It’s now been three months since my second shoulder replacement and things are looking OK. I’ve come a long way since this time last year when I was recovering from a torn rotor-cuff tendon on the first shoulder (click here for recap) and I had one arm in a sling and the other was giving me a lot of problems – doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun!

Before I know it, I will have to go through it all again as my replacements may wear out before/if I ever reach the age of 70. However I am going to be very careful not to do anything silly, I’m still doing my physio exercises when I can and the list of things I am able to do is getting longer each day. Today I reached another milestone by putting my bra on all by myself! OK so it doesn’t sound much but believe me when you’ve needed help for at least two years, to finally be able to do this simple task is a HUGE sense of achievement. I admit I did find an odd way to do it as I can’t quite manage to get my hands that far up my back yet, however practice makes perfect so I believe its only a matter of time. (I put it round my waist and fastened it behind my back and then pulled it up – I did try once fastening at the front and then turning it round but I found that really difficult with two dodgy shoulders).

Some of the other things I can now do include clapping my hands (a round of applause for my surgeon please), raising both arms above my head, putting my hair in a ponytail and brushing my teeth with a manual toothbrush. My next goal is to hang the washing out on the line – however as the weather is rubbish this may be some way off yet.

A couple of ladies have contacted me to say they are soon to have a shoulder replacement themselves so I would like to wish them the very best of luck, one of them has started writing a blog about her own experience. You can follow Sue’s blog at https://shoulderreplacementjourney.wordpress.com/

My next (and possibly my last) post will be after my visit to the consultant in March, so goodbye for now and thank you all once again for your support over this last 15 months.