Glen's Shoulder Surgery, Fabulous Results

Let's start this post today with some photos of Abe's two children. They were enjoying a vacation back east visiting Klarissa's family and going to New York.

Now back to what's been going on here in Southern California.

We had a shortened Mission Leadership Council in the morning of the day before Glen's surgery.

We had a combined lunch with the missionaries who attended the morning meeting and the missionaries who attended the afternoon meeting.

No one had a key to close the partition separating the overflow area where we have our meeting and the chapel, so that was quite out of the ordinary.

Right after lunch we had a new missionary training meeting with the new missionaries and their trainers.

That night Glen was doing his last-minute computer cramming before his right arm became immobilized.

Friday morning, August 3rd, Glen reported for surgery bright and early in the morning.

They would not let me go back with him like I usually do while they do all the pre-surgery stuff. I got to go back to tell him good-bye.

I did get to watch the doctor and the anesthesiologist both make markings on his shoulder. That gave us confidence they would operate on the correct shoulder.

The surgery was quick. There was no need for a rotator cuff repair. The doctor said he put a stitch in that area and then he cleaned out the socket and shaved off some of the jagged bones in there.

I have always been called back to sit with Glen during recovery and then help him get dressed to go. This time he was fully awake, fully dressed and a little less than fully perky as I was handed the care instruction papers and then he was wheeled out of there.

We were back home around 10:30 that morning.

I got him all tucked in on the couch and then went to get his pain meds. It was his lucky day when I discovered some Necco candies which he loves. Isn't that the look of pure happiness and joy?? Okay, maybe it's more the look of being drugged up following surgery.

He was actually feeling quite good that day with no pain because of the full shoulder block which was supposed to last 24+ hours.

Our favorite flowering plant in our backyard had produced 3 huge red flowers that day. It seems to bloom for us on our most trying days, which we take as a spiritual tender mercy.

We certainly hadn't been looking forward to surgery and were praying furtively that this doctor would be able to know exactly what to do to relieve the impingement Glen has been experiencing for a long time now--and which the last shoulder surgery did not help correct.

I got a kick out of this text the assistants sent to me that afternoon.

Things were going amazingly well all except for one little problem...

When they dressed him after surgery, they didn't put any clothes on his upper body. His jacket was a fake-out that he was fully dressed.

It actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise, I think, because Glen was feeling so good and was totally out of pain (from the shoulder block) for the first time in years. He said he felt good enough to go to the baptism that evening.

HA!! I think he would have been a little underdressed!

For 2 days he continued to remain underdressed, even for home standards. While eating, he shared a bright idea with me. He said we could go eat at a restaurant by the beach and he would just blend right in.

HA once again!!

A man with a big black pillow shoulder sling, a blue ice pack wrapped all around him and tethered to an ice machine would not be my definition of how to blend in with the beach crowd.

Hurrah for the moment the huge white adhesive bandage was able to come off. The place where the adhesive had stuck to his skin was very red and itchy. That bothered him way more than the surgery spots did.

The medical people always scare you after surgery about making sure to stay ahead of the pain. We were told as soon as he started getting feeling in his fingers he should start taking the pain meds.

He took one pill after the deadening was almost worn off and took another pill at bedtime and then he was done. He was feeling less pain in his shoulder right after surgery than he had before surgery. I had him take Advil for a week to help keep the swelling down. I also kept ice in the cooler which helped with the swelling as well.

Oh happy day two days later when he took a shower and we got a shirt on him. He was much more presentable that way.

Presentable for company that is! We had two former missionaries come to visit us: Elders Parker Nokes and Skyler Higginson who were in town for a wedding.

Brooke had been very worried about her grandpa. She was texting us one morning showing us some things she had made out of clay.

She was happy to see he was doing great and sent her message of love to him.

I went off to church by myself that Sunday. I went to the 11:00 meeting at the building close by our house while Glen took a nap.

After the meeting I happened upon this couple from our ward back in North Salt Lake. It was fun to see them. Misa's parents live in Carlsbad and she had told me all about it when she learned we would be serving here.

She insisted on taking a picture so she could show Sarah when she got back home.

I walked out in the foyer and this man asked if I am Abe Thomas's mother. Turns out he lives in San Francisco. He and his wife and children were here visiting his in-laws.

As I was walking through the parking lot I heard someone call my name. Former missionary Sister Kelsey Wells was here on vacation with some members of her family and it worked out marvelously well to get to talk to her and her mother for a few minutes before heading home to see how Glen was doing.

It had been an eventful experience at church that day.

Look who felt plenty able to do his Monday missionary letters all by himself. He found a way he could maneuver his hand out of the sling so he could position his slinged arm just right to be able to work at his computer for hours and hours that day. 

There's not much that can hold this man down! He was able to finish all 160 letters by the end of the day just as he does when he is fully functioning. He is amazing!!

This surgery has been amazing!! Glen's shoulder has never felt better. We are so thankful for the successful outcome of this surgery. He's just wishing he had chosen to have surgery on it a year ago instead of getting a third cortisone injection and going to physical therapy.

We're definitely counting our blessings!!!