Hello From the Other Side (Of Surgery!) — First 72 Hours Post-Op

It’s Monday morning, which means it’s been about 72 hours since I had surgery to repair my torn rotator cuff and labrum. I’m pleased to announce that I’m feeling surprisingly “with it,” despite the anesthesia, nerve block, pain meds, and the fact that I’ve been sleeping in a recliner for several days.

Many people said that I’d probably sleep through the first 3 days. LOL! I’ve been resting and icing, but mom and I also went shoe shopping on Saturday and grocery shopping Sunday without any serious issues (other than the fact that Trader Joe’s was out of Green Goddess dressing and raw pumpkin seeds!). All in all, it’s been a lot of what I expected: It hurts like hell sometimes, but is mostly manageable. I feel very limited in what I am able to do, but I have a great support system. My mom left yesterday and Alex is back at work, so these next few days will be far chill-er than this weekend was.

Before I graduate to the next stage of recovery, I wanted to share/document my experiences from the past few days. If you’re really just here for the food stuff, scroll down to the end where I share how I’ve been handling eating Whole 30 after surgery!

Surgery Day

At midnight the day of my surgery, I stopped eating and drinking as instructed. I’ve been waking up with a sore throat, so I was desperate for some agua all morning but ultimately survived. I was a little nervous about the surgery, so on the way there, Alex blasted some tunes and we had a dance party. It sounds silly, but it really helped me soothe my anxiety and walk into the surgery center with confidence.

We got to the hospital at 7am for my 9:30am surgery slot. I felt like everyone in the waiting room was staring at us, and then I realized that we were the youngest people in that room by about 30 years. Guess there are more 60+ year old men getting their shoulders and knees repaired than 24 year old women. Oh well. All the nurses and other staff called me sweetie and took good care of me.

Alex was able to go back with me while they did the routine stuff (change into surgery gown, urine sample, blood pressure check, asking me what my name is, etc.). I met with my anesthesiologist who explained what the nerve block and general anesthesia would be like.

I had read somewhere that they feed you something small immediately following surgery so you can take pain meds, and that it’s usually crackers. Horrified at the thought of getting glutened right after surgery, I told everyone I talked to that I had celiac and that I brought my own plantain chips in case they needed to feed me. Many of them laughed at little paranoid me and my plantain chips, but I was glad that I felt prepared and protected.

Pretty soon, I was in the operating room feeling woozy. I remember a man (nurse/nurse anesthetist maybe?) asking how Alex and I met and then laughing at my response (technically, I was his intern and I always make it sound more scandalous than it actually was). He lifted my right arm up, which I legitimately thought was someone else’s arm. I remember thinking or saying, “Whose arm is that?” and then passing out.

The next thing I knew, the whole thing was over and I was waking up in post-op.

Post-Op

When I woke up, a friendly nurse let me know that Alex would come see me soon and we’d go over my post-op instructions. I was really happy to see Alex-when I first woke up, I was super disoriented and a little scared. Apparently Alex and I had to talk through where we were, why we were there, etc. Then the nurse walked Alex through my prescriptions, showering, eating, etc. (I remember very little of this).

Eventually I came to, and pretty shortly my mom arrived. We went to Starbucks while Alex dropped off my scripts. Coffee sounded weird so I got my #2 order — iced green tea, no water, no sweetener. I finished the whole thing in minutes, still super thirsty from the lack of water all day.

The Nerve Block

By the time we got home, I felt legitimately fine. A little tired, but no real pain.

The nerve block does what it sounds like — it blocks feeling in a specific set of nerves. Mine started on the right side of my neck and made it so that when I woke up from surgery, I didn't feel my right arm at all.

I appreciated this at first (and still think I’d recommend it for anyone getting this surgery), but it started to freak me out later that I couldn’t move my fingers or wrist. Like at all. For about 12 hours. It felt like my arm had fallen asleep (on a heavy dose of Ambien, perhaps) and no matter what I did, it wouldn’t wake up. I eventually regained feeling right before bedtime — right when I started feeling my shoulder as well.

Ice Man

I have a machine called an IceMan that has helped reduce inflammation and keep pain at bay. The machine is like a little cooler with a tube that connects to a shoulder pad. You fill the cooler part with ice and water, and it circulates the cold throughout the shoulder pad part. I’ve been using it for 16–18+ hours a day (including at night) as instructed, and it’s been crazy helpful. It feels so so good, especially after an outing or in the middle of the night when I’ve been prone to pain.

