Latarjet Surgery Day!


 March 15th, 2018

After getting some hours of not so restful sleep, we turned up at the clinic at around 07:00 AM to check-in. I was walked to my station and room and handed over the surgery clothes. I was told to be ready by 10:00 AM just in case surgery could already start earlier. They offered to give me a pill which would help me to relax and I thankfully took it at around 09:20 after changing into surgery clothes.
Pro Tip: Always, always, always change into surgery clothes before taking that pill! I once didn’t and guess what? When they came to take me to surgery I was still in my normal clothes and couldn’t care less to get changed because I was so relaxed and didn’t understand why everyone else seemed to have a problem with my clothes.
The "I don't give a *****" pill

At around 10:20 I was picked up and brought to the pre-surgery area to get me ready for anesthesia. After hooking me up to an IV bag, they started to place a nerve catheter in my neck to be able to directly inject a nerve blocker into the arm. I was told that this usually helps a lot to keep the pain low, so I decided to go for it. Getting the catheter was a bit uncomfortable but nothing out of the ordinary. Once the catheter was ready, they injected the nerve block and I could feel my arm getting numb and I was not able to move it anymore. The block usually lasts between 6-8 hours.
A few more minutes later I was transferred to the surgery room, got an oxygen mask, was instructed to take a couple of deep breaths and the next thing I remember is waking up in another room after the procedure. Anesthesia has different effects on each body. I was not feeling sick or dizzy, but it felt like I had been put into a freezer. I was shaking because I was so cold. The nurse gave me more blankets and after a few minutes I felt normal again. At around 2:30 PM I was brought back to my room and my girlfriend was allowed to see me. I was not in pain (thanks to the nerve blocker) but I still spent most of the afternoon napping.
One of the few moments when I was not napping

My surgeon stopped by in the late afternoon and told me that everything went fine and according to plan. The surgery took a little under 60 minutes, which was due to him having to clean up a few things from my previous surgeries. According to him surgery for patients with no previous surgeries usually even go faster. He also showed me a post-surgery x-ray where you can spot the coracoid bone graft fixated by the two screws.






The nurses told me to ring for help as soon as I had to go to the toilet so that they were able to monitor my condition. That was a great advice because I nearly blacked out the first time I got out of bed after the surgery. However, the nurse helped me to stay on my feet and brought me to bed safely.

After watching a movie in the evening, I tried to sleep which was almost impossible. Not so much because of the pain (they gave me another nerve blocker shot for the night) but simply because I was not very comfortable and felt constant pressure from the surgical drain which they had put into the wound to remove blood. In hindsight I should have taken the sleeping pills that they offered!   

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why I picked the Latarjet procedure -- A little bit of context

Image
I decided to write about my experience with the Latarjet procedure because I found it very hard to find information from patients that underwent this (still today) very specific treatment of chronic recurrent shoulder instability. I am 32 years old and live in Frankfurt, Germany. I personally have had a long history of shoulder instability. It all started when I was 17 and dislocated my right shoulder for the first time while playing Badminton in physical education at school. And no, I was not falling… Just performing an overhead strike with a lot of force and there went my shoulder… My teacher was shocked and didn’t know what to do so we called the ambulance who put me into full anesthesia on the spot and repositioned the shoulder. I woke up in the hospital with some pain, but the shoulder seemed to be fine to me. I underwent x-rays and MRI examination and the diagnosis was that the labrum had be torn apart and the doctors suggested to perform an arthroscopic stabilization which is
Read more

Removal of stitches and first physio therapy session

Image
March 29th After two weeks of mainly resting without many news to report, today was finally getting me excited! Two things were scheduled for today: 1.        Removing the Stitches 2.        First session of physiotherapy I went to the GP in the morning to get my stitches removed. They briefly checked the wound, found everything looks alright and went ahead. The removal itself was very quick and the only thing I felt was a tugging sensation when they were pulling out the thread.   While the procedure was rather unexciting, being finally able to shower without water proof bandage is just another small win that I celebrate! Besides, the incision looks great already after only two weeks. It's approximately 5 cm long and very thin.  I went to physiotherapy in the afternoon and I was really looking forward to that. My therapist knew the Latarjet procedure and had treated a few patients in the past, however I was the first one that he treated in Frankfurt. A
Read more

Eight weeks post Latarjet surgery - Follow up examination

Image
May 14 th I am eight weeks post Latarjet surgery now and the recovery process seems to be going well. Everything so far has progressed according to plan. I continued to do passive shoulder movement exercises with therapists and at home until the 5 th week which is when we started assisted movements. After the sixth week, physical therapy progressed to more active movements and there were no movement restrictions anymore. We pushed the limit day by day; the main guidance was pain and when I felt that we reached the maximum of what was possible. It is really important to never do things that are painful. Always stop when it starts to hurt. So, I am now eight weeks in and I am able to use my right arm almost normally in my daily activities. Step by step I started brushing my teeth again with the right hand, cleaning dishes, etc. All movements are allowed as long as I don’t feel pain and as long as I am not carrying heavy things. Also, external rotation in high abduction i
Read more