Left Handed is NO fun!!

did you break you arm or something?

I can also chiffande and not bruise my herbs using the right hand with pace.

and there it it folks, the manliest phrase ever uttered on the internet.

a reply to: Rikku

No, I trashed my shoulder and tore up my Rotator Cuff along with 3 of the 4 other tendons in my shoulder. One of them torn completely.

originally posted by: Rikku
did you break you arm or something?

I can also chiffande and not bruise my herbs using the right hand with pace.

and there it it folks, the manliest phrase ever uttered on the internet.

Damn. Straight. And super proud of that.

My wife went through the same shoulder surgery in March. I had to help her in the shower, we saved a ton on the water.
There is a silver lining if you look for it. Besides it was fun.

Good luck, the weeks will be over before you know it.

I am also a lefty and I type with one finger.I have spent most
of my adult life working in kitchens.I got used to using both
hands while working.I can write with both hands but my right
handed writing looks like a second grader wrote it.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
Boy, I'll tell ya', learning to be left handed is absolutely NO fun at all!! Frankly, it SUCKS!!

I swear, every single day I run into something I have to figure out how to do a different way. I guess I'm glad I started this early, before my surgery, and I'm glad I've watched so many videos about others experiences. I had no idea! You literally canNOT use your right arm...PERIOD!!

Not to be gross, but the wiping your butt is a big deal for me, because I cannot even fathom having someone do it for me...right? Just being honest and real. So I figured that one out early, and I'm good there. But there are so many other things I never thought of. For example, after a couple weeks you can shower, but there's a couple places you can't get to (no, not your butt! You can get to that). You can't get to your left armpit or the outside of your left arm. Suddenly you realize, if this is the only arm you can use, now you suddenly have no way to clean it (because you can't use your right arm).

Another thing was, simple stuff like shampoo. Unless you have a pump bottle, you ain't washin' your hair! Same with soap; you need a pump bottle of body wash and one of those girly poofy things to wash with. Toweling off one handed is also interesting, especially your back; you have to back up against a wall and rub your back on the towel you throw over your shoulder.

I won't even go into how to put on a shirt because this would be a very long post, but suffice to say it is involved, and it takes time. And socks are a whole other matter! Baby wipes will be my friend. LOL! I went to find some the other day and found some which said they were "Tea Tree and Cucumber" scented. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!! I'm thinking just how much I'd love to have my junk smelling like CUCUMBERS!! LOLOLOLOL!! **GAK!!**

Yeah...NO! Hey, sometimes you just have to laugh. You have to laugh at yourself, and your situation, and that's where I'm at right now.

I'm going to be a helpless, useless, piece of crap. (and personally this upsets me more than any of you will ever know). But that's what I'm going to be for about 8 weeks or maybe more.

The days count down. Only (9) left now. I honestly don't think I'm ready. I know it's the right thing to do, but WOW...I've never been this crippled!

The End.

P.S. - Laugh at me, make fun of me...PLEEZ! Even you, NB, denigrate me, I beg you! I'm sure you believe this is just another lie too, right? Just another excuse for attention. I've never been so weak in all my life; never had no other choice...and it's scary, and I don't like it. And afterwards I get to be a complete "dependent", who can't even care for himself for more than an hour.

In 2020, a whole lot of my personal health cards got "called in". Now I get to face the music I guess.

I really do hope Narcoleptic Bhudda weighs in here, because he really does have such a "therapeutic" contribution to most of my threads!! In other words...Happy now, JERK??? I'm hurt, and aint' no amount of 'tough guy' gonna' fix it...so you get your wish! Consider it a gift! Relish in it, every single day!

Going through same deal right now.

It took me 1year to be able to get that left armpit in the shower and its still not normal.

Funny but ability to wash me hair with both hands was one of my guides through self-therapy....I can finally do that @ 75%...I est. 6 more months of stretching and pain to get to 100%.

I had an auto accident with a 99 year old woman on her Birthday...no vehicle damage we both slammed the brakes on in time to just kiss bumpers....both walked away seemingly no issues....but I was %$#ked up badly.....I did not know what it was.....couldnt hold a coffee cup in my hand couldnt put on socks or complete the chores you are challenged with.

I was in a Mazda3 with bucket seats and when the seatbelt caught and jammed me it ripped my right shoulder to ribbons for some reason.

My saving grace was low - middle - upper back stretches several times a day.

The first time you get to put your socks on and it doesnt hurt you will smile.

No worries you will make it.

I did the tuck and roll and did not go to a doctor....or I would have been butchered....Im lucky things are coming back together....yes its been 2 years.....but im in better shape than any time in the last 20 years now....

I had to start excercises with empty hands for 2-3 months then go to Soup cans for 2-3 months then go to 2lb weights then 2,5 lbs and so on and so on......an extremely slow process with many constant mini-setbacks....however 2 years later I am able to do curls with a 15 lb dumbell.....and have begun to rebuild my muscleclature.

I was ambidexterous with a lefthand leaning to begin with so some things were not so bad.

Have had major Hip and Spine injuries in the past....the shoulder is IMHO the worst....it impacts everything from your neck to your lower back....and it causes all kinds of compensatory issues if you dont start rehabbing it right away when its ready.

You will make it......my advice is to get socks that are really loose its much easier to get loose stretchy socks on.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: putnam6

I would DIE without a backscratcher, even without a bad shoulder!

I can't live without one of those things. I broke one once (just some cheap plastic job) and almost had a nervous breakdown until I found another bamboo one. I can't survive without one of those things!!!! Honest!

