Surgery

Being an avid tennis player, it’s not uncommon for me to witness others around me getting injured and having to withdraw from tournaments for several months. This seems to be a side-effect of reaching retirement, as most of my fellow players are over the age of 60. Recently, to my surprise, I too suffered a shoulder injury after reaching retirement. The incident happened while playing tennis, and the pain was so intense that I couldn’t help but gasp. Despite my attempts to mitigate the situation by using heat packs and resting, the condition did not improve. As a result, I decided to visit a shoulder injury specialist. Melbourne offers quite a few options in this regard, and I chose a specialist close to me to avoid further strain on my injured shoulder during the journey.

Once at the specialist’s office, I was greeted by a friendly and professional expert who took me into a room. We discussed my symptoms, including the pain in my upper arm, biceps cramping, and difficulty rotating my shoulder. The specialist was empathetic towards my situation, understanding how frustrating it must have been for me, as tennis is my favourite hobby. After conducting a series of tests, the specialist revealed that I had injured my biceps and would likely require a surgery called biceps tenodesis. Further manipulations of my arm joints confirmed the severity of the tear, and it was clear that the situation was quite serious. Looking ahead, the specialist explained that the recovery process after the surgery would be lengthy and could span several weeks. I would need to wear a sling for an extended period and undergo numerous rounds of physical therapy to rehabilitate my arm. As someone who is passionate about tennis, all I can think about is getting back to the court as soon as possible.

This injury has been a significant setback for me, but I am determined to follow the specialist’s recommendations diligently to regain full function in my shoulder. Patience and commitment will be crucial during this challenging period, and I’m hopeful that with time and proper care, I will be back to doing what I love most – playing tennis.

I have such bad luck. It’s like if something bad can happen to me then it will. I have a disability that causes me to blackout and fall to the ground without any warning. I won’t go into the specifics because it’s hard for me to talk about, but it’s really scary and causes me a lot of anxiety. It also causes me a lot of physical pain.

My last episode was when I was alone at a train station. I’m not allowed to drive in case I have an episode, but having one at the station was probably the next scariest thing. I could have fallen straight onto the tracks but luckily I fell parallel to the tracks onto my side. Seeing as I dropped without any idea I was falling, I wasn’t able to brace myself. I fell straight onto my left shoulder and caused significant damage.

Once I had recovered from my episode, which took a couple of days in hospital, I had to consult with a shoulder injury specialist local to Melbourne because I was in significant pain. It wasn’t immediately obvious when I was in hospital because I was on so many drugs to stabilise my condition. I was pretty much a zombie after my epsiode and just spent my time sleeping. Episodes take a lot out of your body because your whole brain is firing at once which it shouldn’t really be doing.

After my consultation with the shoulder injury specialist, it was clear that I needed a shoulder arthroscopy to see what the problem was. Because I obviously couldn’t remember my episode and the paramedics were only told by bystanders what had happened, the surgeons needed more information about my injury before operating. For those of you who don’t know, medical shoulder arthroscopy is basically where they insert a camera into your shoulder through a small incision to see a large amount of the shoulder. To find out more, tune into my next blog.