Rotator Cuff Recovery and MORE Changes

 

Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi for her birthday

"I don’t care about making photography an art. I want to make good photographs. I’d like to know who first got it into his head that dreaminess and mist is an art. Take things as they are; take good photographs and the art will take care of itself." (1923) 

- EDWARD STEICHEN, Photographer and curator, b. 1879, Luxembourg, Germany, d. 1973, West Redding, Connecticut

The good news is that I am no longer in constant pain and don't need pain meds. However, six months post-op, I am still weak! Okay, I'm not a push over, per se... but I can't take a chance of overdoing things. I have to be careful and not take unnecessary chances. Nonetheless, I'm making significant strides and improvements. Benchmarks include the ability to take off a pullover shirt, reaching higher up into the middle of my back, arm extensions with a 6 lb weight, and connecting with a right hook on a 60-pound dog that wanted to play nasty.

I've been using this time to make adjustments. The last time I spoke on this, I mentioned how the US had changed and the culture shock I experienced when I returned last September. In response, I have been reviewing and considering different approaches to this lifestyle I've chosen. I've chosen this walk and I've essentially done it alone. I've had people in my life along the way who have been there for me... the right people, the right place, and the right time. I am grateful to God for them and I pray His favor continues. 

I've been on this journey for five and a half years with currently no end in sight. The goal is a mix between Caine in "Kung Fu" and "Star Trek". I am destined to walk the earth, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where many people have already gone, but I need to see it for myself.

I was in the US from September 2022 until May 2023. I did not know I had a complete tear in my rotator cuff. Surgery wasn't until March. During all that time, I realized I had to make some changes. My banking needs had to be adjusted. My cellular plan no longer fit me. The way I spent money put me at a disadvantage. Also in this time-frame, I jumped ship from PC to Mac with the new 16" MacBook Pro M2. I got my first new iPhone since the iPhone X Pro Max. I bought a 14 Pro Max and then I CHANGED CARRIERS! Now I don't have to deactivate my phone number when I am outside the country. I have unlimited data for text and internet here in Vietnam, but calls still cost me .20 cents/min. 

Coincidentally, I had lunch with a good British friend of mine at our favorite restaurant, Puku, here in Hanoi. Speaking on all these changes, I told him I wouldn't be opposed to changing camera systems, but Fujifilm is the only one I'd consider. I like their GFX system, but it hadn't been updated in a while. The VERY NEXT DAY, Fujifilm announced the new 102 megapixel, GFX1000 II. It's $1500 more than the previous version at $7500, but I'm giving this some serious thought. For me, I'd also have to get 2 or 3 lenses to go with it. I've got time to weigh this as I am not 100% healthy yet (6 more months to go!) and I'm sure I'd wait until I was stateside again to get it.

The main point here is, sometimes it's good to shake things up. Instead of always going right, venture left. I didn't NEED to switch from PC to Mac. I wanted a new computer. So why not switch things up a little? AT&T didn't necessarily need my business. Bank of America and Wells Fargo didn't incentivize me to stay with them. I never go into the branches. Why pay all those fees? You know what... I'm going to get into that in another blog post later. Stay tuned. 

Las Vegas surprised me the biggest. Costs were way up since I was there pre-Covid. Hotel and Uber prices/fees threw me for a loop! I'm used to paying for a Grab here in Vietnam and I've never paid more than $5 to get anywhere in the city, or $20 to get to the airport. And the resort fees? Damn, Vegas! I didn't intend to return to the US for so long, but you gotta do what you have to do. Prior to surgery, I split time between my family in TX, the kids in TN & NE, plus 50 days in Costa Rica. When I had surgery, I recovered for a month at my parents and foolishly thought I could travel! Getting back to Hanoi was the hardest physical thing I've done since Ranger school in the Army. I'm serious. It was the exhaustive. I was beat. Many, MANY thanks to the lady working at the Al Maha Lounge in Doja, Qatar. Talk about the Lord having someone in the right place for me. If not for her, I think I'd have just given up, loaded up on Oxycodone and Valium, went to sleep in a corner, and let my plane fly on without me. 

More to come on all this. I just wanted to get this rant out of my system.

Where Have I been? Where Am I Now?

If you think the worst part of your shoulder surgery recovery will be wiping with the other hand... you'd be wrong.

