Last week, Wednesday, I went to see a specialist about my shoulder and replacing it.
While I was on chemo I was also taking steroids as a part of my treatment. Which caused bone necrosis in my left shoulder and both knees. My shoulder has now collapsed and is no longer there. It causes me extreme amounts of pain. Because my shoulder is so bad my options are very limited. Dr. Kam basically told my parents and I that I have two options: 1. Leave the shoulder as it is. Or 2. Do the shoulder replacement and use the smallest replacement. We definitely want to go with the replacement but. neither have that great of an outcome.
He said, “Kids think oh well my arm is better so I can go an play baseball or something. Because kids are more active their replacements wear out quickly.”
He then asked my hobbies which are writing, reading, art, crocheting, blogging, and much more. Dr. Cam told me those are good hobbies because my arm won’t be moving in crazy ways that will wear it out easy. He does want to give me some range of motion back which right now I have close to non.
I shared my concern of being worried about how long the replacement will last. He responded, “That is a good worry to have. It tells me that you will take care of your shoulder after surgery.”
My growth plate is still open and Dr. Kam said as soon as they close he can do the surgery. About 3 months maybe longer, it is almost closed though. He will have a mature bone so during surgery he can treat my shoulder like an adult bone.
He showed us the replacement. It will have a really short stem that will go down in the bone and a round head that sits where the dead bone was. The surgery will be about an hour and a half. I will be in the hospital for two days and he will stitch it up on the inside so I can take a shower when I get home. I will wear a sling to protect the Rotator Cuff because he has to cut through it to put the replacement in. Recovery will be about six to eight months.
It is hard to hearing all of this news. I am almost 15 and I shouldn’t be dealing with this. God didn’t bring me this far to leave me now. I continue you to have faith in him and it will not waiver.