Who's had it? Acromioclavicular joint resection surgery. Advice needed/welcomed

No input to add here. I'm just here because I got tagged.

Good luck with surgery, but more than that, good luck with recovery.

For nearly 35 years now, I've been dealing with a rhomboid injury suffered in my teens. I was working for a really well known catering company in the Orlando area. Had to do some stupid event for a local radio station. We had 5 people booked to work the job, 1 manager and 4 bees. Manager showed up, I showed up, everyone else called in. Little 6'2" and 140lb shifty` lugged dozens of 8ft classroom tables the several hundred yards and up two flights of stairs. At some point, I felt burning pain between my shoulder blades. Boss many cracked the whip, "keep going or you're fired!", so I did. We eventually got two other people to come in, after the heavy lifting was done. I had to stay and finish out the job, including taking all the tables back, but not solo, which was nice. I got tipped out $120 for that job, and for my hourly I got another $75. $195. I've been living with periodic flare-ups because I couldn't afford a doctor, and had no idea it was OK to stand up to my manager when I injured myself. I didn't know I could file a claim for workman's comp. The whole situation sucked, and I really needed the money. Point being: Good on you for taking care of some shit. I should probably do the same with my rhomboid, see if there's anything they can do to fix. I still get flare-ups once or twice a year.

For about 20 years, I've had acromion spurs that dig into my delts. I went thru hell when they first showed up, because I didn't understand PT was the medicine/cure. I was stupid, and thought the steroid shot was the silver bullet and blew off the PT the first time. Was back in less than 6mos later with same issue. Doc gave me another shot and pretty much told me, "DO THE PT!" or they'd be doing surgery, and I didn't want surgery, my shoulder would never be the same. I did the PT. I got better. Every time it feels like it's acting up, I use the bands, do the damn PT for a few days, and it subsides.

Yes. Getting old sucks, no doubt. But at a young 30-something, I'm sure you'll bounce back quick. Especially because it sounds like you're already physically active and have a regimen and support system behind you.

Don't skip the PT, chief.

 

Can you do bone broth?

 

Hit up a local butcher for the bones and give it a shot. I think it kinda tastes meh. Like not good or bad, but if the bones have all the "gross" stuff on them it'll get you the natural collagen.

 

That's just it ... it's not "regular". And there for the longest time, I could never seem to have a flare-up that lasted long enough for the doctor. It usually sticks around for 3-4 days, tops. So I'm barely impacted 1 out of 52 weeks. But when it happens, it's annoying as hell. Usually pops up when I need to lift weird stuff. Like when I helped one of my friends haul and carry a 650lb broiler into his new brewery a couple years ago. But it could be anything to set it off. Had an instance where it stuck around for a couple of days after I bought some used tires off FBM a month or so ago. Wheel and tires probably weren't more than 80lb total, maybe 90. But in picking one up and tossing it in the bed of the truck, fire between the shoulder blades, and ... it stuck around for a couple days. Always in the same place. Been that way damn near my whole working life.

Maybe I'll get off my ass and have it looked at. I just have no clue how the hell they'll be able to figure out what's going on without an MRI, or maybe contrast CT or MRI or something so they can look for scar tissue. I'm sure I ripped something. Just no clue what, only that it has to be rhomboid related.

 

You gotta add stuff into it for flavor. That's all ramen broth is, effectively. Bone broth plus tare or shoyu-tare. Tare is (usually) a combo of soy, mirin and sometimes miso and/or sake and/or vinegar.

I had to live off broth after having my tonsils pulled to get rid of the mass in my throat recently. Lived off broth for quite a few days. It suuuuuucked.

 

That makes sense. I only had it when I was sticking to the carnivore diet, so there wasn't much to flavor it with. LOL

Broth diet would suck, but I bet it's super quick on the weight loss.

 

For the longest time I was floating 185-195. IIRC, I was right around 190 when all my medical stuff kicked off last summer. By the time I was diagnosed and had surgery a few months later, I bottomed out around 167. So roughly lost 12% of my body weight.

Granted, a lot of that was because I dropped all beer from my diet, something I am still not drinking much of at all, which is weird for me. I'm a hop addict, and at one point in my life, probably would've shanked someone in the neck for a good NE IPA.

I'm hovering around 178 the last two months, but haven't gotten back into the swing of working out like usual, doing diff't stuff now. Spent most of the summer taking the kids (11,13) to Amsterdam and Rotterdam where we walked 8-10 miles/day, then came home and we hiked 3-6 miles a day, every day, day in and day out. Bit of a changeup for me. My legs are back to where they were in my skater days, but I'm starting to see weight redistributing. It's weird. The body is weird.

 

Getting old sucks, losing weight too fast sucks, too.
I lost 42 lbs over 8-10 week frame, from 230 down to 188/190, right now roughly 192, +-2-3 lbs....
But yea, diet helps, also when you eat your diet, I know my movement goes down after sunset, so I eat lighter for dinner cause I do much less after dinner than during the day time when I am at work or moving around the house doing random stuff....
This redistributing of food intake has also help a lot....

 

Some days I wish we could just have a supplement bag you attach to your body and roll on. But man, I would miss the hell out of some wings.

 

Insurance involved. Expect it to be 100 fold of actual cost. Checks out.

 

6'2" at 190....
According to BMI I should be at 180-185 lbs....smh

 

I've always used a sarong when necessary. They work great, are cheap as all get out and it also has hundreds of other uses when not in sling mode.

 

Want me to ship you mine? I’m done with it

 

The bird, the bear, or the sling? Or all three?

 

Just the sling. Birds aren’t real and the bear works for me stealing picnic baskets in the park

 

Remind me to not sit next to you the next time we have picnic....lol

 

Not had that surgery, but getting in/out of tubs & clothes is difficult with a bum shoulder (assuming shoulder because i know where the clavical is). Everything is just out of your comfortable range of motion, so exercise those obliques, cause you'll be twisting. I've been abusing my shoulder, because scar tissue is tougher. But there are some easy PT exercises to make the best of your time.

 

Yeah, it sucks being tall(ish) with high metabolism. I spent my sophomore and junior year lifting weights with a paralympic weightlifter coach, who was also a dietician/nutritionist. I was eating everything he told me to and more, weight gainer shakes 3x a day, and put on like 15lbs in 2ish years. It's the only reason I graduated at 135-140lb range. I'd have probably been 125lb. He would always go on and on about, "tall lanky dudes like you, when they put on muscle, look like a tank!" But it just never happened.

I guess it's possible now I've dropped skating, which probably burned a thousand or more calories a day with how hard I was hitting it, and my metabolism has slowed down, I could probably pile it on. But the interest is much lower now. No interest in being a Sherman tank anymore.

You shorter(than me) guys have it easy when it comes to bulking up. I don't love being 6'1" - I've shrunk a little over an inch as I've gotten older - and would probably favor being 5'9" - 5'10" these days.

 

Huh. I thought you were much taller than me. Only an inch.

 

This…..lots of time the shoulder felt fine so I took the sling off. I’d make one move and immediately put it back on. Sounds like your recovery will be faster than mine. I’m not back to work yet, but that’s due to not having a desk job. It’s been 5 months.

 

Now you just have to wear the damned thing. Or else we know you'll be out in the garage doing some sort of detailing task.

 

Or picking up and puttin' down heavy shit. He does that a lot.

 

Yea, none of that, for the next 11.3968 weeks.