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So, I guess about 3 or 4 years ago, my arm, my shoulder started hurting me. And, as a golfer, you can’t have that. It kept getting worse but it got to a point that it was pretty bad. But, I didn’t really want to go in to get any kind of surgeries because I knew that was going to be like a year recovery and all that stuff. So at any rate, I played golf through the pain and I just learned how to swing differently. And it was a challenge. But, you know, I’ve been golfing for a lot of years, so that was doable. One day I said, that’s it, I’m done with this. I couldn’t drive in a car anymore. I had to hold my arm up in the air and grab on to that thing you get in the car with because the shoulder hanging would kill me and even watching TV just sitting there at night watching TV. It was like, oh man, the pain would get so bad that I have to raise my arm. I’d be sitting there watching TV with my arm over my head. I’m serious about that. People must have thought I was nuts when I was driving like this, you know? But you had to. So anyway, to to get out of that pain.
But anyway. So I came up, I went to my primary doctor. They referred me to Crovetti Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine and I’m a sports guy so I thought, oh, I’d like the idea of sports medicine. They referred me to Doctor Michelin because that’s his specialty, he’s shoulders and elbows and, he said, you know, you said they came out, took X-rays, which I had prior to that, too. And I guess I my rotator cuff was torn beyond repair. It’s called unrepairable rotator cuff tear. So I said, okay, that doesn’t sound good. So he said, but they have a new procedure a couple of years ago from Germany, where they put a balloon in your shoulder and it makes your, shoulder find the cuff where it belongs. Instead of being out of place and sticking up and hurting you. So he said, we got to see if you’re qualified for it. We’re not supposed to do it after about 60 years old as that’s about the limit. But he said, we’ll see. So he asked me about my dexterity. And, most of everything was fine because I’m a golfer. Maybe that’s why. But I’m very limber. So he said, well, let’s try it. He said you’re not supposed to do it on a guy who’s 78, but we’re 77 at that time, you know. But he said, let’s try it. He said, I think that should be fine. You seem like you got enough range of motion and everything. So we did.
Long story short, man, you know, everything was, like, on target on time. Perfect procedure. The hospital thing was great that I went into it as an outpatient, but still it was, everything was, like, really great. So I went and I think at one in the afternoon and I was home at seven and they gave me some pain pills. And to be honest with you, I did take a couple of them, but I didn’t, you know, I just kind of like, okay, let me feel real good. So, but anyways, actually, three days later, after the surgery, which I wasn’t supposed to do, I was out shoveling dirt in my backyard. There was zero pain at that point. There was nothing wrong with me. I could have probably functioned in many, many ways. I did go to therapy, and I was very, very adamant about doing it every day and time all the time, because I wanted to get back on the golf course. That’s what I kept telling Doctor Michelin, I said, I gotta get back on the golf course. I can’t stand not golfing. And so he said, well, they said, let’s see what it looks like. You know, I must work.
Check in a month, check in two months and then three months. And the third month I went back to see him. He said he was really impressed. He said, I think you should be able to play golf. You should take it easy with the swing. So, you know, when you’re a golfer, you’d like to take it easy with the swing, but sometimes it doesn’t happen. So I just let it rip. I didn’t do it right off the bat. I took it easy. I went to the driving range, worked on a little bit. But three months from the day of surgery, I was on the golf course hitting balls, hitting with every club in my bag. Not going to tell you I played good because I didn’t; not because of the shoulder, because I’m just getting old. But, fact is, it was. It’s great to be back, haven’t had pain once since there was actually a little bit of discomfort after about three months of the surgery, but, it went away maybe a week later, two weeks later. And that was it. It was like, everything’s been great since then. So I don’t even I forget that I had it because it’s that I can do everything I want to do with hands, arms reaching and cupboards and all that stuff and not know anything happen.