I talked to Aunt Rita yesterday. She came home from the hospital on Thursday night. She's going to have friends and family rotating spending the night with her, as she really shouldn't be alone for the time being.

I wish I wasn't in Convalescent Mode myself at the moment. If I hadn't just had surgery, I'd be making a beeline back to Brigantine. Unfortunately, until I'm cleared to drive, I can't be of use for practical things like running errands or helping ferry Aunt Rita to appointments.

I'll be in better shape eventually. When I'm able to drive again and I can do a bit more for myself, if she still needs people to stay and keep her company, I'll find a way to fit myself into the rotation. :)

She hasn't started any kind of therapy for the shoulder yet. I know the doc wanted her to start moving the arm ASAP, but I'm not sure when they're going to formalize it and give her a schedule of exercises to do. I hope she's able to maintain a decent range-of-motion on her own, so the therapist won't have flex the joint as much to increase the range of motion. Trust me when I tell you, when I had PT years ago, the part of the therapy that hurt the worst was when the therapist helped my knee bend an extra few degrees past where it wanted to stop. Going through that pain was absolutely a necessary evil, but MAN, was that ever nasty! :( The less Aunt Rita has to feel like that during her own physical therapy sessions, the better. I hate to even think of her having to undergo that particular part of the treatment.

This isn't to scare anybody who's reading this out of getting physical therapy, if it's warranted. Go. Get it done. The pain doesn't last, but the benefit of getting lost range-of-motion back DOES. That's one thing I'll say in favor of that particular exercise -- you really do see the "gain" part of that "No pain, no gain" motto. Being able to detect improvement in your range of motion will make even nasty pain a lot more tolerable. Trust me on that score.

Better yet, DON'T FALL and get hurt in the first darn place. Then you won't have to worry about any of this stuff. Believe me, you'll like THAT plan of action even better.