I had shoulder surgery Friday morning, spent the day/night in the hospital, then returned home Saturday afternoon. It is now Monday, just before noon, and I’ll go back in today to have the bandages changed and to find out what the rehab/physio plan will be. Life will slow down for a while, but that is ok. I just returned from an hour walk in the bright sun, and I learned a few things about life in a sling.

1. You cannot keep it static all day long. I need to keep moving the sling around, sometimes looser, sometimes tighter, sometimes I must release it completely and let my arm swing to move my elbow so that it doesn’t get stiff.
2. Good padding on the strap is essential. The sling I wore at the hospital had no padding, but I wasn’t very mobile at the time so it wasn’t a big deal. Upon leaving the hospital I walked to a nearby pharmacy, picked up my pain medications (4 types!) and also purchased a new sling. This one is more comfortable, but not great. The small pad on the strap does not do a good job of spreading the weight of the strap, so the weight of the sling is still concentrated on my right collar bone – exactly where it was cracked in a bike accident several years ago. I need to find either a new pad or somehow rig a towel or something in there to spread the weight of the sling to make it more tolerable.
3. These things are going to get nasty. My arm was sweating in the sling during the walk. Same thing when I walked yesterday. I’m going to be in this thing for 6 weeks, so I’ll have to use several of them and wash them regularly.

I was worried that it would be tough to do my insulin injections with my left arm incapacitated. But it isn’t that bad. Just after the surgery I needed help from the nurse to inject myself, but now I can do it on my own without a problem Granted, I can only reach the right side of my abdomen, so that is the location for a while for all injections.

When my last CGM sensor ended, I did not replace it as I didn’t want it getting in the way during surgery. I’ll put it on in a few days when things have calmed down a bit, but I’ll need my wife’s help to apply it, making sure that it is in a location on the back of my right arm that I can reach with my phone in my almost immobile left hand. Only 2 FreeStyle Libre 2 sensors left where I have to do this, I’ll then place an order for FreeStyle Libre 3 sensors (available here in Spain) that have constant Bluetooth connectivity and thus do not require contact with a phone for a reading. They are much smaller as well from what I have seen and should be great once I am back training again in a few months.

I think it will be important to have the CGM in place as I’m sure the different pain medications will make my blood sugar vary considerably. Here are the medications I picked up when leaving the hospital:

• Enantyum 25mg 1-1-1 si dolor (si dolor = if pain, then 1 w/breakfast, 1 w/lunch, 1 w/dinner)
• Paracetamol 1gr cada 8 horas (1 each 8 hours)
• Nolotil 1 capsula cada 8 horas si dolor
• Omeprazol 20mg cada 24 horas

Did I mention that all the paperwork from the hospital was in Spanish? I had to do a few translations, but overall my comprehension skills have become much better. It was tough, though, reading the instructions that came with all the medications. You know, when you open a box of any medication and there is that highly folded piece of paper with all the specifics, possible side effects, etc. – yes, I read them all, in Spanish. That was not easy! But I wanted to know how they would interact with my existing diabetes medications, so I am becoming an expert on the interactions between all these different medications. I’ve started keeping a log of what I’m taking and when, just in case there is a reaction of some type when mixing and matching. So far, so good.

Oh, one final thing. Typing while wearing a sling with an immobile arm that is perched on a pillow is not easy. I must switch between pecking with one finger and maneuvering the keyboard so that I can type normally. Another thing to master. And so it goes.