Left handed ideas?

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Denvermike

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Was told by the Doc yesterday that I need rotator cuff surgery on my right shoulder.(I,m right handed of course) Looks like the middle of March for the operation. Will be a sling about six weeks. Looking for ideas of things I can do car wise with just my left hand. What do you think?
Thanks,
Mike
 
You can do anything that it only takes one hand to do.

Do you have anyone that you can "trick" into coming over and helping you (with say a six pack...)?
 
I'm left handed and seriously confused by the question.
 
I am getting this surgery done on Tuesday also on my dominate arm (left). I have a full thickness rotator tear and a torn labrum as well as making room between my clavicle.
Not sure what you're going to be capable to do as far as working on a car? I would recommend using the time to heal properly, Many folks feel ok and push themselves and the healing process and re-injure themselves and then have to live it all over again.
I have a friend who is going to come over and finish up some stuff I have outstanding. Good luck with the surgery
 
Revhendo said:
I'm left handed and seriously confused by the question.
Click to expand...

Me 2....you will probably end up with that frigging pillow for the first few weeks...you aint gonna be doing much of anything.....except clearing off damn near every counter top you pass by...
 
The hardest part of having your arm disabled , is going to the bathroom .
Ever try wiping your butt with the wrong arm and hand. Start praticing now.
Even doing up the button on your pants can be difficult. Good luck and a
speedy recovery to you.
 
Had shoulder surgery a while back....bone spurs...and had a bicep tendon snipped. Pretty difficult to use a knife & fork when you only have one hand. Even opening a beer is a bit of a problem. You will have to avoid t-shirts for a while. Have to put your belt on prior to putting your pants on. Don't rush the therapy......you need to work on the range of motion as it is going to be very limited.
 
I had shoulder surgery done on my left arm about 6 years ago. I'm right handed, so I figured it would be a cake walk. Boy was I wrong, you don't realize how much you need both hands for a lot of things. Now I'm scheduled for shoulder Surgery on my right arm on March 17th. Don't know how the hell I'm going to function without my dominate hand. Good luck with your surgery and as been said here already. Don't rush the therapy.
 
Sounds like several of us have had shoulder surgery's.

I had my right done a few years ago. Bicep tendon had popped out of place, torn labrum, etc, etc. You wont be doing anything for a while.
And remember when they say 6 weeks in a sling, that doesn't mean you will be able to use your arm after 6 weeks.
First off your arm will be very weak after 6 weeks of non-use. Second you will have to spend a lot of time with a physical therapist to get your range of motion back, and then they will work with you on strength.
I saw the therapist twice a week, AND worked on it myself at home 2-3 hours a day !
They will give you lots of exercises to do, and give you a pully system that you will use to pull your arm up and down to keep it from freezing up, etc. It's a pain in the *** for sure.

The surgery is the easy part, the physical therapy will kick your ***. I'm not ashamed to say that my therapist made me cry a couple times. They don't pull any punches, they have to push, pull, twist your arm in several different directions to get the range of motion back. They will push till you say stop, and then push a little farther.

I don't know why, but I had a very hard time recovering from mine, took several months longer than what it is for most folks. I have full (95%) use of my arm back, but after 3 years I still have pain in it almost every day.

Good luck with it, hope your recovery goes better than mine.
 
P.S. I put the powerbulge hood on my dart with one hand, and no help from anyone.

Used a system of pullys and straps connected to the rafters in my garage to lift the hood
high in the air. Then I drove the car under the hood. Slowly let the straps down until I had the hood lined up with the hinges, then bolted it on.

I had to wait some time before I could mess around getting the alignment right cause I only had one hand, but at least it was on the car.
 
MileHighDart said:
Sounds like several of us have had shoulder surgery's.

I had my right done a few years ago. Bicep tendon had popped out of place, torn labrum, etc, etc. You wont be doing anything for a while.
And remember when they say 6 weeks in a sling, that doesn't mean you will be able to use your arm after 6 weeks.
First off your arm will be very weak after 6 weeks of non-use. Second you will have to spend a lot of time with a physical therapist to get your range of motion back, and then they will work with you on strength.
I saw the therapist twice a week, AND worked on it myself at home 2-3 hours a day !
They will give you lots of exercises to do, and give you a pully system that you will use to pull your arm up and down to keep it from freezing up, etc. It's a pain in the *** for sure.

