at times actually override even the adhesions if they want to push it hard enough, would not have even thought about just having the very important hands on PT required for you. that seriously was not a good choice for you made by your surgeon at all, not for THIS type of surgery. i don't know just how bad things would seriously be for me if i had not actually done the very in depth hands on part of PT that MOST surgeons just DO require, espescially for the female population. men get that same PT referral too but are much less likely to follow it up(go figure).

right now i would try and really obtain that MRI and just see what in the heck is going on in there now. i can almost guarentee you that if you just DO actually have some level of frozen shoulder brought on my NO PT, that you can totally blame this on the surgeon just not sending you for the very basic needed follow up PT. i also used that CPM(continuous passive motion therepy) chair almost immediately following my surgery too. this is a chair you sit in(this was delivered to my home) that you place the operated arm onto the front of, and the arm slowly moves up and down without ever creating ANY actual use or pull on the healing tendons or muscle. it only moves that joint. that also helped along with the at home excercises too before my hands on began. but right now, i really would be pushing someone for that needed shoulder MRI at this point. its just THAT needed for what you are displaying and feeling as symptoms right now. i do wish you luck with this and hope nothing more than 'just' that frozen shoulder may be going on in there. please let me know what you find out,K? FB

[ratgirl]

the one thing here that you CAN and just really do NEED to do right now is simply obtain ALL records from that suregon. and make darn certain that you also obtain any MRI reports as well, since these will show exactly what tendons IN that rotator were torn and any other findings that just showed up on the hardfilms.

you just need to know what was actually there(what tendons were torn) and any other potential issues that possibly were not even taken care of with that very first surgery done either. you just can find out one heck of alot of information by obtaining all surgeon records, the MRIs (and any other testing done on you too) and also obtaining what are called the 'op notes' that have to be made by every single surgeon following ANY procedure they just do on any patient. this is kind of the 'transcript" for what was done and how it all went in the OR. you can obtain all this stuff right from the actual hospital that you had the surgeries done at. all of these records are obtainable from home by just calling the places you need the records from. i do this all the time with all my surgeries i have had and all my surgeons records from his office too. and you should just ALWAYS always get your very own copies of ANY types of testing results that just get done on you so you have them for your own files and can actually read thru them to find out MANY different things about you and how things went or what was found. you just seriously NEED all of this stuff so you simply know what was really wrong or torn within the rotator cuff since there are alot of tendons in there, and the overall course of how everything went from initial consult, thru surgery and any follow up. and how your surgeon saw things too. they just have to also give their overall 'impressions' in those clinic visit notes after every visit you have with them at their office.

this is just something that you need to see and to just have in your possesion. all it takes is like i mentioned above, just phone calls made and asking for your records. they will know what to do and send you from there. you have to fill out a form called a release of information and just send it back and its a done deal. your records usually show up in about a week or two in your mailbox. its that simple. just a really needed thing in your particular case espescially. good luck with the knee hon. let me know how things are going or what you find out when you obtain those records. FB

[Mars Turrez]

Thank you for your response. Right now I'm trying to concentrate on getting my knee going good. Then I will see about that MRI. Something is definatally going on with the shoulder, but I need to get to walking better. I will come back to this thread to let you know what I find out.

[Random Persun]

I'm trying to remember the timeline and if I'm correct the same doctor did both surgeries on my left shoulder. I remember my right one was the early surgery so I'm fairly certain that one was done by another doctor. I will look into getting those records though. Thank you for your time. I'll get back here when I know more.