Surgery or Not, tough choice

[Deneb]

Well with all this shit about my shoulder, I'm down to the surgery or not stage.

On the 20th I dislocated the shoulder. They reset it that night. The following Monday I saw my Dr. He said the ball of my humerus may have a non displacement fracture, and sent me for an MRI to confirm, or disprove it.

I had the MRI on Wednesday after the Dr's appointment. The MRI was read by my Dr that Friday.

The MRI shows that the ball of the humerus is not broken. It shows that the labrum is torn. The Dr. said that the labrum has a minimal amount of blood flow to it, and takes forever to heal. He said, without surgery I'll be running the 80-90% chance risk of redislocation. With each subsequent dislocation, I run the risk of permanent damage.

He said if I get the surgery, total recovery is 3-4 months, but I'd be back to work a bit sooner than that, maybe in 2 months. He said he'd clear me for Judo/JuJitsu in 4 months from the surgery if I was doing well in therapy and shit. He said that I'd be off of work about 2 more weeks than I already am going to be, with just the trauma to the muscles and shit.

I basically have 12.5 days left paid that I can take off of work. After that, there is no income coming in. I do happen to have excellent credit, and I could get a loan for a couple grand to live off of.

Does anyone have any familiarity with labrum tears and surgery? I do not want to affect my body permanently in a bad way. The Dr. said he does these surgeries every week, and has never had a redislocation. If I'm going to have this surgery, I should probably decide by Monday, that way I can get scheduled as soon as possible.

If anyone could shed some insight on this, I'd be very grateful.

[jgcable]

Time flies. Get the surgery.

[Deneb]

Do you know many people that have had it? I don't want to affect myself as a martial artist, if you know what I mean.

[sully]

very common pitching injury, get the surgery.

[straycat]

If time will heal you and you can continue with M/A I say go with the surgery.You may have to adjust your tecnique a little.I studied Shio Lin and Seki Kan karate in the 70s and 80s Knowledge of both HARD and SOFT styles helps if you have to kick ass in a different nieghborhood.

[Nuclear Vampire]

My old drummer had the same thing. Years of hockey and football took their toll, and drumming like a fucking madman only made things worse. He was always in pain and basically stopped playing sports because he wanted to save himself for drums. He finally said "fuck it" and had the surgery. We took some time off (like a month or so) and he took it really easy in that time. We got back into playing slowly for him and it worked out great. He was back to 100% within 3 months, but was too scared he'd fuck it up playing sports so he never did do that again.

I'd have the surgery if it was me, but in the end it's up to you. Best of luck dude, I hope things work out for you.

[SeventhSon]

I would avoid surgery unless it happens again. I had the surgery done, and, sure my shoulder doesn't pop out anymore, but i've had constant upper back pain ever since. also range of motion is completely fubar.

now this was over 10 years ago. i'm sure the state of sports related orthopedic surgery has advanced leaps and bounds since then, but why not give your body a chance to heal? if it pops out again, then go for the surgery.

[Deneb]

Do you know if you had arthoscopic surgery or if they sliced you wide open?

The reason I'm thinking about it now is, I'm already off of work. Why not be off of work 1 time, and rehab one time, rather than pop it out rehab it, then do it again, surgery and rehab again.

[lerxstcat]

You mentioned having only 12-1/2 days of vacation pay left. Many states you have payroll deductions for state disability insurance. Find out if you can collect disability wghile you're out. Even if it's only $150 a week, something beats the hell out of nothing when you have no other income.

[Deneb]

I forgot to mention that, I will have 115$ a week coming in, after 15 days of my official medical leave. I thought I mentioned it, but I double checked, and I was wrong.

[DenimBrigade]

Consider this...even if you dont get the surgery, it may happen again, and worse, so you may be getting it either way. I would pick surgery now.

[RacerX]

And I'd consider laying off the martial arts, dude.

[Deneb]

Racer, I like to fight I want to do full contact MMA...then again my training is basically full contact if I'm breaking bones and dislocating them all of the time...I guess I should calm down a bit.'

I'll call the Dr. tomorrow and see when I can schedule this, and get him to talk to me more about it.

[RacerX]

Yeah, but do you like to be in pain?

[Reverend Timmy]

Do the surgery.I had it done in 94 and have been pain free every since.Rehab was tough,but it was worth it.I throw harder now and am still pain free..........