Sorry for the delay, but I was waiting until after my most recent visit to my surgeon to provide a recap of the time since my last post at 1 week.  For review, I had chronic multi-directional instability and surgery on Dec. 18th.  In addition to the SLAP repair, I also had a Bankhart repair and posterior sutures.  I was supposed to be sling-bound for 6 weeks with only a few ROM movements allowed and no PT.  However, I saw these as only guidelines and pretty much did whatever I felt comfortable with, including ceasing use of the sling after about day 8-9.  While this did result in increased pain, I felt that it helped my overall progress.

Even though my surgeon has cleared me to do my own PT, I am going to the same therapist that helped me with my ACL about a year and a half back to try to advance my recovery time and strength.

Anyhow, following is the good, the bad, and the ugly that I experienced over the past 5 weeks...

Following are a few of my notes for one week post op.  To recap, my surgery was on Dec. 18th to repair multi-directional instability including type II SLAP.  The surgery involved 3 anchors and 5 sutures which I have detailed in a prior post.  Some repair was done on all aspects of the labrum; superior, anterior and posterior. 

I am restricted to only ROM movements to the front and side for six weeks with no PT until after that point.  I have already achieved max ROM in those directions, so I am going to be stuck with the same movements for a while.  My surgeon said that under no circumstances was I to go beyond those points or instructions no matter how it felt.  While that is going to be hard for me to do, I will try to follow along.  I have seen several posts regarding PT an when this gets started post-op. I believe this usually depends on a lot of factors, not the least of which is the surgeon's preference.  However, other factors such as the type of repair and the surgeon's confidence in the individual in performing their own ROM exercises will depend on when PT is started.  Overall, I am happy with the progress I have made to this point.

I'm a little late with this update, but I wanted to wait until I had full use of both hands for typing.  This is currently day three post-op as my operation was on Monday.  Following are my comments on the procedure, the repair and the first couple of days after surgery.

REPAIR:  Overall, I needed less work done than what was initially forecast.  I still needed repair on all aspects of the labrum, however, this was only 3 anchors and 5 total sutures.  My SLAP lesion was a standard type II from 11 to 1 o'clock and was repaired with 1 large titanium screw anchor at 12 o'clock and 2 sutures on either side of the biceps tendon using the same anchor.  This is apparently the strongest mechanically as the pressure on each suture is less than using a standard SLAP repiar with 2 anchors.  I specifically requested the strongest repair here, hence the larger titanium screw rather than 2 bio-absorbable.  Some surgeons may differ on what they prefer here, but you may want to ask if you have this type of potemtial tear/repair.  I have also have two other bio-absorable screw anchors on the anterior side and one suture posterior with no anchor as the labrum was still attached on the posterior side.  In any case, this is less than the 6 anchors initially forecast, so I was lucky there.

I wanted to drop a few comments regarding the day of surgery before mine at 9:30AM tomorrow.  I am getting my procedure done at the same surgical center that did my ACL/meniscus repair.  However, most hospitals are pretty much the same.

First, in addition to the full labrum repair, I am also getting my left knee scoped again.  I've been assured by my surgeon that it won't be major and that I will be able to walk on it.  I would rather get it all done at the same time than have the two separate procedures.

I wanted to write the following comments while I still had full use of both arms...

As promised, I wanted to post the results of my MRI arthrogram so you could see a sample write-up if your imaging center provides this type of analysis.  I wish I would have gotten the actual pictures as Andy did, but maybe I'll check back with them to see if I can still acquire the images.

Overall, the arthrogram was a fairly cool process.  This was my first one and I enjoyed being able to watch the process on the X-Ray machine.  There is no pain involved at all other than a minor prick when they first inject the lidocaine and I had zero adverse affects after the procedure other than a very minor dull ache in my shoulder later that day.

Following are the actual results from the test.  If you don't know the medical lingo, you will once it is your experience as I'm sure everyone here can attest...

For introduction, my name is Drew and I am 38 years old and highly active in numerous sports.  I have recently been diagnosed with a circumferential labral tear of my left shoulder (including SLAP lesion) evidenced by an MRI arthogram.  This will require between 6-8 suture anchors as anterior and posterior tears are also evident in addition to the SLAP tear.  I have surgery scheduled for Dec. 18th and was going to create a site for my experience until I came across this one.  Since there is already a lot of good objective information on this site, I decided to contribute here.

About a year and a half ago, I had an ACL reconstruction with meniscus repair.  Due to the extent of the meniscal repair, I had to be on crutches for 4 weeks.  Thus, I wanted to relate that experience to this one for anyone else that may have had similar surgeries as the "sling-time" is relatively the same.  At least this surgery is on my left shoulder and I am right-handed.  That should help out to some extent in the immediate post-op. 

Now, for a little background on my injury...