Thought I would update this thread.
This post will be about checking out a surgeon thoroughly before letting him touch you! Doctors are like auto mechanics. Some are good, some are so-so, and others shouldn't be in practice. Guess where this is headed
?
My last post was some time in early June of this year. Following my rotator cuff repair surgery in November of last year, I went to a therapy clinic three times a week until June 3rd . Between visits to the clinic and my home therapy, I spent about 2 1/2 to 3 hours per day (EVERY day) with shoulder exercises. :weights2: I remember the date of June 3rd vividly because I had set that following Saturday to be the date I'd take my VFR out after not having ridden anything for eight months. As noted in one of my posts in this thread, I took the viffer out and felt alive again. Then, in late June, my riding career was cut short once again when the rotator cuff repair came apart while doing my home therapy exercises.
Intuition... how many of us have had those little "voices" in our head that seem to tell us via feelings that maybe we should do something differently before we do them? Those guiding feelings manifested themselves at the moment that I decided to have the surgery while making my way back from California on the ST last August. The instant the decision was made, the thought of having the doctor I was with do the surgery gave me a second of pause. I had been with him for several years but must admit I never really liked him. He always seemed to be in a hurry, was a poor listener and would never give a direct answer to a question. I let him do the surgery because he had done my wife's carpal tunnel surgery and did a great job. I told myself that I was just being silly, that what was important was whether or not he was a good surgeon, not whether I liked him. I should have listened to myself. He was not a good surgeon.
Now back to late June. Despite the increasingly intense discomfort of the failed repair, I delayed for several weeks doing anything about it while I searched for the best ortho doc I could find in Houston (I was NOT going to go back to the original doc). The internet is a wonderful thing! While researching via the web, I happened upon a guy who was raved about and who was part of a team of doctors who regularly work on members of the city's basketball team. I made an appointment with him hoping that a re-repair was possible. I was told that I had a 70% to 80% chance of a successful second repair. Good enough for me, "Let's do it!" I told the new doc. Then the pre-surgical tests began.
"The original repair was doomed to fail" the new doc told me as he viewed the MRI pics. That statement validated every suspicion I'd had about the competence of the original surgeon. I'd had a difficult recovery, never did get all my range of motion back and almost a year later, I still can not sleep in a bed (have to sleep in a recliner). The minute he made this statement, in my mind's eye I was back on my ST droning east on I-10 at night through Arizona in the rain and having that intuition that maybe I should not have the surgery done by a doc that I didn't have good feelings about. As stated previously, I should have listened to myself.
I had the re-repair done August 2nd
. Not only did the new doc have to repair for a second time the torn rotator cuff tendon, he also had to reattach a bicep tendon that had pulled away and remove a lot of bone spurs that had been missed during the first surgery. I am currently going back through physical therapy to regain range of motion and strengthen atrophied muscles. The difference is startling compared to my first round of surgery. Way less intense pain and have a lot more range of motion sooner than the last time which should mean less time in physical therapy. What a difference a competent surgeon makes!
Riding... About the time of my second surgery, I decided that it probably wasn't wise for me to ride again since I figured that I might not get a chance for a third repair if it failed again. All it would take I told myself would be a grab at the bars during a tipover to keep the bike from dropping and out the shoulder tendon would go again. As a result, I sold the viffer and for the first time in over a decade, there was no motorcycle in my garage. Now, two months after the last surgery I'm having a change of heart. Riding has been such a huge part of my life that I just can't seem to let it go. I've made up my mind to ask the doc about it and see what he thinks. If he says wait "X" more months or years and my shoulder will be plenty strong, then I'm going to be on two wheels again! I've already been looking at ST replacements. The Bandit ABS and Sprint GT are current top contenders
.
I wrote all of the above not to lay bare all that I've been through but to drive home to everybody the consequences of not spending the time to check out the person who will be cutting on you. It doesn't matter if we're talking about shoulders or hearts or brains, the principle is the same. It's your responsibility to check the surgeon out as much as you can BEFORE he touches you. If I had checked out my first surgeon on the web, I'd have read several horror stories from some very angry ex patients. They were there for the reading if I'd only done the research. Like Ronald Reagan once said, trust but verify!
