Problems in Healing and Recovery: A Disappointing Post-Op Doctor Appointment

Well, I had a hard day today at the doctor's office.  I went in to see G (I'm now calling my doctor "G" because he has often signed his emails to me with just a G for Garrett) for a post-op follow-up appointment from surgery #38 that happened February 22nd.  For a little background, I had, in the past two weeks sent G a few photos of a spot on my neck where I just recently had surgery that did not look right.  His first email back from the initial photos and email I sent was that it looked to him like there was a bit of skin necrosis happening.  He said it looked small enough that he thought it would heal on its own with some ointment on it daily and to come in and see him in the next couple weeks.  I already had an appointment to see him on the 14th...today.  A week later, I sent him another email with another photo because it looked worse and like it had started to spread, which is not a good thing.  Skin necrosis is basically tissue death.  The skin is not getting proper blood supply and oxygen so it is dying.  This often happens in the corner areas where skin has been pulled for whatever kind of procedure and blood and oxygen just doesn't get to that tightly pulled area.  He said it didn't look like an emergency but he definitely wanted to see me in his office in the next couple weeks.  

Another thing that has been happening since my surgery is the inability to lift my right arm.  At first, when I mentioned it in one of my recent blog posts about how I was healing from this latest surgery, I thought it was just sore when I tried to lift it.  But as days went on, I noticed it wasn't really soreness preventing me from lifting my right arm.  When I tried to lift my right arm, it was like I had no shoulder muscle to lift it.  And I was only getting it up to about halfway to shoulder height.  And there was pain.  As days turned into weeks, it only got worse and worse to where even just pouring a cup of coffee was almost impossible.  I could not raise my right arm and the pain was getting worse.

Fast forward to today and my appointment in Portland with G.  First thing was first - he took a look at the spot on my neck where the skin necrosis was happening.  He didn't think it looked any worse from the last time he looked at it but it was definitely skin necrosis.  The skin there is dying.  But he thought it was small enough that it will heal on its own with some care.  Then he took a look at how things looked from the latest surgery.  He asked how it felt and had me turn my head in different ways.  I told him it felt quite a bit better but it still pulled slightly.  I showed him the biggest pull was happening in the front of my neck, underneath that nice free flap that was taken from my leg.  So he checked that out and decided for now he would try some Kenalog injections to see if it would help relax the muscles and contractures.  Kenalog is a steroid that is often used in cases of arthritis, blood diseases, allergic disorders, certain cancers, and collagen and skin diseases.  So he gave me about four shots in each side of my neck as well as about four or five more in the front of my neck.  Some of them I couldn't feel cause the nerves are damaged and numb but there were a couple I could feel and man, they really hurt.

Lastly we took a look at my shoulder.  He looked at how high I could raise it on my own, which wasn't very high.  Then he checked it by having me relax my arm in his hands and he raised it and moved it in different directions.  When I relaxed it and he did the work, he was able to raise it higher but there was pain in some areas.  So, he sat and thought.  I could imagine the wheels working in his brilliant brain trying to figure out what was going on with my shoulder.  Finally he said he wondered if the tissue expander did any damage to the muscle or Rotator Cuff.  Great, I thought.  I know where this is going.  And he went there.  He said he wants to get an MRI done to see what's going on in my shoulder and there may be a necessary shoulder surgery in the near future.  Awesome.  This is not what I need.  I wondered if that tissue expander did any kind of damage with all the problems and pain I had with it.

So, the next couple steps are to first, get an MRI done and have the results sent to G and see what he says and second, see how these Kenalog shots did for me - if those areas feel any more flexible or there's greater range of motion and email him in a couple weeks with that information.  I have a feeling shoulder surgery is in my near future.  It's just too bad and too painful to be anything less than damage that must be fixed with surgery. And I am not looking forward to it.  I just can't catch a break!

What a loaded appointment.  So much going on with my healing and recovery.  And really, nothing good.  It was a disappointing day.  I was hoping for better news to get me through my upcoming 5th year anniversary of my accident in three days.  But no, not for me.