Seven weeks post surgery to current

Surgery pictures, inside my shoulder

The surgeon told me this was going to be a slow recovery and said, "If you think you are going to be different, you are wrong."  I was wrong.  I did think I'd be different.  I did think I'd recover faster than most people.  I did not and have not.

At six weeks, I was allowed to start moving my arm and take off the sling.  The first six weeks after surgery, I was confined to the sling 24/7 except when I was showering.  As a result, all of my muscles cramped up and I was on painkillers.  Bad combo for Dusty.

As soon as I was allowed to move my arm and start physical therapy, I stopped using painkillers (and haven't taken one since) and the pain diminished immediately. Physical therapy has been good.  I picked a great place with fun people.  As you can see from the pictures below, my progress has been slow.

I was cleared to run on October 31st.  I kept doing the mile a day streak and had my 1,000th day of streaking on November 8th.  My first 50k post surgery was Mutual Mine on October 26th.  It was a great race where, once again, I finished Dead Fing Last (DFL).  The second week in November, I was Jim Schroeder's crew for Icarus 6 day.  He did 250 miles in his first six day attempt!  On November 15 and 16, I paced my friend Margie to her first 100 mile finish and I got 50 miles in the process.

Jim Schroeder on the 1km loop at Icarus

Beautiful sunrise at Icarus (Fort Lauderdale)

Margie and I after her 100 mile finish at Wild Sebastian!

Nearly four months postsurgery, I was able to lift my arm to the front over my head!  A few days later, I washed my hair with TWO HANDS for the first time since June 20th.

This weekend, I'm going to attempt another 100 miler.  I may not be in great shape for it but not bad shape either.  When I signed up for it in July or August, my husband thought I was crazy.  I knew I needed something big to motivate me to keep moving and not give up.  It was the right thing to do.

2015 will be full of running and adventures.  All but one of the adventures are tentative.  I am ready to do great things (great things=memorable, not necessarily "great") even if I'm unable to lift my right arm over my head more than three times in a row!

All pictures below were taken beginning six weeks post surgery and I'm lifting my arm to the front.  A few pictures are missing because I didn't have enough clothes on.