My wife took me in to see the physicians assistant (PA) the day after surgery. The 15 minute car ride to and from the dr. were about all I could take in the pain department.
The PA shared with us what they found and what they were able to repair. The surgery was conducted by opening me up with about a 4" cut just above my armpit crease on the front of my shoulder. When they went in, they had to move my deltoid muscle (shoulder) around to figure what was going on with my pec tendon underneath it.
Turns out I tore my pec tendon in between the bone and muscle junctions. So it wasn't the best case nor the worst case scenario and they were able do some surgical repair.
My tendon tore about halfway across and then tore down the middle as well. So essentially, at least how I envisioned it, I had a 1" by 1.5" flap of tendon hanging loose after my injury. The dr. was able to suture the tendon to itself but no anchors were inserted since the tear was away from the bone.
Since it tore in the middle, the doctor's instructions are to do nothing but keep the arm still for three weeks to allow the tendon to begin repairing itself. Then, I'll come back for a follow up evaluation and we'll begin to discuss physical therapy. The PA did say that therapy would start by increasing range-of-motion, then slowly trying to add strength and finally endurance. Again, I was reminded it will be at least a six month recovery timeframe until I return to normal activities and longer for full strength.
At this point I was just glad the road to recovery had begun.
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