The surgery is the easy part, the physical therapy will kick your ***. I'm not ashamed to say that my therapist made me cry a couple times. They don't pull any punches, they have to push, pull, twist your arm in several different directions to get the range of motion back. They will push till you say stop, and then push a little farther.

I don't know why, but I had a very hard time recovering from mine, took several months longer than what it is for most folks. I have full (95%) use of my arm back, but after 3 years I still have pain in it almost every day.

Good luck with it, hope your recovery goes better than mine.
Click to expand...
Been there and done that. Over 4 months now, still not able to reach up and out without popping and binding. I had a laundry list of repairs, bone spurs, labrum, rotator cuff, ect.. The wife asked the surgeon how long it was going to take, he said 45 mins., an hour and 45 mins. later they brought me out of surgery. :wack:
 
I have been like this for a year sleeping isn't easy now! Soon as you roll on it - wide awake! It's going to be nice to get more than 2-3 hours of sleep. I feel like my brain is turning into mush from sheer lack of sleep.
The simple things suck, brushing teeth, hair even getting milk from the fridge is a challenge.
I crushed my right wrist 20 years ago and have three pins holding it together. I spent 3 years in a cast above the elbow. I got used to not having a right arm but the left is really going to suck since I have learned to be extra dependent on it!


pettybludart said:
Good luck sleeping,it ain,t easy.
Click to expand...
 
You're all way off the base question of "what can I do car wise with my left hand". I think this list of answers could get you started.

If your still not feeling it you could.....
Adjust your driver side mirror.
Practice hand signals in case you lose your blinkers and brake lights.
Operate your turn signal switch.
Turn the steering wheel right or left.
Open your driver side door.
Close said door.

If your motivated you could.....
Vacuum the car.
Check your vital fluids.
Wax the car....as stated before.
Polish the stainless trim.

If your in pain you could.....
Take a nap or watch Netflix on your smartphone while sitting in the car.

I think the list could get quite long. I think you can do anything you could do with your right hand only slower.

Good luck and get better lefty....
 
TrailBeast said:
Wax on? :-D

You know, karate kid.
Click to expand...


LOL... I was thinking the same thing... wax on.... wax off!

I suppose you could jack it up and detail the underside.... scraping off undercoating and re-painting everything nice and pretty
 
I had mine done 11 years ago. I'm going in on March 7th to get it done again. First Dr. was an idiot. Told him it wasn't right. So I have just worked around it. Now I have to get
it cut open. About a 2in. slice on my shoulder. I'm left handed. It's on my left shoulder.
Good luck with yours. Hope I have the same!
 
MileHighDart said:
I don't know why, but I had a very hard time recovering from mine, took several months longer than what it is for most folks. I have full (95%) use of my arm back, but after 3 years I still have pain in it almost every day.

Good luck with it, hope your recovery goes better than mine.
Click to expand...

After 6 years, I'm still on OXY for the pain. I have full motion in my arm, but very little strength and the pain never went away.
 
Starting today with your left hand :coffee2:

Walk to a door knob and twist it left and right 30 count 4 times a day minimal
Find a soft small 3'' diameter ball and carry it in your left hand and bounce it and carry it as much as possible
Doing these things will help train your non dominant arm/hand 8) Laugh all you want to but this does work :color:
May your surgery go smooth and you have a hottie for a therapist :cheers:

:eek:ops: one more thing :banghead: suppress any sneezing and coughing you
will feel a all new feeling that your shoulder is being pulled out.
If you can stay away from any big pain pills. Aleve is a good go to so you don't have what I call crazy pills shoved at you.. Good luck and keep us updated :glasses7:
 
memike said:
May your surgery go smooth and you have a hottie for a therapist :cheers:
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I lucked out on this one, my therapist, Meredith what a complete smokin hottie !
Great looking, nice figure, really big....eyes..lol
Probably the only reason I never took a swing at her when she was torturing me.
 
MileHighDart said:
I lucked out on this one, my therapist, Meredith what a complete smokin hottie !
Great looking, nice figure, really big....eyes..lol
Probably the only reason I never took a swing at her when she was torturing me.
Click to expand...
You And I had a hottie =P~ Treva (my wife) would say Did you have the same therapist ? I would just look at her and :D Yep =P~
 
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