Shoulder exercise, suture allergy, happy doc

[Guest guest]

Funny how the first anniversary of revision is a big deal, while the

second goes hardly noticed. Mine passed Sept. 27. I saw Dr. Rand on

Nov. 13th for my 2-year follow-up, and he said my x-rays still look great.

I told him my pool PT had helped a lot, but I thought I needed more help

in the upper back/shoulder blade area. Instead of a PT referral, he

gave me a simple exercise I can do against the kitchen counter. He said

he had learned it from a therapist and it had helped another of his

patients (credit where credit is due!) Since my revision included new

hardware all the way up to T4, my shoulder blade muscles were affected,

and have been very uncomfortable since, as well as numb. Of course the

exercise won't touch the numbness, but it does seem to help with the

muscle pain/discomfort. I'll be happy to describe the exercise if

anyone is interested.

I also asked him if it's common to get eczema on the incision scars.

I've had a lot of redness and itching on and near my back incision,

though none on the abdominal one. He had a look, and concluded I must

be allergic to the absorbable sutures he used to close it. I was

surprised to learn that it takes several years for them to fully

absorb! That must explain the tiny bit of foreign material that was

sticking out of my skin and driving me nuts with itching until I handed

my husband my tweezers and told him to go at it. (It pulled out easily,

much to my relief.) I didn't inquire, but I assume Dr. Rand used

something different on my abdominal incision. He said I was doing the

right thing to put hydrocortisone on it. Nice to be able to complain

about something so minor! It was also fun telling him I'd recently

heard my squeaky hardware, while working in the yard with ear plugs. He

had told me pre-operatively that is an idiosyncrasy of titanium.

Sometimes patients can hear it, but also he hears it squeaking while he

installs it.

I mentioned that I had seen Cam's broken rod x-ray, and we discussed

what causes broken rods, etc. He seems to feel that just the cumulative

stresses of normal living can build up and cause a break, and that he

feels it's less likely Cam broke it by falling while x-country skiing.

He also says that such breaks usually don't cause or indicate a problem

for the patient. I asked if it was ok to try ice skating again, and he

said if I already know how, then sure.

I don't know why it surprised me, but I get the distinct impression that

Dr. Rand takes a great deal of pleasure in seeing his patients whom he

has successfully helped and who are looking good and enjoying life. I

told him I don't even need the nifty kneeling bench now to do my

gardening, and that I also get exercise swimming, bicycling, and

sailing. He was literally beaming. After all the apprehensive

questions, the pre-op concerns, the long hours of meticulous, messy

work, the post-op visits to a gorked-out patient in pain and barely able

to walk, I guess these happy follow-ups have got to be a real high point

in a surgeon's work. Of course I had understood intellectually that

back surgeons are not big meanies who like to poke, prod, stretch, cast,

and cause pain, but I guess " Little Sharon " still tends to feel that way

deep down. There's something healing about this sort of " sharing the

joy " visit.

Sharon