Just droppin in and sayin what's up I been lurking for awhile and finally been in front of a computer long enough to sit down and get this done... Just had shoulder surgery on my rt shoulder after 20 years of dealing with it and self medicating... I play guitar in a well known NYHC band, so touring and record contracts limited my ability to actually get the surgery done sooner but it finally came to pass that I just could not deal with the pain any longer as my shoulder was partially seperating 20-30 times daily and i could no longer sleep. I also have spinal issues in my neck and back but the shoulder was the easiest to get done and took the least amount of time, so my orthopedic surgeon and I agreed to tackle that first and move onto the others upon recovery. Interestingly enough one of the main things I wanted to toss around with you guys, is this... I came to be injured in a quite unorthodox way, and this led to alotta discrimination amongst doctors toward my severe injuries. it was like pulling teeth getting a doctor to listen to me after I completed the sentence " I got hurt slamdancing in the moshpit..." I was standing by the front of the stage and a 225lb, six foot dude stage dove and landed directly on my neck and shoulder causing a whiplash effect, dislocating my shoulder and causing me severe pains in my neck and back after that...I have many friends with severe injuries that occurred in car or motorcycle accidents, or at work, but when I would tell doctors how I got injured they would become very condescending and dismiss most of what i was saying... after I decided that I was gonna get my shoulder, neck and back fixed finally after 18 years of intense pain, and thousands of dollars spent on self medication, it took me almost 2 whole years to find a doctor that actually took me seriously... I went to 12 different doctors in that span and became so completely frustrated that finally at the last doctor, after being strung along for 2 months by him in August I got fed up and while in his examination room, dislocated my shoulder and MADE him come and feel its seperation. He still couldnt help me he said, that my condition was extremely rare and referred me to a doctor at the hospital for special surgery in NYC... he was a Godsend... he looked past all my tattoos and the unorthodox manner in which I came to be injured, LISTENED to me and found that I had completely torn and or stretched all the tendons that hold the shoulder in the socket on the frt side and also tore my labrum... he scheduled my surgery for 10 days after my initial consultation with him, performed the surgery flawlessly, and is dedicated to helping me through this and then my neck and back procedures... Has anyone else experienced something like this? I thought an injury, was an injury, was an injury but hahahaha much to my the chagrin, that was not the case... I'm not naive and I know with all the controversy swirling around prescription medications nowadays, and people doc shopping etc. that physicians have to watch their own ass but what I went through was completely uncalled for and ruined my quality of life for a LONG time...I suppose if I showed up on a guerney and there was a police report, that things might have been different, but all anyone had to do was actually look at any of my MRI's or XRAYS and see that I was actually injured and in intense physical pain... anyways, nice to meet you all and I'm gonna go catch a quick nod, I mean nap...
Welcome to the site man. Sorry to hear about your shoulder, but glad it's getting taken care of. You would think highly educated people would be less likely to be judgmental of tatoos/physical appearance, but unfortunately that is not always the case. Anyways, go enjoy your nod. What are you using to medicate BTW?
Hey thanks for the welcoming, I was eager to join this forum, because after lurking for awhile, everyone seems to be real cool, and hey we're all in the same boat! Well, I kinda had nothing to lose and was truthful with my doctor about everything and I explained that the core injury occurred many years ago, and after using my right fist like a hammer in the pit for close to fifteen years I had done signifigant damage, injuring the shoulder further. I then told him that I was on 10mg Hydrocodone for close to ten years through a doctor who was also my homeboy, and that after that, I was switched to the 15mg roxi's to save my liver... He originally had me down for the 5mg oxycodone with no apap, but he saw that there would be no chance with my opiate tolerance, of the 5's having any effect whatsoever with managing the pain, and switched my Rx right at that moment to the 15's and banged me out a 150 count at ten a day for a two week post operative script at 1-2 pills every 4-6 hours as needed for pain. He took into consideration the problems in my spine with the neck and back and was surprisingly completely understanding. But hey I'm NOT lying to the dude, he has seen my MRI's and XRAYS and told me that in his estimation I had suffered enough, and that there was no need to reduce my meds. He is a really cool doctor, I mean not just cuz he wrote me the script I asked for (I mean he's not just gonna write me anything, cuz at the same time I had asked for the roxi's for the breakout pain I had also asked for OC's for a 2-3 count daily, but he turned me down on the oxy's and said that he wanted to hold off on those until, we actually got into the spine and back stuff, which was fine by me...) but me and him see eye to eye on alotta issues and he's not aloof in any way at all. He's a down to earth, genuinely caring muthafucka, which I know first hand is hard to come by in this day and age in the healthcare industry. I mean I can't help it, I'm kinda ghetto, and my New Yawk accent coupled with my venacular, I have full sleeves, a rocker across my stomache of my nickname in Old English lettering, and my Yankees fitted has my affiliations embroidered in it, but ya know he didnt care at all and that of course went a long way with me...
WOw you have been through a lot of crap over the years, I hate to hear innocent people having problems. I am glad you have some good news now in your life and i hope it all works out. Hope your pain is not as bad either. Peace
hey thanks alot mang, it was rough, and with the band I neglected it for so long and just over-medicated to be able to play, and I mean the day after shows was the absolute worst, and then I gotta be stuffed in a fuckin van for eight hours drivin to the next gig. I mean I play in a hardcore band, it aint like rockstar shit with tour buses and what not... hahahaha! but yea everyday gets a lil easier and then I gotta tackle the neck and back shit with my spine...UGGHH! But yea the surgery was the best decision i ever made... I could actually start sleeping again like a week and a half after the surgery, thank fuckin God!!!!!!!!
The body is so remarkable and at the same time can be so torturous. Any little thing can set the body off and a tiny nerve the size of a pin drop if damaged can cause so much pain. The good thing is the body is a natural healer, and also doctors help with surgery. Are you still in the band and traveling now? You make your own music?
Thanks for bringin out the welcome wagon, all on lil ol me's account starbuck! Hahahaha!!!!! and right now, I just had the surgery a month and a week ago, and the nature of the injury (stretching and severing tendons) lends itself to an extremely long, painful and arduous rehabilitation program...6 months as opposed to 6-8 weeks for other shoulder procedures. and the nature of my music is not exactly easy on the shoulder... hardcore is basically punk rock mixed with metal, very high energy and extremely intense... im really rough on the shoulder, strumming really hard for the unmuted fast parts and you just cant get the same effect by playing softly- I dont know how to "tone it down" so to speak...listen I cant EVER go back to the way it was with the constant and intense shoulder pains, so when I showed my doctor videos of how I play, he said dont even think about playing like that for at least three months, and then try it out and see how you feel. Im dedicate to seeing this thing through to a full recovery so Im not gonna jeapordize it, no matter how bad I wanna play fully... my bandmates are with me, fully supporting me, so for now I'm just playing my guitar normally, to keep my dexterity and chops and shit, and we have non, gig/practice/tour stuff to work on namely getting the full length DVD of the Japanese tour completed for release in the spring, and I'm gonna also use this idle time playing to keep dexterity, for writing new material for a new album to be recorded next summer...we write ALL completely original music, and I write 85% of the music and lyrics so its not going to be a completely lost winter, you feel me? I'll post some pics of shows in Japan and Puerto Rico and NY in a lil while so you guys can see what the music and lifestyle are like... hahahaha!
First two flix, the crowd in Tokyo for the last show of the Japanese tour, then my niggas, at the pyramid, NYC and the last one is me gettin it in , San Juan Puerto Rico... so its not Like I can really play "soft" ya know? hahahahaha!