Best back scratcher I have found is a pasta server spoon, you know, the thing that looks like a cross between a ladle and a spoon with 'fingers' all around the rim. Works a treat.

originally posted by: CthulhuMythos

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: putnam6

I would DIE without a backscratcher, even without a bad shoulder!

I can't live without one of those things. I broke one once (just some cheap plastic job) and almost had a nervous breakdown until I found another bamboo one. I can't survive without one of those things!!!! Honest!

Best back scratcher I have found is a pasta server spoon, you know, the thing that looks like a cross between a ladle and a spoon with 'fingers' all around the rim. Works a treat.

My wife uses one .
Always had one just for that purpose.

Computers ?
Learn how-to the old fashioned way.
One hand uses mouse , the other hand types.

originally posted by: one4all

I had to start excercises with empty hands for 2-3 months then go to Soup cans for 2-3 months then go to 2lb weights then 2,5 lbs and so on and so on......an extremely slow process with many constant mini-setbacks....however 2 years later I am able to do curls with a 15 lb dumbell.....and have begun to rebuild my muscleclature.

Years ago I strained my right shoulder starting a lawnmower that was being stubborn. I didn't tear the cuff but strained it badly, spent three weeks in rehab and months of conditioning to get it back to normal. Fortunately I was able to use my arm for most things since I'm right-handed, just couldn't lift heavy things or use a lot of force with it.

A few years ago I strained it again being stupid and it took a shot, a tenz unit and three years total before I finally became pain-free. I couldn't throw a ball for most of that time, I'm not sure I can like I used to today. My dog stopped wanting to chase the ball in the yard (she's getting old) so I really don't know but I have some sense of what you guys are going through.

a reply to: HalWesten

Its been 2 years and I am just starting to take very short small basketball shots with crumpled up balls of paper.....the ball throwing motion is still out of bounds for me.

Yes you are experiencing the same impacts......its an extremely complicated area to rehab . I am an old dog so my expectations of recovery are realistic but I am going to keep pushing the envelope. It is painful to work out but its worse to be in pain and also be so helpless you cannot hold a cup of coffee....for me the rehab work has paid some dividends and has restructured most of my upper body....the shoulder is so busy that when I started to note and list and approach the compensatory muscles so I could strengthen them I ended up working from my legs to my my lower back to my mid-back to Upper-back in that direction.... it turned out that everything affects the shoulder area lol lol lol....I prefer to avoid the Medical Industry if possible and the shoulder has been my biggest challenge to date....but its coming along slowly....an interesting self-study for sure.

Yup we are all in the same Club.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

The shower thing ...

When we were young and first married, husband and I used to shower together reasonably often. You know ... young love.

So when I lost my right arm, he picked up the slack and hopped back in the shower with me to help we with those tasks you mention. What I couldn't get, he was nice enough to do.

I gotta tell you though ... having a man wash your hair as a woman is SOOOOOO frustrating. You can describe over and over how you want it done, but unless he really feels it, it just doesn't happen. It's like trying to guide someone to itch that one spot on your back.


The only shirts I wore were t-shirts. I was allowed to let my right arm dangle, so the right arm could be brought up over the dangler, and the rest could be bunched and hooked over my head with the neck hole. Once those two steps had taken place, I could get the left poked through. I did get to where I actually could do that whole operation left-handed.

I think I mentioned once before that you *WILL* have to accept some help for a while with some stuff.

It sucks. It really does, because I prefer to do it all myself. My husband was SOOOOO ready for me to start taking up independence again. Trust me.

Just take it a day at a time and laugh at it and be grateful you aren't my father-in-law. He got a rare bone cancer, and they had to remove his humerus. The donor bone didn't take, so now he simply doesn't have any upper arm bone in his left arm. At least it was his left. He got that lucky, but he's basically permanently one-armed.

a reply to: Rikku

He should be so lucky that "all" he did was break an arm. Some things you do to yourself are worse than a broken bone.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
I'm hurt, and aint' no amount of 'tough guy' gonna' fix it...

Time might though. You hang in there, Brother.

I've had some problems with a disc breaking down. All kinds of nerve issues. My left arm just absolutely quit on me. You could see when it happened in my posting drought. Felt like it was about 6 months ... and then I was almost fine again. Little weirdness in there still ... but, I'm back.

I can't believe you took the hit you did and didn't take any downtime. That's strength!!

a reply to: Snarl

Yeah, but as you get older, there are increasing chances that you let it go and it heals wrong. I get the sense from FCD's posts that he's gone the heal on its own route and that may be part of the trouble - the old injury added to the new trouble.

originally posted by: ketsuko
Yeah, but as you get older, there are increasing chances that you let it go and it heals wrong.

Well ... let's find out where he lives and give him a prolonged beating until he consents to seeing a doctor ... and doing the physical therapy until tears run down his cheeks.

I used to own a ranch with almost 900 head of cattle. I'm quite sure he's got enough $$ to pay the docs.

a reply to: ketsuko

No, sweetheart...I go under the knife on the 11th of Jan. Full repair.

ETA - And yes, I'm scared. I ain't scared of much, but this one scares me.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: ketsuko

No, sweetheart...I go under the knife on the 11th of Jan. Full repair.

ETA - And yes, I'm scared. I ain't scared of much, but this one scares me.

It's not the surgery; it's what comes after, and you take that bit one day at a time. Trust me. It gets better and you'll make it. You'll be back before you know it. Just keep doing what they tell you, don't push yourself past that but give that your best efforts, and it'll come together.

Shoulders are slow though so it'll come slow. Every little inch will feel like a mile and make you grin.