I really appreciate the comments. My eye dr. has referred me to a surgeon for surgery and I absolutely don't want to do this. I've postponed the surgery twice and about to do it again. I hope others will post about their experience. I am using hot packs 2x/day and light massage which seems to help.

My sister had both of her shoulders replaced at separate times. I will ask her when I see her at lunch today. Actually, my younger sister has had both hips, both knees, and both shoulders replaced. She went to a doctor for her shoulders who has a high success rate with the surgery and outcomes with patients being able to raise their arms above their heads after surgery. He did not recommend physical therapy for his patients, explaining that people tended to over do it and that the shoulder needed to rest to mend. The only thing he had her do was VERY light movement to make sure the shoulder did not seize up. She was to open her hand, palm up, forearm extended in front of her bent at the elbow, and then close the hand into a fist a few times a day, and then do the same thing palm down. She also was to bend her elbow and pull her forearm as close to her shoulder that was entirely comfortable, hold it briefly, and repeat a few times. She had an excellent outcome.

"In college, my dominant eye became nearsighted while the other remained normal. The images were not "merged" as you describe because (as an example) in a large lecture hall, I couldn't read what the profs would write." Of course the images weren't merged properly because you didn't have clear vision in both eyes. Once you got your glasses with correction for your right eye, then the images from your right eye merged with the images from your normal, uncorrected, left eye. With contacts or IOLs "set" for monovision, both eyes see correctly for the distance for which they are corrected, then both of those images are merged by your brain. "I still wear glasses to this day and with different corrections (as I understand is not unusual) in each." Yes, I think it's probably more common for people to have differing corrections for their two eyes than for the two eyes to need the exact same correction. I used to work with someone who wore contacts with the same prescription for each eye, and he never had to worry about making sure he got each lens in the right chamber of the soaking solution. I've worn "hard" contacts since the early 1970s, and when RGP lenses (rigid gas permeable) lenses came out in 1979 I was switched to those, and have had RGPs ever since. My contacts have always had an almost-imperceptible dot near the edge of the right lens, so you can easily tell which is which. "One thing to consider is that if one's distance vision is only seen through one eye, then depth of field is lost." And that's exactly what the problem was that night when I was driving home with monovision contacts. And because I cannot say with absolute certainty that I will never, ever, be in a situation again when vision from only one of my eyes will be enough to serve the need/purpose at hand, I will never, ever, have my vision correction set as monovision.

Well, this thread has been so helpful for me getting ready for DH’s outpatient surgery this coming Monday morning (7/14). I went ahead and bought this amazing bed pillow package via A….n. DH is very impressed with the quality, although he doubts he will need them all. We’ll see, though. I can see myself using some while reading in bed once he’s rehabbed. Ded, his sling looks like yours, but has a rectangular soft pillow to fit under his upper arm right under the shoulder.