Nate went in for shoulder surgery today. After about 2 years of graduated pain we finally decided to have it checked out, and my only advice to you all is this: Don't wait! I don't think his shoulder would have been so messed up had we gone to the doctor much earlier....
We spent the morning cleaning up and getting the kids packed up to go spend the day at Ashley's house. Ashley is one of Jayni's favorite friends, and her mom was a life saver! In exchange for taking the kids for the day, we took Ashley's older sister to school on the way to the surgical center. Not exactly an even trade, but we do what we can! :) We'll make it up to them.
Here's Jayni waiting so impatiently for the moment she can go to Ashley's. She was dancin' around all morning singing about spending the day at the Merrills.
....in the meantime, Nate tried to calm his jitters by watching an episode of "Spiderman" with Aleks. He was a bit touchy this morning, and really didn't want to admit to being nervous. Plus he was starving. Nothing makes a person hungrier faster than being told he can't eat anything!
Ahhh...the drugs. The moment I walked into Nate's recovery room there was not a doubt that he was "feelin' good". If it's possible, he was a bit crazier than normal and his sense of humor was very much intact. Then the nausea hit. A quick shot in the leg fixed that and a little while later we were off.
This is the smile he mustered for the camera. I can't wait until tomorrow, when hopefully he will start remembering things. I feel like a broken record!
Here are the facts:
Nate had surgery at 1pm until about 2:15-ish. Dr. Johnston came out for a quick visit to let me know things went really well. Then he got this grim, half-apologetic look on his face and told me that Nate is way too young to have that much damage in his shoulder.
The Damage: He had a torn labrum (called a SLAP tear) that went from top to bottom, which was worse than what they estimated from the MRI. But it's fixed! There was also damage to his rotator cuff that Dr. Johnston said might call for a formal repair. But alas, it was only torn about 20%; he also cut off part of bone (can't remember what it's called--acromion, maybe?) that curved down and was an active participant in the ruin of the tendon. Anyway, long story short, the labrum has been repaired and the rotator cuff should repair itself now that it's not being poked at. :)
What's next? A sling for 4 weeks, PT for about 5-6 months.
I guess there won't be any golfing for a while....
