Shoulder Surgery

[J Francho]

I thought STD was federally mandated?

[CrashVector]

6 hours ago, throttleplate said:

did they cut the biceps tendon and just let it shrivel up or did they repair it? I have had 3 shoulder surgeries and dr told me  for bicep tears they just cut it and let it be as repairs often cause future problems.

 

No criticism of you at all...but wth kind of doctor are you seeing?!

 

I'd see someone else man...seriously.

 

My arm is like new 

 

Doing what he suggested literally cripples you.

 

Modern biceps tendon repair is the endobutton with fixation screw.

 

Hole is drilled thru radius at the original attachment point...tending is fed thru and held in place with a titanium "button" on the other side...then a bio-compatible screw is screwed into the hole in the bone.

[Jigfishn10]

Almost positive it's voluntary, although most companies provide it as part of their health benefits. My company provides it and it's 70% to $1,500 Max weekly for up to 13 weeks for accident and 12 weeks for sickness.

 

LTD is completely voluntary with me employer.

[CrashVector]

35 minutes ago, J Francho said:

You shouldn't have to take PTO for this. This is what Short Term Disability and and Supplemental Disability insurance of for. I also get injury insurance, which costs very little but helps tremendously with paying any out of pocket expenses. 

 

This.  I bought AFLAC in addition.  Took a while for em to pay up, but they paid.

[J Francho]

Just asked my HR manager wife. It is mandatory for employers to offer it, but not mandatory for the EE to enroll. It's so cheap, it's a no brainer. 

[Jigfishn10]

Agree JF. And good to know that employers have to offer it.

 

Thanks for the clarification.

[JWall14]

On 12/1/2021 at 4:21 PM, Brett's_daddy said:

So, my left shoulder has been hurting for quite a while. Getting in to see the orthopedic doctor wasn't easy but I did it. She did her little in office tests of strength and determined that if I could push her little hands down or stop her from pushing mine down that it definitely wasn't my rotator cuff as I'd be in too much pain to do that. I asked for an MRI just to find out what was wrong and they finally 3 months later got me in for one. Low and behold the doctor was wrong...I DO have a torn rotator cuff. In fact I have two tears, my supernatus tendon has a full tear and my inspiranatus tendon has a partial tear (I'm sure I spelled those wrong...lol). It is my left shoulder which is my non-casting arm but it hurt a little just to reel too (I'm right handed but use a left handed casting reel, rod in right hand and reel with left). So after getting my results yesterday the doctor said that surgery is really the best option for a full tear and she said I won't lie, recovery from a rotator cuff surgery is long a painful and typically takes about 6 weeks. Well, due to Covid and having a couple of kids my sick time is almost at zero and if I take time off now I go off payroll and won't get paid so that's not happening. I said my job involves a lot of desk work and typing on a computer which I could do 1 handed since it's not my dominant arm that's injured and she said sure, as long as I felt up to that she thought I could return to work in 2 weeks...again, not happening. So the route she suggested was to get a cortisone injection now for the immediate pain and put surgery off for 6 months but looking at the calendar that's right when bass season starts again next May. Would you get the surgery at the beginning of the season and miss the first 4 - 6 weeks or would you put it off until the Fall and fish the summer (if the pain is tolerable)?

I had shoulder surgery last December and I have to say it was nice to miss 0 fishing time up north. I would ask your doctor about it and what he/she thinks about fishing with a torn cuff for a season or if they want you to do it now.

[Alex from GA]

After several years of pain and steroid shots the shots didn't work anymore so I had a complete shoulder replacement June 3rd.  It took 3 months until I could fish for a short time and 5 months later with lots of therapy I can throw almost as well as I could before but not for as long a time.  I'm also over 80 so it takes longer for everything.  Get it done as soon as you can.  Good luck.

 

[throttleplate]

21 minutes ago, Alex from GA said:

  I'm also over 80 so it takes longer for everything. 

my wife just wishes i would have that problem.?

 

[Glenn]

STD and LTD are usually more expensive through your employer than through private insurance.

[J Francho]

7 hours ago, Glenn said:

STD and LTD are usually more expensive through your employer than through private insurance.

That's surprising.  For every job I've had in my life, the employer paid for disability insurance, so cost is zero.  It must be a local practice or something, but I was told because the employer has more buying power, the prices are lower, just like other benefit offerings, which are usually purchased as a bundle through a broker.

[ironbjorn]

How are so many of you damaging your shoulders and arms lol

[A-Jay]

3 minutes ago, ironbjorn said:

How are so many of you damaging your shoulders and arms lol

Can happen doing any thing, any where, and at any time.

Some of it can be 'overuse'. 

Fortunately, I've never had a severe shoulder injury,

but I still do 'rehab' all year long.

https://youtu.be/1c_ncpSciAo?t=143

A-Jay

 

[king fisher]

1 hour ago, ironbjorn said:

How are so many of you damaging your shoulders and arms lol

The short answer to that question is.

 

If I new I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.

[Jigfishn10]

2 hours ago, J Francho said:

That's surprising.  For every job I've had in my life, the employer paid for disability insurance, so cost is zero.  It must be a local practice or something, but I was told because the employer has more buying power, the prices are lower, just like other benefit offerings, which are usually purchased as a bundle through a broker.

I thought the employer had more buying power as well so I'm surprised as well.

My employee packet mentions that STD is a no cost item to the employee, but I don't know if that's a separate policy the company is providing or not. I do contribute weekly to health insurance, but don't know if some of those funds get diverted to contribute to STD.

2 hours ago, ironbjorn said:

How are so many of you damaging your shoulders and arms lol

Basically age...Not just shoulders either, knees are right up there followed by probably hips. 

