My screwed up rotator cuff

My left shoulder and upper arm have been bothering me for some time. Not sure how long, exactly, but a while. It may have been injured in a fall I took from a ladder while working on a historic house that I am engaged in restoring. I don't know. But the pain has been driving me crazy and limiting my ability to do a lot of things like dressing and putting on a coat. So I made an appointment to see a doctor, but not an orthopaedic surgeon. Rather, I chose a doctor of physical medicine and rehabilitation hoping for a non-surgical alternative treatment. It turns out that I have some damage to my rotator cuff in my left shoulder. I'm not sure if it's a tear or just inflammation, but I guess the X-rays that I had taken yesterday may reveal at least a little something of what is going on. I am starting physical therapy tomorrow afternoon. I suspect that they'll have me come in once or twice a week, but I've been searching YouTube for some at-home PT that I can do by myself to get a head start on what they will have me do in therapy sessions. The sooner that I can start opening up the impingement in the joint, the sooner that the pain will begin to diminish. It looks like I'm going to need to do some stretching exercises, and as long as I don't experience grueling pain doing so, I suppose that I can do that. I may also try soaking in Epsom salts to alleviate the pain as well. Anything to avoid the knife is what I want to try. A friend with whom I sing in choir just had rotator cuff surgery and will be out of commission for six months as a result. I just can't afford to take that long to recover. I need to be able to drive myself places and right now, my friend Bob can't drive at all. He must keep his arm immobilized until the doctors tell him that he can get out of his shoulder contraption. After hearing what he's having to go through, I decided to choose an alternative non-surgical route with a doctor of physical medicine. So far, I really like my doctor and am encouraged by what she's telling me is in store. It's going to be slow and she said not to expect rapid recovery, but persistence and patience will win the day. Exercising on my own will also help. So I am going to try doing some of the exercises that I have seen in physical therapy videos on YouTube and see if that can give me a head start on recovery. The sooner that I am healthy, the better. I'm tired of this pain. It's driven me crazy for far too long now and I am so looking forward to restored health and a pain free life.