tenotomy/neuropath

[Henryt60]

had a just a clean up whats there , just 3 small holes , shoulder operation. woke to a deep 2" scar and clevical bone missing and a large hanging lump whgere my beautiful bicep used to be ,come to find out ndispite our talk about a minimal amount of scarring, just 3 small holes,.  meant nothing , i told him i was a amature bodybuilder and this meant a lot to me now i hate taking my shirt off!! he said it was all done because of my age and as a preventive measure.  can this be reversed? i cant find any information on this . my arm is a lot working and a little weakness.

[jemma116]

Yes, my thoughts too, about why muscle and bone should be removed.

Until we have more information it is hard to know why this procedure had to be done this way, unless there was infection that had started to eat away at the muscles and the bone or he found a tumour.

I am also wondering if he actually attempted the 3 hole surgery first and then found too much damage, or whether you had some other imaging done before the operation or a biopsy.

Of course, no physical therapy will replace lost bone, but it will help not to lose more mobility in the shoulder and arm.

I was very interested in this post, because I am being referred for a Triage assessment due to having a completely torn supraspinatus cuff ear due to a heavy fall over 2 months ago and I am worried about having to have surgery to repair it.

[Tuckamore]

Hi Henry,

Welcome to our Pain Management Community. I'm sorry to hear about what apparently happened to you. Do you reside in the USA?

Sorry my friend, I'm having difficultly getting the whole picture due to the typing errors in your post. Can you please help us out with more information? I'm not the best "typist" either but please try again.

Are you saying you had a muscle tear and the surgeon was going to clean up the tattered ends? I have a complete ACL tear and my surgeon had to clean up the edges - is that what you are talking about?

Why on earth would your "clevical bone"  be removed? Do you mean clavicle?  If so why would a bone and muscle have to be removed? That makes no sense unless you had a massive infection, cancer or some other severe condition or trauma.

I'm doing a lot of reading between the lines and assumption when I add my thoughts. I assume your surgeon found a lot more than what he thought he was going to find as he went in to "clean up" the area. Surgeons don't just remove bones and muscles for nothing. What is his explanation?

There is no way to replace a bone or muscle. No physical therapy or other treatment will do so. In my opinion, more than being concerned that your "beautiful bicep" is gone - I think you should be concerned with why. Can you share that with us?

Reconstruction surgery may be an option - but not knowing more I have no idea if that's a possibility. I'm so sorry this has happened to you. What is clear in your words is your pain and devastation.

I'll look forward to hearing more from you. We'll all try to help.

Peace,
~Tuck

[jemma116]

I would not be happy either.  

Perhaps you should consider writing to the hospital and ask for a written explanation as to why this procedure was done when this was not mentioned to you before the operation.  

Why did you have to have a clean up?  Was it to do with calcification of the bones or a different problem?  

I am not able to give you the answer you are looking for.  I would suggest you make an appointment to see your own doctor and put the questions to him.

If you are not having any physiotherapy on your arm to get it working properly, ask your doctor to refer you for physiotherapy.  You will need specific gentle exercises to do so as not to get a frozen shoulder and to build up the strength in your arm slowly.   If the surgical wounds have healed, hydrotherapy is a good way to do the specific exercises as it bears the weight of your arm.  The physiotherapist would give you specific exercises to do in the pool.  The hydrotherapy pool water is much water than in a normal swimming pool.