ReHELP! need shoulder advice

[Guest guest]

What a really crappy day! My DH who had his third heart attack on

Friday,and has been in CCU until today was transferred to the hospital

across the street for a cath scan and either angioplasty or bypass. We

wouldn\'t know until he had the cath scan.

At the same time, I has an appointment with the shoulder ortho at the same

hospital that I waited a month to get. My left shoulder has been so

painful, I can\'t use my arm and can\'t sleep at night. Of course, he was

running late, so I told the nurse I was going to check on my husband so I

could see him before he had surgery. She told me to come back in 1/2 hour.

I went from the Dr. office to the admissions office only to find out they

didn\'t have him listed. So I figured they would transport him by ambulance

thru the ER and started walkeing to the ER. Sure enough, I found him on a

stretcher in the hallway. I took care of his admission and by that time had

to go back to the Dr\'s office. I left him in the holding room and was told

he was scheduled for 1 p.m.

By this time it was 11 am. I got back to the Dr. office and was told I

would be seen shortly. Bu 12 p.m. I was boiling and as I was leaving, the

nurse called me into the office. I had already explained my predicament,

but since I was gone for that half hour, they moved 2 patients ahead of me.

I had the x rays taken and the ortho came in to tell me that the arthritis

was so bad that I needed a joint replacement. However he could only do a

joint replacement if the rotator cuff was intact. He seemed to think it

might not be, so I have to go for my 3 MRI in 2 months.

He also told me that I had a permanent pseudo dislocation. Does anyone know

what that means? He showed me the x-ray and I could see that the ball was

not all the way in the joint. The arthritis had closed the space between

the ball and the socket. Where there is supposed to be a 5 mm space, there

was no space at all.

I am very concerned about having a shoulder joint replacement. Any of you

(?) have that? What happens if the rotator cuff is torn (I suspect it

is only very stretchy) Can that be repaired. OF course, I have full

mobility according to the charts, but for me it is extremely limited. Where

I used to be able to put my arm around mt back to touch my shoulder, it only

reaches my bra strap. I can lift my arm straiht up but with extreme pain.

I told him anyone else would have a frozen shoulder at this point.

I brought all my EDS material for him and he did read some of it. I told

him about the rest. But I know he really doesn\'t understand how difficult

surgery is with HEDS!

In the meantime , he said he would give me a steroid shot to try and help

the pain and disappeared. Now it is 12:40 and I wanted to get back to my

husband. I left my room and went into another patient\'s room where he was

shooting the breeze and told him that if I didn\'t get the shot right now, I

was leaving because I wanted to be with my husband before surgery. He was

properly apologetic and did give me the shot immediately which, of course,

didn\'t help at all.

I got back to Stan just as they were wheeling him away. He had i artery

that was blocked 90% so after the cath scan he had an immediate angioplasty.

By 3 p.m he was in his room and by 5, he was up and walking around!!!

Unberlieveable! He will be home Wed. Friday, he was at death\'s door and

Monday ready to go home.

So , if any of you have any info on shoulder problems, replacements, pseudo

subluxation etc, please let me know.

Thanks,

Judy/Atlanta

The Ehlers Danlos National Foundation

http://www.ednf.org'>www.ednf.org