Orthopedic update

After the usual Wednesday morning stuff (swimming, coffee, and painting), I went to the orthopedist for a followup. As on previous visits, the surgical site and the prosthesis are doing well. There is new bone formation happening. This are good things.

I obviously still have a very good passive range of motion, and less than perfect range of motion. It’s good up to about horizontal, and then it’s not so good. He repeated some exercises that I should be doing at home. I asked him about going for some additional physical therapy, and he said he didn’t think that was necessary.

The doc said I should start going to the Y and working on the machines for the upper body/arms; that it'll still be a good while before I reach maximum improvement. And I may never be able to have the complete range of motion I did before - like up over my head, etc. I guess I'm lucky to have the prospect of getting most of the motion back in any case - considering the extent of the injury and surgeries. So I’ll keep working at it, and starting going to the fitness center at the Y. Oh, joy! John says I can get some young stud to help me use the machines correctly.

I’ve been having more and more trouble with my foot (the one I had surgery on ten years ago). I asked him for some advice about that. Other than the obvious deformities, he said the pins seemed to be okay. He said that there was no padding at all on the soles of my feet (imagine that - any part of my body with NO padding!), and that I might get some benefit from some inner soles in my shoes and a metatarsal pad. So we’re going to try that for a while to see if that brings some relief, before we consider doing anything else.

So no definitive answers from the doctor, but he listened and we’re continuing to work on the problems.