by Joe Paradis

Created on: December 09, 2008

Shoulder to Shoulder - Rotator Cuff Surgery

He came toward me from across the room at the funeral parlor. A huge man, easily 250 lbs. Barrel-chested, close cropped hair, goatee, leather jacket. He wasn't anyone that I knew. But then I saw that he had his arm in a large cushion-like sling, just like the one I was toting around. "Another rotator cuff victim," I thought to myself.

And sure enough, he was. We gripped each other's hand my left to his right. Brothers in pain. Shoulder to shoulder, in solidarity with the hurting masses who have undergone this same shoulder surgery.

"Buddy!" he said, his giant shadow covering me. A bigggg man.

I nodded acknowledgment. We grinned at each other "It sucks, doesn't it?" he said, pointing at my giant foam-filled sling.

"Sure does," I replied. And we talked.

Experts that we now were, we discussed the little idiosyncrasies of rotator cuff surgery. Like the misery of the first two days. Like being forced to keep your arm in this huge sling contraption resembling the overstuffed arm of your grandmother's couch. A contraption that forces your arm against the side of your body, and keeps it pointed straight out in front of you just a little thing to keep you from ripping out those nice shiny screws holding your tendon against the bone. We reminisced fondly about those miserable nights of short sleep in the Laz-E-Boy chair. And the subsequent weeks when you finally move back to your bed, still only able to lie on your back, with your arm jutting straight in the air. This turns your blanket into a neat tent, allowing easy access for the cats to crawl under and further torture your sleep.

After we aired all that commiseration, I noticed him staring at my arm. "Ya know, that's a nice sling you have there," he said, somewhat jealously. "A lot nicer than mine."

"Well," I responded modestly, "how many holes did they cut into your shoulder?" An orthopedic surgeon will typically tell you he makes "two small incisions, the size of a pencil head" to operate on rotator cuff injuries arthroscopically. One hole for the miniature camera; the other to actually work on the tendons. That's the theory anyhow.

"I got three holes," he replied.

"Four holes here." I responded. "Maybe you get a better quality sling as the hole count rises?" I offered.

"Could be," he said. And we both laughed. He then sauntered off to pay his respects. We were, after all, at a wake.

As is typical, my repaired shoulder is the one I use most, the right side. So normal use of my right

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