Category: Shoulder Surgery

Doh! Old Wilf has done it again!

I know, I know, I’m on this message board every other week it seems, with one new scrape or another to share with the class. But this time I might have done some real damage!

I was walking my dog in the park, as I always do on a beautiful, sunny Sunday, when a great big Doberman came flying out of nowhere and bowled me over! He was happy as can be, thankfully, and just wanted to say hi and make friends – but he hurt my shoulder something fierce!

I went and consulted with an old Army friend of mine who used to be a doctor, and he said I should get it looked at ASAP by somebody with current medical training. He was worried there was something wrong with the bones, not just the muscle. (I think I heard him mutter something about a scapula fracture fixation, but I don’t know what he’s talking about – I’ve never been fixated on my scapula before!)

So I hopped on one of those fancy new trains that took me all the way to Melbourne, so I could see one of those fancy new city doctors and get a fancy new diagnosis. Turns out, Ralph (the Army buddy) was totally on the money – so I didn’t have to come see the best shoulder surgeon available in Melbourne after all!

He patched me up for the time being, gave me some tips on how to manage the pain and asked me to come in for some surgery – the fixation that Ralph was talking about! Silly me, that’s what he meant! Apparently it’s a relatively common and minor procedure, and I can go home the day afterwards. I bet if I asked nicely, they’d even give me ice cream in the hospital (don’t tell Leanne!).

So, kids, the moral of the story – wear hockey pads next time you take your dog for a walk!

It’s always scary when someone you love needs surgery. My mum’s body has been failing her ever since I was born. When pregnant with me she had all of these physical issues, and it has been bad for her ever since. She played a lot of sport when she was younger and had bad eating habits, the negative effects of which were masked by the hours and hours of sport/training she did every week. She was extremely talented and a highly regarded sporting child in her town growing up, but one injury to her ligaments at twenty-one years old changed all that.  

Now as a woman in her late fifties, she needs to have a shoulder replacement because of all the stress she put on her shoulders when she was younger. As her only child, I am worried about the surgery and how long it’s going to take her to recover, but I know she needs to do it. She’s not going to have anywhere near a good enough quality of life if she doesn’t get the surgery done. 

Shoulder replacement surgery has many benefits and even though I’m scared for my mum to get the surgery, I know for a fact that she’s in the best hands possible. In fact, we’ve got her an appointment with the best shoulder surgeon Melbourne has to offer. That’s how badly we all want this to go well. If the shoulder surgery does go well then mum will be in significantly less pain and have a much greater range of movement going forward. It would really improve her quality of life to be able to move her shoulder without pain. She would be able to get back into doing exercises that she used to love and I know she would be a lot happier as a result. I’m happy just thinking about her happiness. I really hope her shoulder replacement surgery goes well.