October 1 marks 6 months from my shoulder dislocation and break. I am still doing physical therapy to gain strength and motion. It's a slow process that at times is frustrating.
The pain I was feeling on a daily basis has mostly gone away. It no longer radiates down my arm all day and all night. However, it is still an issue when I sleep. I am really only comfortable on my back, probably because it allows the muscles in my shoulders to relax, but I am a side sleeper and when in that state I will roll over and it wakes me up when my hand goes numb. I'm pinching something in that side position.
I had a meeting with the orthopedic doc last week and I nervously told him about the numbness. The last thing I want to have is some sort of nerve damage that would need a surgical repair, thus undoing all the work to gain my strength back. He pulled up my file and read something to me (paraphrasing):
Patient complains of continuing pain radiating down arm, and numbness in hand when sleeping on her side.
That was the note from the 5 month check-in after the first break on the left side. OMG! I totally forgot about that from the last time. He gave me a wrap to help keep my elbow from folding all the way when I sleep, which should prevent me from pinching the nerve. He said that we'll check back in in two months and if it's still going numb, then he'll do a nerve study, but is confident that it will heal by then.
He did say that while the breaks were basically identical, that because the right shoulder also experienced a dislocation that the time to heal would be longer because of the additional tissue trauma. I am continuing to be a good PT patient and working on my stretching at home.
I slept with the bandage on my arm, and it's annoying but does keep me from tucking the arm, which also keeps me on my back.
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