Tag Archives: surgery

Entrapment: What Framed My Suprascapular Nerve

Mark June 22, 2016 down as the day my suprascapular nerve entrapment was (hopefully) fixed. The surgeon was not 100% certain, but expected the nerve was entrapped by a suprascapular ligament. Luckily, he made the cut. Ha ha.

nerve, entrapment, shoulder, injury, surgery

The red circle, eloquently drawn by yours truly, shows where my nerve was trapped.

G-Ma spent the night and stayed with Avery the day of my surgery so Going Mom could valiantly court me to the hospital. For someone about to have nerve surgery (so to speak), I didn’t feel too nervous. But then, as waiting time in the hospital increased, I felt a slight anxiousness set in.

Nothing major, more like wanting to be done with it, but there nonetheless. I kept occupied by constantly trying to make jokes with the numerous hospital staff and posting on social media.

Grippy socks on, weird gown thingy on, and IV in. Let’s do this! #surgery #hospital #outpatient #bored

A photo posted by RC Liley (@going_dad) on

I even turned on my charm to score an extra pair of yellow grippy socks to bring to Avery. I’d say she enjoyed them.

cute kid, parenting, hospital, socks

They also make the perfect sock to wear boots that are otherwise too large.

Avery in boots with yellow hospital socks

Sorry, have to move away from the cute kid and back to the shoulder. My surgery went great, the surgeon said he just had to really “get in there” (made me cringe) to get to the ligament and clear everything around the nerve. Before I knew it, I was being wheeled out of the hospital with a throbbing arm and weak body.

Once home, I tried standing and/or moving, but it wasn’t happening. I had been fasting for about 18 hours at this point and had zero appetite. I laid down and slept.

Later in the evening, I mustered the strength for a small family walk and finally ate some food. I was given hydrocodone and took a dose that night which basically knocked me out. That was the one and only time I took that, it had me constipated for almost 2 days! I’ll choose poop over pain any day!

The next day I had more strength and posed for a shoulder bandaged shot. Notice my upbeat facial expression.

Shoulder bandage on

Eventually, as I couldn’t keep myself still, jumping in the pool, walking in the sun and sweating had my big bandage come off in a few days.

Shoulder bandage off

No, I’m not a University of Texas fan, I’m a proud Sooner (Boomer Sooner!), the tattoo is from one night in Austin, TX. Nuff said.

After several pool sessions,  many Airdyne workouts, and the associated sweat, the glued-on bandages were off a few days after that. Then I got to reveal the awesome scar!

Shoulder Scar One Week After Surgery

With each passing day, pain is reducing and mobility increasing. Two weeks later, my doctor just cleared me to use my water rower again. I’ve only used it once, but it’s nice to change things up after so much riding the Airdyne. Of course, I’m happy to do anything to keep active, so let it be known that I’m not complaining. 🙂

The scar is looking good, confirmed by the doc, and hopefully I don’t mess that up by doing things like….oh, hanging from monkey bars with your kid holding on to your leg to swing them around.

A video posted by RC Liley (@going_dad) on

But I wouldn’t do something so dumb, right? Never! So far so good, nothing has come undone.

Shoulder Scar Two Weeks After Surgery

I probably won’t do the monkey bar thing again for a while though. I go back for another checkup at the beginning of August. At that point, fingers crossed that I can start doing push ups and maybe use some weights.

It’s been a long journey trying to get to this point, and as long as I am mostly smart, I have high hopes of letting my nerve “wake up” as the doctor says and growing my right supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscles. Maybe I’ll be more filled out for the next beach vacation then….

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A Personal Opening Day + Puns for the Occasion

Upon the publishing of this post, I am preparing for my personal ‘opening day’ in a few hours. No, I’m joining a Major League Baseball team (how cool would that be?), I’m literally getting opened via incision in my right shoulder to release my entrapped suprascapular nerve.

Yeah, that atrophy thing I wrote about a couple months ago will hopefully be on its way to getting rectified with this surgery. Going Mom will be my escort to and from the hospital as G-Ma stays home to watch darling little girl. Whom, by the way, just took one big bittersweet step in growingup-ville with her new Naturepedic big kid bed.

opening day, funny, surgery, growing up

It doesn’t seem that long ago when I wrote about our first days of putting her in the crib. Seriously, this parenting thing takes a major emotional toll! I guess on the bright side, snuggling with her for a nap will be much easier than it was in the crib.

Testing out the crib on my birthday.

Anyway, *wipes tear from eye* back on track now. The surgery will be an outpatient procedure, so I get to go home the same day. Hopefully the anesthesia doesn’t make me too crazy or anything. I’d hate for Avery to see Daddy in some weird altered state that scares her or something. I might go crazy from lack of food alone since there’s no eating or drinking (even water) after midnight the night before and my opening day procedure doesn’t start until almost noon.