[Hawgfinder]

So depending on what kind of job you have 6 weeks is for people who’s job is not very physical.  
 

My first torn rotator cuff was fixed arthroscopic with anchors and Kevlar. 6 months before full return to my job that was pretty physical.
Second rotator fix done pretty much the same way except the surgeon who is very well respected found my bicep tendon had a major tear so he cut me in my armpit area and cut remaining tendon and reattached it. Couldn’t get at it through arthroscopic holes he fixed rotator cuff with. I developed a partial frozen shoulder and therapy was agonizing. Same 6 months before full duty. 
I can say that rehab is painful and a full year before I really felt like I was 100%. 
Well my other bicep tendon has a tear and I have a bone spur that it rubs on. A lot of fun doing anything overhead. So because of insurance change I couldn’t see my excellent surgeon who diagnosed the problem.
New quack said meh let it tear off you’ll only lose 6-8% of your strength in that arm.  Mind you I had two MRIs done for that diagnosis and this guy wanted me to get another mri. And so it goes. Any amount of overuse even casting overhand all day aggravates the hell out of it. Deciding on finding another surgeon for another opinion. Or just let her tear off doesn’t sound too cool.

Obviously everyone’s recovery is different jobs are different and especially surgeons. A surgeon who graduated with 2.0 gpa is still a surgeon.

[slonezp]

11 hours ago, ironbjorn said:

How are so many of you damaging your shoulders and arms lol

Did mine on the job. This was surgery#3

[ironbjorn]

8 minutes ago, slonezp said:

Did mine on the job. This was surgery#3

That's crazy. We seem to have an unusually high number of people here with shoulder/arm injuries/surgeries. 

[CrashVector]

On 12/1/2021 at 3:55 PM, GaryH said:

The one thing to keep in mind. On my first shoulder I went the route of cortisone shot and put it off. The Dr. said I did extensive damage. So if you do go that route baby that shoulder till you get it done.

Rotator cuff will NOT heal on its own.  It can only get worse.  Putting it off isn't a good idea from a medical standpoint.

[slonezp]

Just now, ironbjorn said:

That's crazy. We seem to have an unusually high number of people here with shoulder/arm injuries/surgeries. 

I tore my rhomboid and trapezoid muscles off my shoulder blade. It was a work injury, not just old age...although old age is really hitting me now in my mid 50's. I got injured back in 2012. It was 2015 or 2016 when I had the last surgery. I was actually part of the clinical experiment of the surgery. For 3 years after the surgery I had to fill out surveys regarding my progress . Think I was roughly patient 300 in the world who had had this particular surgery, by the doctor that pioneered it.

 

While I'm legally disabled and could collect disability, I work 50 hours a week. I've adapted my fishing to work with my shoulder. I stopped fishing bass tournaments and I have become more of a multi species fisherman. 

[WRB]

Most of us don’t think about what we are doing to our bodies as teenagers. I was doing lots of athletics and racing as a young teen that harmed my Skelton. As a result DISH ( Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis) developed. I believe it was gymnastics that stressed my shoulders being a high bar, still & swinging rings, vault, parallel bars and tumbling. The high bar and rings you do a lot dislocated shoulder movements...not good on the joints.

I grew rose bush type throne shaped bone spurs that damaged the rotator cuff tendons. It all hit the fan around age 50 regarding the shoulders. My spine degraded with L5 fracturing at 69, removing the vertebrae and fusing L4 with spacer to S1, no more twisting or playing golf.

We injure ourselves at a young age when we are indestructible and slowly degrade over the years.

Tom

 

[J Francho]

I'm almost 50 and broke two ribs in two spots each skateboarding. I fell doing a frontside trick in the halfpipe and it was actually my elbow pad that got me under my left man boob. They said they could tape it up for me, but I refused, and white knuckled it through every laugh, cough, sneeze, and hug. I was back at it in a week, and it's still sore but I'll be back at it again this Sunday. The people posting here with shoulder injuries and shoulder surgeries are 10x as tough as me. I don't know anyone that said it was easy. 

[MacJig]

Well I can answer this by experience. I fell down our stairs at home and tore my rotator cuff completely. It was a very bad tear. I couldn't even lift my arm to comb my hair (whatever I had left of it). The tear was so bad they had to use a cadaver part to repair it. So, I had the surgery and the recovery time and process was painful. For me, it was worse than  my total knee replacement. But, I'm glad I had it done. It's not perfect, but I have my movement back. So my answer to you is ... how bad is it for you. If it's life debilitating, for me, I would get it done. If it was just a nuisance for me, I might wait it out. Bottom line: it's not an easy surgery but sometimes necessary. Of course you have financial issues to concern yourself with as well. On another front, I need to have my other knee replaced but that one I'm holding off on because I don't want to miss fishing season!! 

[CrankFate]

If I had a rotator tear, I’d get surgery. I’ve dealt with a lot of people who were happy with the surgery. When I injured my bicep (2 inches up from the inside seam of my elbow) the surgeon said they don’t do surgery for an attenuation above the elbow, like I had. I guess he was right, because over the past few years, my muscle grew back. He said they only do surgery for attenuation in the shoulder, because the muscles and tendons are smaller, more of them come together and they move in more directions. And it is more likely to later cause a tear in the small parts of the shoulder. The one thing a lot of people have told me was that at first, the pain was excruciating for months after the surgery. So if you get the surgery be prepared for a lot of pain when you start PT.

 

[GreenPig]

On 12/1/2021 at 5:15 PM, Chris Catignani said:

Get the surgery now...bass season never starts and never ends.

I would use my down time to learn something new....there always more to fishing than just actual fishing.

I'd have 8 million waypoints to fish when the doc released me.