The long, hard road to recovery

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Christopher Campbell
  • 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England --  (Editor's Note: This is the first in a four part series about my recovery from shoulder surgeries)

"Rita, I know it's nuts, but I keep reliving the same day over and over -- Groundhog Day -- today."

This is a great line from the movie 'Groundhog Day'. Ever had that feeling of déjà vu? I have for about a year now, because I go to sleep and wake up in pain every day, on the couch. I am stuck in the perpetual doghouse.

Like all good stories, let me start from the beginning.

I returned from a six-month deployment almost 30 pounds lighter and leaner. I was running about five miles every other day and could have gone further if I'd wanted to. During my deployment I was also doing 200 pushups and 500 sit-ups or an abdominal workout every day, and I ran a half marathon in two hours; I was in the best shape of my 13-year Air force career. Yes you can say it, I was the man.

I was rewarded for all of my hard work and dedication with the gift of pain in both of my shoulders and knees.

I had pain for more than 10 years in my right shoulder, but I was able to manage the pain by watching my workouts and monitoring overuse. It was not an issue to me, most of the time, because it rarely affected my lifestyle and within a few days I would be back to normal.

This, however, was a new pain, and it affected me daily. As long as I didn't run more than four miles I was pretty much fine, but anything past four miles caused shooting pain in my collar bones until it was so painful I had to stop running. There were a few times I actually had to bend down to relieve some pain so I could catch my breath. I went to bed and woke up in pain everyday, it hindered my quality of life.

It was a humbling experience for me; I was always into sports and fitness in one form or another. I could, in the past, work through any pain. When I could not work through this pain, I truly felt like a wimp. I prided myself an athlete, but started to feel like I was a nursing home athlete.

I went to the doctor, and he sent me to physical therapy to see if that would help. In the beginning it did, but in a week I was in more pain than before due to the exercises I was doing. So, they sent me to orthopedics to see if there was any damage to my shoulders, and how lucky for me they found damage in both.

Maj. Kenneth Bode, 48th Medical Group Orthopedic surgeon, was my attending physician with x-rays and an MRI.

He said, "You have a left shoulder arthroscopy with sub-pectoral biceps tenodesis, arthroscopic subacromial decompression and distal clavicle excision, and a right shoulder arthroscopic labral debridement and rotator cuff repair with subacromial decompression and distal clavicle excision."

Which, in layman's terms, means I had a biceps tendon tear on the left shoulder, my right shoulder rotator cuff was quite damaged (due to a weight lifting incident) and both shoulders had no cushion around the collarbone and a hook underneath causing damage as well.

So, I knew I needed the surgery to give me the quality of life that I had before the pain started.

According to Dr. Bode, there are around 720 shoulder surgeries performed in the Air Force annually, and only about 10 percent of those patients need work on both shoulders.

My first surgery was in April 2009 on the right shoulder. It went great, and I was out of my sling in a couple of days and straight into physical therapy--well on my way back to 100 percent. The approximate time for recovery is around three to four months. I was finished around July.

The second one happened in August 2009. That one was more extensive once he got in and saw what the problem was. I was in a sling with no mobility for six weeks. Then I was able to start physical therapy. The recovery time for this surgery is normally around four to six months.

I am now the proud owner of one 8-mm x 23-mm screw in my left humeral shaft, two 5.5-mm screws and two 4.5-mm tacks in my right humeral head thanks to Dr. Bode.

I think Dr. Bode just likes to see how much hardware he can put into one patient or at least the patients with a witty repartee. At least, that is how I think he is since he seems to truly enjoy bantering with his patients and their families. He was never short on words when telling my wife what she needed to do for my quality of life.

My knees were the easiest to fix. I was injected with a couple of shots of a gelatinous substance, which I was told came from chicken comb (yummy, now I can really be called chicken legs as my family lovingly calls me while I run circles around them). This procedure was to inject some cushion since I have deteriorated the natural substance that cushions ones knees.

"I've been stabbed, shocked, poisoned, frozen, hung, electrocuted, and burned ... Everday I wake up without a scratch on me, not a dent in the fender ... I am an immortal."

Another great quote from 'Goundhog Day', and oh how I wish that were true, because now the fun stuff begins with the triumphs, trials and torture I have to go through with physical therapy.