A Hurdle Cleared

The other day I went to see the orthopedic surgeon for my first post-op visit and get my stitches taken out.  He said the surgery went very well.  I asked him about there being only one labrum tear rather than the initially reported two.  He said it was really more about the size and shape of the tear.  But it’s all fixed and the impingement on the ball joint has been smoothed out to what it’s supposed to be; round, not round with a bump.

I was also cleared for physical therapy.  It’s not going to be a short affair.  It will be four weeks of PT for motion and movement, followed by another six weeks of building strength and stability.  There will be another visit with the surgeon in between.  PT starts in about a week and I’m most definitely looking forward to getting to work.

While there, I asked about two things.  First, I wanted to know if it was alright to do upper body CrossFit work.  He said that I absolutely could.  I’ll be limited to pretty much everything above the waist but something is better than nothing.  I’ve been doing minor work at home but it’s time to step it up.

Second, I asked about when could get the hernia repaired.  He said I can make arrangements for any time after four weeks from now.  So, I’ll set an initial appointment with the general surgeon that was recommended to me and get those wheels rolling.  This will mean a setback in my PT schedule at some point but I’d rather be recovering from two surgeries at once rather than completely recover from one and then have to recover again from another.  The only thing that might delay the hernia surgery is my work schedule.  We’ll see.

I’m feeling stronger.  I can do some more walking around each day.  Still sore but that’s improving as well.  Things are going pretty well and I’m happy that I can start making more substantive progress.