In case you’re having this surgery: This machine is an out-of-pocket expense but it sounds like most surgeons recommend it. The price they quoted for it was $275. Luckily, my sweet friend Doug had one from a similar surgery that he’s letting me borrow, so I didn’t have to pay for mine. If I didn’t have Doug’s, I would have paid the cash for it, especially now that I see how helpful it is. If I didn’t have this machine, I’d have to be changing out ice packs every 20 minutes in order to maintain this therapeutic temperature. No way we’d be able to keep that up — or keep the ice packs in place this well. If you’re having shoulder surgery, get the Ice Man.

Sleeping

Every account I read about shoulder surgery recovery stressed the importance of sleeping in a recliner, so I rented a super pimped out recliner from Rent A Center for these first few weeks. I’M SO GLAD I DID.

My recliner has power touch buttons to adjust my position, 2 cupholders, and even a USB charger for my phone. My mom made my “bed” with fresh sheets and our flannel duvet. It’s super cozy! She suggested that I use a neck travel pillow, which was a super smart idea. It supports my neck and keeps me from putting pressure on my bad arm.

I’ve been taking melatonin to fall asleep, which has helped me fight past the awkwardness of falling asleep sitting up. I’ve been waking up a few times each night, to pee, get more medicine, or ask Alex to get more ice for my Ice Man — but overall I’ve felt able to get a good night’s rest.

Pain and Meds

I’ve been taking pain meds every 6 hours on the dot. They take a few minutes to kick in, but then offer at least a few hours of relief each time. By about hour 4, I start feeling uncomfortable again and usually will sit down and ice for 2 hours.

I will say, the worst pain I’ve had so far has been when I woke up late for my dose of meds. It’s hard to not focus on pain when you’re alone with it in the middle of the night, so I’ve tried distracting myself with a game on my phone or my Simple Habit meditation app until the worst of it passes.

My Sling

I’m wearing an immobilizer sling, which is a sling with a pad that holds your arm away from your body. It’s my understanding that I’ll be in this thing for 4–6 weeks. It’s bulky, but it helps my arm feel secure and supported. I’ve had it on 24/7 except when my mom helped me shower (I wore my mesh sling with a rolled up towel to support my arm then) and when I’ve changed clothes. When I don’t have it on, I feel super vulnerable. My shoulder basically starts crying as soon as it’s unsupported, making me feel really anxious. I didn’t have a full panic attack, but got very worked up when we were trying to change my clothes once.

Note: Crying and freaking out does not make anything easier. Quite the opposite. I’m working on trying to maintain a feeling of calm and control while my arm is unsupported.

Whole 30/Mentality Towards Food

Before my surgery, I had a few friends suggest that I should pause/stop Whole 30 to minimize stress and allow myself to treat myself if I wanted to. I decided that I’d let it be a gametime decision: If I felt as though my pain warranted some Cherry Garcia, or I felt like the pressure to continue eating Whole 30 was causing unhelpful stress, I would give myself a break and start over when I was ready. If it felt relatively easy to continue eating this way, I’d continue.

To be honest, I haven’t really felt tempted to break Whole 30. This is for two reasons:

1. I know that eating meats and vegetables and fruits and healthy fats is good for healing, and
2. My stomach is already messed up from the pain meds — making this a less-than-ideal time to do reintroductions

We prepped a bunch of food for after surgery, and Alex has made it super simple for me to continue eating Whole 30. I’ve been a very spoiled patient, eating things like:

• Shrimp curry over sweet potato ribbons
• Pulled pork over broccoli rice
• Dry-aged ribeye, mashed sweet potatoes, and sauteed spinach
• For breakfast: Matcha lattes, deviled eggs, raw veggies, and pre-sectioned grapefruit

The day before surgery, I made myself a big batch of fat balls, using a recipe from Lee from America (one of my favorite Instagrammers!). It’s a low-sugar, high-fat recipe with coconut oil, coconut butter, nuts, seeds, and some dates. They’re super delicious, and honestly not sweet enough to awaken my sugar monster. Here’s her recipe (I subbed some ingredients due to allergies).

So yeah — basically, I’ve been eating:

• Really delicious meat + veggie plates by boo
• Matcha lattes (with collagen, fermented turmeric, adaptogen powder, coconut butter, L-glutamine)
• Chicken bone broth (aiming for 2 cups a day)
• Fat balls
• Lots of herbal teas (roasted dandelion root for detox, peppermint, ginger, or chamomile for stomach issues)
• Cold-pressed juices — specifically, beet + ginger juice to help with detox and digestion
• Raw veggies and fruits for snacks (apple, jicama, grapefruit, cucumbers)

So far it’s worked for me!

Stay Tuned…

For more recovery updates, easy recipes, and more!