I’ve always been a fan of fasting, so at least it’s not a new thing to endure. And no getting the area wet for three days after means I won’t have a real shower until Saturday, but I’ll be sure to soak in a bath. You’re welcome, wife. 🙂

Once I’m able to get back in the groove of things, I have a little week long vacation to the Outer Banks I want to write about. Until then, I guess I’ll just depend on my trusty standby content of puns. And why not? They’re freakin’ awesome. Even the ones that elicit a sickly groan still bring a smile to the face……usually.

Since doctors, hospitals, and other medical areas are on the mind, today’s puns will be in these categories.

opening day, funny, puns, pun, humor, snowman

  • I had to drink food coloring after losing a bet. Luckily, I’m not sick, but I feel like I’ve dyed a little inside.
  • Listening to a brain surgeon and anaesthesiologist talk is mind numbing.
  • They tried to save him with an I.V. but it was all in vein.
  • An editor went to the doctor for help with his poor circulation.
  • The brain surgeon refused to take no for an answer, so I gave him a piece of my mind.
  • Two surgeons were joking about sutures and had each other in stitches.
  • A pediatrician is a doctor of little patients.
  • My hematologist said my outlook is good since I’m a B Positive type.
  • A doctor drank while putting on patients’ casts. He was soon plastered.
  • A surgeon’s comments are incisive remarks.
  • After 5 years with the same chiropractor, I had to change doctors. It was quite an adjustment.
  • I couldn’t decide which of two physicians to see. It was a paradox.
  • It was really crowded at the diet doctor’s office but then it thinned out.

It’s Happening: Lose Atrophy, Gain A Nerve

After being tossed around (aka referred to) by doctor after doctor, I finally have an official date to fix my entrapped nerve. I shared the details of the long road to diagnosing the reason for my severe atrophy of the right infraspinatus and supraspinatus muscles in this post, and finally found a doctor confident enough to hopefully fix my nerve. I guess you could say, he’s got nerve. eh, eh?

The issue seems to be an inflamed ligament in one of the shoulder joints which is causing an impingement on my suprascapular nerve running through it. This, in turn, is not allowing the nerve to signal any growth to my muscles past the impingement. Hence the atrophy. I already shared a pic of my caved in shoulder blade in the other post, so I’ll spare my three readers a repeat visual. You’re welcome, Gary.

Surgery will commence on June 22nd. It will be a day procedure and hopefully I’ll be on my way to recovery quickly thereafter. Of course, the following onslaught of medical related bills might put both my wife and me under! Nah, we have good insurance, it’ll be more like a little needle prick to draw blood. It sucks, but hopefully it’s for a good cause…..fixing me.

Going Mom is doing good about trying to keep me in good spirits since I know I will lose the ability for a lot of the things I do daily. Playing with Avery or simply picking her up to go potty or play helicopter around the house will be out. And lifting weights? Nope, at least not for 3 months.

It’ll be hard to do lower body lifting since things like squats and deadlifts require the use of your shoulders too. At least I can do lower-only riding on the new Schwinn Airdyne we bought. But again, Airdyne “workouts” with Avery will be out for a while.

I expect to do lots of walking and body weight moves like squats, lunges, karate Ninja Turtle kicks (hey, why not?), and maybe sit ups. We’ll see, I’m sure I can get creative, I’ll drive myself crazy otherwise. I mean, I am Going Dad afterall. What’s going to drive me absolutely nuts though, is the lack of playtime with Avery. So much of what we do when we play involves having a good set of arms and shoulders. Just one won’t cut it for (safely) turning your kid into a helicopter. And going high in the sky while swimming just ain’t happening this summer.

A video posted by RC Liley (@going_dad) on

Okay, after the soon approaching surgery that is. Her laugh is infectious! In a good way.

But like my wife keeps saying, this might be just what I need to actually focus on gaining some healthy weight (it’s been one of my goals for years), letting my entire body heal from day after day of high intensity exercise, and starting fresh. I won’t be dormant by any means, but heavy lifting is obviously out. I’ll admit that I could use the break, and am kind of excited about having the chance to start over in a sense.

As long as I can type, I’ll be sure to share my progress and what I’m finding to keep me sane. With the love and support of my mom, wife, and Avery, I am positive I’ll be good to go in no time. Maybe the help of a physical therapist as well. Oh, and as Avery says, healing hugs and kisses help too.

nerve surgery, atrophy, parenting, dad, toddler,

We have a family beach vacation coming up. Right when we return is when I’m having the surgery, so I’m going to make the most of it and toss that cutie all around. Safely of course. 🙂