Back under the knife

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Good for you Mick! Keep listening to your body and keep the positive attitude! I am recovering from a massive tear, detachemnt,and bicep tendon tear that I didn't know of. I really feel like I'm coming back well but my PT told me to slow down and not reinjur the repair! After reading your thread im thinking I might be a little more careful. Good luck to you and glad you are out riding again it, you are giving me something to look forward to. Hopefully I'll be out riding soon enough!
 
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Mick
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I'm coming back well but my PT told me to slow down and not reinjur the repair! After reading your thread im thinking I might be a little more careful.

Your PT gave you good advice. I was actually on a more conservative, slow, therapy this go around as prescribed by my surgeon and to say the least, it was a shock when my repair partially failed. I knew going in that my chance of a 100% successful repair was lower than if this were my first time. My age didn't help the odds either.

I remember your post about your RC repair and also my advice to you to find a doctor you can trust. The doc who did my first left RC repair (2009) didn't do it right and it failed at month 7 from the date of the surgery while doing home PT. He used clips rather than anchors to secure the repair. That made if much easier to re-tear. The doctor who did my first left re-repair told me that the first doc's repair was doomed to failure! That one screw-up created a cascade of events that has caused me to eventually have three additional RC surgeries and the 6 months of rehab that goes with each. That's a total of four RC surgeries since 2009. All that wasted time and induced disability has seriously screwed with my retirement to say the least. Doctors are very much like mechanics in that some are good, some are just OK, and some should be slinging burgers at McDonald's rather than practicing medicine.
 
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Thanks for sharing your story. I'm hoping to learn from it as surgeries are more likely as I/we age.

Keep getting better.
 
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PS: I've had one surgery that resulted in one rehab for the surgery itself and one for shoulder issues that the docs claim is unrelated to the surgery. A total of about nine months of rehab. Three months were informal at home.
 

gmast1100

Gettin old sux
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Mick, good to hear the somewhat good news. Glad that you can ride again in comfort. I know where you're coming from. After getting totaled out Oct 13, I was out of commission for a year to recoup. Got back on last Oct and slowly worked my way back up in miles. Although my right hand will never be the same, at least I can ride and knowing my limitations, I just deal with it.
 

Lanny

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I'm glad you were able to avoid the Reverse Shoulder replacement and are still able to ride!
 
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That's great news Mick. I had a compression fracture of the L1 vertebrae back in 2005. Since then, I can't do any trip as long as 300 miles. I've been riding 40-plus years, so going without riding at all just doesn't work. Three weeks ago I found out that I have now done the same thing to the L2 vertebrae. I'm going to try to ride a little right now. So far, short trips haven't caused me any undue pain. We'll see. Really is fantastic news that you're able to go 300 miles at one trip. It's been quite a while since I've been able to do that. Stay safe.
 
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Mick
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First of all, thanks to everyone for your words of encouragement. It helps calm the negative inner voices that tell me I should ditch my ST and either get a small convertible or a Goldwing :)old1:).


That's great news Mick. I had a compression fracture of the L1 vertebrae back in 2005. Since then, I can't do any trip as long as 300 miles. I've been riding 40-plus years, so going without riding at all just doesn't work. Three weeks ago I found out that I have now done the same thing to the L2 vertebrae. I'm going to try to ride a little right now. So far, short trips haven't caused me any undue pain. We'll see. Really is fantastic news that you're able to go 300 miles at one trip. It's been quite a while since I've been able to do that. Stay safe.
Sorry to hear of your predicament Billy. I take it that you have not had an operation on your back(?). I know what you mean about giving up riding "not working". Dang motorcycle riding is addictive! There was one point in my rotator cuff(s) journey when I sold all my bikes thinking I had no business riding anymore given the risk of aggravating my shoulder problems. I didn't even last a year before I purchased another bike!

Back problems can really be debilitating. Mine use to give me fits and it was nowhere near as serious as yours. It really nailed me once (bad muscle spasms) while on the 1000 mile return leg of my second long distance trip ever (Westoc - Durango, Colorado) back in 2000 +-. The worst pain was getting on or coming off the bike, but even just riding was painful. I managed it by picking a certain way of sitting, then twisting my torso just a little. I was gobbling Aleve like it was candy trying to control it. I was darn near unable to walk by the time I finally got back home.

Hope you're able to find a solution to your back problems.
 
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I've had acute back problems that got better and resolved with time. I did get a cat scan where the technician noted, among other comments, that I have a screwed up joint in my lumbar vertebrae, so I think I haven't heard the last of this, but 'til then I'm gonna ride it like I stole it. You guys dealing with chronic problems have my prayers. Your back never gets a break. I sympathize with how draining that is.
 
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