Story
So what happened? On August 12th I was chasing my cat and trying to corral him into the house, when I had a rather spectacular fall that sent me careening into the metal shelves in my garage with outstretched arms. Sitting on the concrete floor, I took stock and found that I could wiggle my fingers and wrist, but couldn't move my right arm at all. Yikes! In a trip to the emergency room, I learned that I had dislocated my right shoulder and, with some sedation and pain meds, they were able to pop it back in. So that's the good news. When I followed up with my orthopedist, however, he ordered an MRI and determined that I now had a host of nasty tears in my rotator cuff and that surgery wouldn't be able to fix them. My alternatives were protracted physical therapy that probably wouldn't help me regain use of my arm -or- a procedure called a reverse shoulder replacement - a brand new, reverse-engineered titanium-and-plastic shoulder that would allow me to "work around" the torn rotator cuff and rely on different muscles to get my strength and range of motion back. And that's where I'm headed on October 3rd. My arm will be in a sling and I'll be restricted from driving/lifting for about four weeks and so that's why I could use a bit of help. I'm so grateful for you!