Hi! It's been a while, indeed! So, yes. My last blog post was at the end of February, and much has happened since then. Long story short... Rotator Cuff surgery that also included Bicep repair. If you've had this surgery, you need not read further. You already get it. For those of you who have never experienced such pain and misery, let me explain.

IT SUCKS!

I returned from Vietnam last September to see family, restock on gear, and also get the VA to look at my shoulder. The VA experience was quite an ordeal, trying to be seen, scheduling timely appointments, and ultimately settling on a surgery date. An MRI revealed I had a medium-grade, 1.3cm full-thickness tear of my right supraspinatus tendon. I had to switch over to my Community Care option in February. I got an appointment to see my civilian Orthopedic surgeon in Rockwall, Texas, and he had me on the table 3 weeks later, which turned out to be March 16th. The surgery went fantastic. The nerve block helped, but thereafter, it was me, my Percocet, and my Valium... sleeping in a recliner for a month. Oh... ICE. Ice became my biggest friend. They gave me an ice machine that you filled 1/4 with water and the rest with ice. This machine pumps ice water to a shoulder sleeve. 

Rotator Cuff tears are not what I thought they were. Not even close. I've not had an injury that takes so long to recover. I did 10 sessions of therapy while living at home with my folks. I ain't gonna lie. It's cool to be able to gallivant and traipse around the world like a wanderlusting fool, but damn... it's good to have people to go home to. My sister is a nurse. God bless her. My Pops got me to my appointments on time and waited for me. I almost wussed out at one point when I injured myself during the course of my sleep. Mama happened to be coming out of the bathroom and saw me whimpering. I told her I hurt myself. She asked if there was anything she could do. After thinking about it for a second, I deduced that there was no way she could help me, so I said no. So she went back to bed, leaving me to writhe on my own. AND I APPRECIATE THAT! I'm 54 years old. What was she supposed to do... come kiss my boo-boo to make it all better? Bake me some cookies? Give me a "hug" and tell me it's going to be alright? Nope. My Mama didn't raise no punks. Would a hug and cookies have been nice? Probably so! But that is NOT THE POINT! Mama let me be a man.

Fast forward another month, and I'm back in Hanoi, Vietnam. When I thought I was strong. TRAVEL taught me I was still a little weakling. I scheduled 4 successive flights within 10 days. I wanted to visit my kids in Nashville and Omaha, visit friends in Las Vegas, and then return to Vietnam. I made it as far as Omaha, where my son is, and had to cancel the Vegas flight. I had not the strength. THOUGHT I DID. I did NOT! I rebooked from Omaha to Vietnam, and it proved to be the most challenging physical thing I've done since leaving the military. I barely made my leg from Chicago, where I made my connecting flight to Doha in a wheelchair pushed by a nice dude with American Airlines. 

The 13-hour flight from Chi-town to Doha, Qatar, was excruciating, but once I arrived, I was able to rejuvenate myself at the Al Maja Lounge for an 8-hour layover. It truly made all the difference. I was then ready for my last leg to Hanoi. My good friend, Michael... an ex-pat businessman here, arranged for me a car and driver to pick me up and get me to the temporary apartment I arranged with my previous building manager. I am now settled in a much better spot overlooking West Lake via 4 windows. It's gorgeous, quiet, and I love it. 

What is the plan now? I'm going to sit tight, do my therapy exercises, take it easy, and contemplate how my girlfriend and I will make our lives here for the time being and when we'll move on to see the rest of the world. I'm trying to plan some different things to make life and travel easier. I have to make some changes. The world has changed. The US made some big changes in my absence, and it freaked me out. It was like a culture shock from my own culture. I need to make travel and living adjustments to meet these challenges. More to come on this, as several adjustments I've already made. It's just not enough. But I will get into that in another blog post. 

For now, just know that I am recovering. I am 11 weeks post-op, and recovery time is expected to be a full year. Sleeping in a bed is still problematic. I sleep on the couch since it's easier to stay off my injured shoulder. This experience has been depressive, agonizing, and debilitating. I've kept to myself a lot, but I'm glad to have gotten the chance to see a few friends when paths crossed. I'm still trying to keep my spirits up. I'm in a better mental place, but knowing I can expect to stay in chronic pain for AT LEAST another four months is daunting. Priorities now are to not do something stupid to reinjure or retear my tendon. Docs have warned me that this tendon does not get good blood supply and to not overdo it. So I'll continue to do my exercises, get rest, take my vitamins, and not lift any weights on this arm. That's all I can do for now.