LHT Shoulder Surgery

Dad's surgery was not as successful as we had hoped. His rotator cuff had been torn sometime earlier in his life. Dr. Robert Jackson said that he was unable to repair it well because of the earlier injury. He hopes that Dad will have the same kind of use that he had before the latest tear but he was unable to get it done properly.

He performed the debridement, in which loose fragments of tendon and bursa and other debris from inside the irritated, injured and torn area of the confined space in the shoulder where the rotator cuff moves (subacromial space) were removed. He was able to make more room in the subacromial space so that the rotator cuff tendon is not pinched or irritated. He shaved bone and removed growths on the upper point of the shoulder blade (subacromial smoothing). However, when it came to sewing the torn edges of the supraspinatus tendon together to the top of the upper arm bone, he was not able to pull much of it together. He was able to pull it only one-third of the distance it should have covered.

The rotator cuff helps keep the arm bone seated into the socket of the shoulder blade. Massive tears (greater than 2-inhes or involving more than one rotator cuff tendon) often cannot be repaired and that was Dad's problem along with the age of the first tear. Dr. Jackson said that the newest tear had just added to what had been done before. He doesn't understand why, at the time of the first injury, there would not have been pain.

He said that after this surgery, if Dad still has lots of pain, grafting and patching procedures are possible, but they are not much better at restoring strength than debridement and decompression, which is less risky and requires less rehabilitation. That sort of repair is a major surgery and requires opening the area by incision. Less active people (usually those older than 60) with confirmed rotator cuff tears that do not cause pain, significant weakness, or sleep problems can safely go without that type of surgery unless symptoms become worse. In some cases, arthroscopic debridement and smoothing adequately relieves pain and restores enough function to allow daily activities, and open surgery is then not necessary.

Rotator cuff repair surgery, if successful, restores more strength to the shoulder than arthroscopic debridement and decompression alone. The more strength that is restored, the more shoulder function there is. We are hoping that he is one of those who has full motion even though he might not have former strength. However, Dad and the doctor agreed that, until he re-injured his shoulder, he was doing fine and we are all hoping that he will be restored to at leas that much function.

Love, M


Kim Pitts wrote: Please tell him that we all send our love and best wishes! We wish him a speedy recovery and will keep him in our prayers. My dad (Robert Pitts) needs this surgery, but he is refusing until the pain gets too bad.  He wants to focus mainly on getting my mom feeling better. I found a new program yesterday to help with funding for more home health care. Medicare quit paying for it. Hopefully it will help some!

Thanks for letting me know about the surgery. You all take care!
Love, Kim and kids

From Ann Olsen

Dear Trauntveins!

Thank you - I love receiving and reading your newsletter! Hello and best wishes to all of you. Congratulations for all of the good things you are doing which are many!

Love, Ann Olsen
All my family who are all across the country sent their good wishes as well!

I can't get you.

Ann Olsen wrote: Dear M,

My e-mail address is olsenann@cox.net. in October Cox Communications bought out Cable America, so since then I have been using olsenann@cox.net.

Hope all is well with you and your family! I am actually up in Springfield OR until the middle of June. Rachelle has been in the hospital for a week and will probably continue there for a week or two. I'm staying with Kevin & my granddaughters, Kelsae (15) and Hayley (9). Rachelle is beginning to improve so the whole family is very thankful.

Thanks for trying to reach me. I can access my e-mail here at Rachelle's.

I'm well, busy helping out here as best I can. I am so glad I can visit Rachelle and give her lots of encouragement and emotional support as well as spending time with Kevin and the girls.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Myrna wrote: My goodness! What is the problem with Rachelle's health? Love, M

Ann wrote: Rachelle has had an episode of chronic depression which has made her very ill. However, she did get released from the hospital early Friday and she is feeling a little better. She has new medications and new doctors which seem to be very knowledgeable and very helpful to her. We are very encouraged that she will continue to improve as she recuperates and gets plenty of rest and has lots of emotional support. I am planning to stay here for three or four weeks. She needs me and I need to be here as well.

What's happening in your part of the world? I think of you often and hope you had the most wonderful Mother's Day ever!

Love, Ann

Donnette Sent a Fun Site

I got the following message from the lady who manages the Oxford List. It
is fun.

The Dark Archivist would like to take you around Oxfordshire through the
ages - meet him at www.darkarchivist.com.

Love, Mom/Donnette

E-Mail for Ann Olsen

Hi Myrna,

My e-mail address is olsenann@cox.net. in October Cox Communications bought out Cable America, so since then I have been using olsenann@cox.net.

Hope all is well with you and your family! I am actually up in Springfield OR until the middle of June. Rachelle has been in the hospital for a week and will probably continue there for a week or two. I'm staying with Kevin & my granddaughters, Kelsae (15) and Hayley (9). Rachelle is beginning to improve so the whole family is very thankful. 

Thanks for trying to reach me. I can access my e-mail here at Rachelle's. 

I'm well, busy helping out here as best I can. I am so glad I can visit Rachelle and give her lots of encouragement and emotional support as well as spending time with Kevin and the girls.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Love to all, Ann

Earlier

I finally took a closer look at the slides and found half of them have a stamp from Kodak that says Sept 1973. So those pictures must have been taken during the summer of 1973. I didn't write in my journal at that time.

The pictures with the following numbers were 1973
45, 46, 47, 48, 50, 51, 53, 54 (I sent 45, 46, 47, 48)

The ones from 1976 were
41, 42, 43, 44, 100, 102, 103, 107 (I sent 43, 44)

I had the slides all jumbled up in a box before I scanned them and I just numbered them as I was scanning them. 

Donnette

Smith Family Reunion 1976

45 - Karen, Barbara, Myrna, ... ?, Fred
46 Herbert, Raymond, Pearle, Myrna

Fun. From Donnette Smith

Smith Reunion Photos

Donnette wrote: I just found about a dozen slides taken 24 Apr 1976 at a Smith family
reunion here in Provo. I'll send maybe one or two a day and if I don't have the names right let me know.

43 Eva Jane Bjornson and her husband Leon holding granddaughter, with Virginia Brown in red suit. 24 Apr 1976 

45 Pearle Smith, Harold Smith, Fred Smith at the Smith family reunion at a Provo park 24 Apr 1976

Love, Donnette

Back Home

LHT has sorely tried the skills of Jared (our son-in-law) and his dental genius. He has had one root canal and will have to have more work done. I also have some work that needs doing. We have not been doing really well at the annual dental checks and so we have a few problems, each of us. We will try and get back there soon so that the work can be done. I think that instead of Jared doing the work free he should double-charge. It was not easy work. Anyway, we are back in Nephi and Jared, Kirsten and children are back to normal since the house guests who had to be taken back at forth to the dental clinic have returned home. Love, M

Hi From Barbara

Just got some interesting news. David talked to Bree this last week. They aren’t letting me talk to her or the kids. I can’t go to the house with David to pick up the kids, which means they won’t let me have them.  

David isn’t telling me anything.

I’m not coming up there this weekend.