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Hello all. I am so happy to have found this thread! As I read more and more posts, I am beginning to feel as tho I am not alone!
I have recently started experiencing some severe pain with crepitus and severe popping. It also feels like the bones in my shoulder are grinding. I just went to a new Ortho and it seems as tho I will need a 3rd surgery. He stated that, because of my first surgery where the thermal capsulorrhaphy was used to heat the muscle it has possibly caused both of my surgeries to fail. Mainly because it causes muscle tissue to die, therefore leaving the shoulder weakened. I am awaiting the appt for the arthogram to confirm his suspicions and undergo another repair surgery.
Let me give you a bit of insight on my history. At the time I was a 33 y/o female working as a NYC Paramedic. I was lifing a patient when I first injured my right shoulder in 3/06. Stubborn, the pain began to somewhat subside and I returned to work. The MRI that was done in 3/06 showed a possible anterior labrum tear. Doc said if the pain worsened, I would need surgery. Nov 06, I was lifting yet another patient when the pain worsened. Surgery was scheduled for 3/07.
According to my post op report, I had a type 2 arthroscopic subacromial decompression, capsulorrhapy, distal clavicle resection and autologous platelet graft transfer. They inserted a pain pump catheter which was placed thru one of the incisions.
I found that he used the arthrocare wand and was used to basically coagulate the areas lateral to the capsule. It was also used to excise the coracoacromial ligament from its acromial attachment. I am sent home in pain with a f/u in 3 days to remove the pump.
I now move to another state and obtain a new ortho for my follow up appt's and PT. It was a brutal first couple of months. I was so tight and my ROM took a little longer than usual, but eventually I had a bit more strength as time went on.
Almost a year later and just as my doc was going to release me back to my line of work as a paramedic, my shoulder is popping again just as it was pre op. Doc was not happy about that and sent me for an arthrogram on 2/08. The results showed an anterior/ superior labrum tear and a partial tear of the supraspinatus tendon along the articular aspect.
That leads to surgery #2 in 4/08. I had an interscalene block. The notes said that I had a very large drive thru sign with anterior instability. There was an anterior tear of the labrum which had fallen down and scarred against the anterior glenoid neck, with a lot of wear on the superior labrum. There was a 5% thickness tear of the articular surface of the rotator cuff. 2 anchors with prolene sutures were placed. He found a diffuse amounts of bursitis, none with impingment on the rotator cuff.
I thought that I recovered from this surgery very well. I did however have to start a new line of work, as I could no longer work the streets as a paramedic. About 1 year later I started getting some pain in the shoulder and rotator cuff/ deltoid area. It was almost like a spasm and I could not lift my arm. It would then subside a bit and come and go every now and then. Again I am stubborn and was just putting it off as some stress I was holding in my traps and roms. (still not sure if it has any significance)Just about New year 09/10, my shoulder kind of froze and felt like it was "caught" on something inside. I tried to roll the shoulder a bit and wined my arm when I got this incredibly painful cracking and tearing feeling. My shoulder then became bothersome to the point that I couldnt carry my purse on that arm. I called to make an appt with the ortho and was told I needed some paperwork from the comp case mngr. I was getting the run around and blew it off, again. Then on 1/21/10, I all of a sudden was having progressivly worsening pain and now could not move my arm. I had never experienced pain like this post or pre op. I called the ortho and they no longer accepted workmans comp. I almost died. I went to work and saw my boss, who looked at the xray and said I had a huge gap in the shoulder and appears as tho maybe I had torn the ac ligament. He injected my shoulder with some decadron and lidocaine, told me to wear my sling and get into ortho asap. Almost 2 weeks later and with some severe pain (I have a high threshold for pain) I finally find a doc who will see me. He looks thru my notes, bends my arm in a zillion different positions to the point that I want to punch him! LoL I know, its part of the assesment. But it hurt! LoL He told me that the Thermal Capsularrhaphy was big in 2007, but they are steering away from it as it causes muscle tissue to die and high failure rates. Great! Is all I could think as tears started to stream down my face. I now await the arthogram.
Ok, with all of that being said, I am wondering if anyone else has gone thru this? and what was your diagnosis and outcome? Please any and all comments are welcome.
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