Can you smell my fear from way over there?

They're doing the operation Thursday. I had to turn down a gig for Apr 1 (free, but for Nice People), and then, yesterday, the phone rang. Popular local bar wants a jug band for Feb 21.

And today I got nominated for a possible spot doing a singing commercial in the near future.

All you who have had it done..... ballpark figure as to how long before you could do a forty-five minute show?

It took My mother 9 months.  My brother had his rotator cuff turned and a complete shoulder replacement.   6 months so far.

Best of luck and a speedy recovery, Mike!

quote:

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Originally posted by mike gregory

All you who have had it done..... ballpark figure as to how long before you could do a forty-five minute show?

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Sitting relatively still in a chair with no strap over shoulder, about two weeks.    But it's different for everybody, it takes longer to recover as you get older (I was about 42 then), and it hurt a lot.

A positive attitude will help with your recovery, but it's best if you put off committing to any gigs until you see how you're going to feel a week or two afterwards.

And if your doctor says "don't play" after two weeks,  then don't.

~Pete

Hi Mike,

I had my right rotator cuff repaired laproscopically, the biceps muscle reattached and the joint taken apart and unfrozen. It took me eight weeks to the day to get my arm around a banjo and another three weeks before I could hold a guitar (the extra thickness was the issue). It was close to six months before I could play 30 minutes straight. My injury was pretty bad.

I tore my left rotator a year after doing the right one. It was a much smaller tear and I was able to get 99% better without surgery through re-hab. I asked the doc if the recovery time would be shorter if I did have surgery because the tear wasn't as bad and he said, "No, I'm still in the messing around so it's pretty much the same.

For what it's worth, I tore my left Rotator Cuff about 40 years ago in a motorcycle accident. It was a different part of the cuff and it was almost a year before I could move my arm out far enough to play a banjo. The guitar came sooner because of the shorter next. I didn't have surgery that time either.

Shoot me an e-mail if you want to talk Mike. I've bought my surgeon some fancy cars over the years.

Good luck and a speedy recovery.

Hey, Mike...
Sorry that you have ta deal whid this...
I've not done that injury .....yet...

Good luck...n..try ..ta keep ah good out look..

The bad news is the Brewers won't invite you to spring training this year.

Hang in there, Mike!

Lady came by this morn and delivered the equipment.. And as I was being fitted into it, I told her

"Dang! They WARNED me, way back in Grade School, that I was probably gonna end up in the electric chair!"

What it does is LIFT my arm, with no effort on my part, to keep the joint from solidifying.

If I lift it myself, I might rip out all their work. And if I  just stay immobile for several months, everything could just heal into one huge internal immovable scab.

Now, thinks me, with an Evil Grin,  if I can over-ride the gentle up and down speed, I can turn this into an automatic Clawhammer Frailing Machine!

But, for a simpler way to strum banjo with the right arm in a sling, there's always the soft-bladed personal fan.

Hold it so the blades are at the proper angle to the strings, and turn it on. Plenty of tremelo, but no Scruggs rolls.

Edited by - mike gregory on 01/31/2012 10:20:17

I just threw one of those fans away! If only I had known I could have sent it to you. Good luck with the surgery hun, I'll be thinking of you.

Yeah I've had February 2nd and you on my mind for a little while now. Yep I can smell the fear. I think that's fear anyway. Or what fear can do to ya.

It will be over before ya know it Mike. Go for it. Get 'er done, you'll be flailing that banjo before ya know it.

We can wax your 'stache and set you upright and you can pluck your banjo just by licking your chops. It's really amazing what they can do these days with peanut butter, banjos and 'staches.

Where shall we send get well cards to? I've got my google arm ready (ok don't go there).

Best for a speedy getting-it-over-with and all that happy horse stuff. You're from Wisconsin, you understand.

Mike, if I knew what the heck I was talking about, I'd have to charge double.

HoosierGal: They've got the fans at the dollar store. Probably costs more than that to mail one.

Banjoy: You can just e-mail me links to online images, and tell me what captions you'd want to add. Heck, you can start a Pictures & Captions thread over in Games, and send me the link.

I don't play Games. It might lead to Food Fights

I'll find some appropriately nutty way to help keep you entertained...

Keeps me entertained too!

