20 Days Post-Op

So it's been 20 days since my shoulder surgery. Things seem to be going well, medically speaking... In my follow up visit we asked lots of questions about what they found in there, and how they fixed it. The doctor called my shoulder the 'grand canyon'.

The symptom was a glenoid labrum tear. If I understand correctly, the glenoid is cartilage around the shoulder socket, and the labrum is muscle. The glenoid and labrum sort of cover the opening around the ball-and-socket of the shoulder. Mine was torn and peeled (way) back, creating the 'grand canyon' as my doc called it. Google found me this diagram, which sort of depicts my symptom, only not nearly as extreme:
In this diagram the stick is pulling a healthy glenoid labrum back, and the arrow depicts the gap created. My gap was enormous. Chicks dig enormous?

Anyway- the fix involves using sutures and anchors to pull the labrum back into place and hold it there until it can heal properly. It sounds painful, but hasn't been bad at all. I was off pain meds by the end of the second day, and have only taken Advil once or twice since.

I'm still in an arm sling for another three weeks, then I start physical therapy. That about wraps up the (medical) update of how I'm doing...

Psychologically, I'm going insane. You don't realize how many simple tasks you do on a daily basis that require two hands. Buttoning your pants, tying your shoes... I've become a burden on Des, and I hate it. I also haven't driven since the surgery, so I'm more or less on house arrest. Lots of TV and video games have kept my mind and fingers active, but it's getting old...

I'm also not making any income, which obviously is a problem. I won't be flying again this summer, and I rarely fly in the winter, so I'm selling my T2: http://wingsoverwasatch.com/Misc/Ryan_T2.html

I also have a brand new Sport 2 155, Falcon 3 Tandem, Falcon 3 170, and Falcon 3 195 that really need to find good homes... then I have some (cheap) used gliders as well...