I'll Be Back!

By the time most of you read this scheduled post, I'll be recovering from my surgery Friday morning.

I have a partially torn (more accurately described as "frayed") rotator cuff tendon in my left shoulder. Over time, other muscles have compensated for the sore one that is connected to the torn tendon, and pulled my humerus (upper arm bone) up and forward about an inch and a half, and my shoulder blade up about a half inch. As you can imagine, it has caused a great deal of pain and limited movement, as well as bursitis.

I have a tight acromial arch...part of the shoulder blade that curves around and forms the "socket" where my upper arm fits, and the arm bone is rubbing against the acromion, adding to the problem. The orthopedist will be doing arthroscopy (there's a clear photo on this page of arthroscopy on a left shoulder) and filing off part of the bone to allow more freedom of movement. He'll also decompress the bursa (treat the inflamed tissue) and check out the tendon to see if it'll need repair or will heal on its own.

If all goes well, I should be home in about four hours from start to finish, but won't be allowed to return to work for two weeks. Never having had surgery before, I don't know how my body will respond to surgery and anesthesia and if my recovery time will be normal or extended. I hope to be able to be back online very soon (keyboarding away with one hand!).

There was no injury or accident associated with the tear of the rotator cuff. My orthopedist described it as a slow wearing over time, exacerbated by the shape of my aromion. My regular job of assisting students in and out of wheelchairs probably hasn't helped (I won't be doing that again for a LOOOONG time).

Life has been busy--as it always is--since the school year started, and when I haven't been busy, I've been coping with pain. Otherwise, I would have been able to write some scheduled posts to be published in the next two weeks. However, there are many wonderful genea-bloggers out there, and I encourage you to check out the lower right-hand menu for the latest posts from my favorite reads. Or check out my profile page and look at the Blogs I Follow list at the bottom (I actually follow more than these; Blogger limits me to 200!).

I hope by the time I'm back in action that Ancestry will have finally released the Michigan and Washington State Death Certificates they've been promising for weeks (I'm getting tired of seeing "Coming Soon!"). I'll be finding lots of my relatives and ancestors (Michigan) as well as many of my husband's relatives and ancestors (Washington) in these databases.