Good luck with the rotator cuff, Mike. I had my left hip replaced on January 3. So far so good with me. My pain level dropped sufficiently for me to pick a banjo about two weeks ago, but I have some neck and shoulder problems myself now. Thinking about the surgery for a month before it happened may have been the worst. I hope your surgery goes smoothly.

Clint

Edited by - Clawhammer Clint on 01/31/2012 13:42:17

hope everything goes well for your shoulder Mike, Good Luck!

Good luck and don't let the recovery interfere with your mandatory wordsmithing duties here

typing left handed means no caps and a lack of some punctuation but that's what this reply is, so i guess i can still have some sort of impact on the lives of 65,000 of my closest friends.

darmn, but thst took a while to type! luckily, the shift key for the exclamsation point is ver here on the left!!

Surgery on Groundhog Day!  Take care Mike.  We'll be thinking of you.

Good luck Mike.  That contraption looks wicked.

Considering your brain is probably primed to be ambidextrous from all that banjo playing, you'll be left-hand typing in no time at all.  Have you considered taking up mouth harp?

You will come to love that chair!! Those are one of the great modern ortho inventions and almost completely stops the development of scar tissue. In the bad old days, you spent 6-8 weeks strapped up and then they took you back to surgery, complete sedation, while they manipulated the arm to break up the scar tissue. The sedation was because no one could stand the pain the scar tissue caused.

No more!! The chair solves all that. If someone will put the banjo in your lap, you'll be able to play in a couple of weeks. But be cautious and don't rush things. DON'T LIFT THE BANJO!! You'll probably have 3-4 weeks of five hours a day in the chair, and then you'll have another 6-8 weeks of physical therapy. The WARNING is to NOT lift anything over 1-2 pounds with the arm that had the surgery for at least three months, maybe longer.

I had this two years ago: rotator, bicep reattach, bone spurs removed, etc. They planned to do it with the small holes but the damage (coming off a horse decades ago) was too great and so I had the over-the-top incision. Piece of cake.

If you've got the chair, it means that your ortho guy is on top of things. You'll be fine. Watch TV, read a lot of books. Keep us posted.

I shall be getting to literally DOZENS of books and magazines that I had been stacking, thinking that, eventually, I might get to reading them.

We should all send video emails for you full of entertainment and humor of all kinds. Now, where is that pole.....

....I'm going fishing for the first time ever in March.. maybe I'll tape it for ya :-p

quote:

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Originally posted by mike gregory

typing left handed means no caps and a lack of some punctuation but that's what this reply is, so i guess i can still have some sort of impact on the lives of 65,000 of my closest friends.

darmn, but thst took a while to type! luckily, the shift key for the exclamsation point is ver here on the left!!

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 Looks like you're developing some "figmo-itist"  there Mike Any ho my mom 73 years young had surgery on her right R.C. last Sept. took her about 10 -12 weeks before she could get back in a deer stand and hunt. Doc. told her to put a pillow between her shoulder and rifle stock. So my friend heres hoping for a speedy recovery and you will be "DEAR" hunting again soon. And I'll keep you in my prayers as well.

I concur with fivebranch. Look to figmo for inspiration. I mean heck, he has two good hands and he never let a cap key or any of them newfangled punctuations get in the way. And, I hear he's running for president!

Just one word of advice Mike: make sure, before they knock you out with happy pills into dreamy happy la-la land, just make sure you are in the right seat, scheduled for the right operation. I'd hate to have to start calling you Michelle.

- - - - - -

One day to go. Is that a drum roll I hear, or your heartbeat? Either way, it's in time.

More smarta** posts to follow Mike. You deserve no less!

… So them that wants will have to wait won’t they?..Y’all cease your fretting now and re-store the faith and humor that you have, and remember that what I was told in my time of concern, that is you have to become a “Klingon” and hold on to faith, Mike Gregory have faith in the medical folks them as do know what they’re doing..Happens they done it all before?..And are all set for patients such as yourself , we look forward I’m sure to your update posts a little later on Friday or Saturday ?..

-Roxy-

My PC has something called 'Sticky Keys' buried within the Windows accessories. If I recall correctly..(always in doubt), that will allow you to modify the keyboard settings to enable you to type correctly using one finger. Thus permitting the proper capitalization and punctuation and etc. But why bother. I doubt it would affect your response to the scams sent your way. And we sure won't be bothered about it.