Tim's Shoulder Surgery

Thank you for all the amazing support I have received so far – I have been overwhelmed by your encouraging messages and generous help. As well as the incredible amount donated on this page I have also received $1500 from others who couldn’t use the site so I would like to mention them too.

An update on my shoulder surgery – First some good news, some friends saw my ‘Give a little’ page and recommended getting the surgery done in Auckland, which has reduced the surgery costs to closer to the original estimate (approx. $15000) So even though I had to fly to Auckland I was able to have surgery done just 3 days after I had originally planned, which gives me plenty of time to rehabilitate before the 2016 World Champs.

I had keyhole surgery done on Monday 16th. The surgeon repaired a reasonable sized tear and also had to work on fixing a large ‘dent’ in the back of my shoulder. I now have 5 ‘screws’ stabilising the shoulder. The surgeon was pleased with how the operation went. I left hospital with an anaesthetic block into a nerve in my neck, which reduced the pain and helped with the initial recovery…but it caused a few ‘raised eyebrows’ when I flew back to Lower Hutt 2 days later!

I have to have my shoulder supported in a sling for 6 weeks. Once this period of time is over I will be able to begin physiotherapy and the first small steps toward my training for the year ahead. It will be a slow process and I will have to be patient and thing about the longer term goals. If I keep on track I am looking at a full recovery by World Champs next year.

I want to say again how grateful and fortunate I am to have had so many people who have supported me and allowed me to be able to get the surgery done. I hope I will see most people to thank personally, but for those who I won’t see or who made their donations/names private, thank you so much.

I hope that in the near future you will see my GPS dot ‘racing’ on a screen in and you know that you have been a part of the amazing support team that has got me to the start line again ?

Thank you!

Tim Robertson