What I Expected...

Surgery.

I went to see Dr Dugas today at Andrew's Sports Orthopaedic Center in Birmingham.  In a nutshell he said it's time to go in and clean up my shoulder.  The MRI I had a few weeks ago wasn't "normal" although he said it wasn't terribly impressive (nothing was "flapping in the wind").  But I've tried every conservative treatment available and nothing has worked to get me back out there the way I want.  So, January 7th I go under the knife.  He knows he is going to cut out a piece of my bicep tendon and reattach it.  He said he would look at every other part of my shoulder/rotator cuff and repair/clean up anything he sees in there.

That's the good news.  The not so great news is that this means it will be 6-8 weeks of doing NOTHING after surgery.  He said I'll start PT the day after, but it won't look like anything I'm used to so he wants me to get it in my mind that I'll be doing NOTHING at all so it won't be such a shock.  He said I could plan to start "training" about 90 days post surgery and if Iron Man training was six months I could plan to race again in October!!  I'm taking that as EXCELLENT news.  The 6-8 weeks of "nothing" is just my ticket to train hard later.

Not the best example...but you get the idea...

He explained that the tendon tear is not exactly what we think of when we hear that word.  It's not like
a piece of paper.  He compared it to a green limb off a tree.  He said if you take the limb and twist it, the fibers would split apart.  If you twist it back together, it might look just fine from the outside, but it's "torn" and not as strong.  He plans to cut that "torn" part out.  From the way he talked there could also be a tear in the labrum that he'll need to repair.

So...from now until the 7th he said I could do what ever I want to do.  He said the shoulder is already beat up, I might as well burn it out!!  I instantly had visions of swimming and running!  The only thing that stands in my way is pain, and they make pills for that!  Seriously I feel like a teenager who has just been given keys to the car and told to have fun!!  (Ask me tomorrow how I'm feeling and I might have a different answer...)

January 7th...19 days and a wake up.  The countdown has begun.