April 6th, Sunday...day 2

4-06-08

 

I mostly sleep and push the morphine machine button.  I thought I was sleepy because of the drugs and the surgery but it turns out my blood is very low and instead of getting better it is getting worse.  No wonder I was too weak yesterday to consider trying to walk. 

 

Actually, I was so groggy I barely remember them telling me I needed a blood transfusion or things could go horribly wrong if my blood goes lower.  Well dyam!  For my last hip replacement I went through the trouble to store some of my blood in case I might need it.  That surgery was so much bigger and I didn't need the blood so this time I didn't bother.  It is kind of unnerving having someone else's blood drained into your body while you lay there but by the time the second bag went in I was much more awake.  I joked that they were going to turn me into a vampire.  :-)

 

They wouldn't let me try walking yet though, I had to wait another day yet.  As long a this didn't interfere with my going home tomorrow I am OK with that.   Once I had the transfusions I felt better enough I could actually picture me getting up and walking and being able to go home!

 

The pain was still bad though and althoughit wasn't any less I started going without the morphine machine.  After all, I coudn't take the machine home with me so it was time to toughen up! 

 

 

 

April 5th

4-05-08

 

Well, it's over.  I now have 2 titanium hips.  I ought to really set off some alarms at the airport!  The pain sucks, thank God for the morphine machine, the hypos of some other pain killer and the pain pills.  Yep, I needed it all and it is still miserable pain and although I sort of knew this was going to happen you never really imagine it will be as bad as it end up!  I was hoping it wouldn't hurt as bad as last time.  I mean last time my whole thigh was sliced up but  even though the two incisions are much smaller it still hurts like hell.  All I can say about that is it will get better but it won't happen overnight.  I am being a patient patient!

 

Today I sat in a chair in my room for almost 2 hours.  Later in the day i was to go for my first walk but i really wasn't up to it.  I felt too dizzy and weak to do it and told the physical threapist I would be waiting until morning. 

 

 

 

April 4th...The day of my second hip replacement!

The day has come.  Last night I had to set the alarm for a 5:30 wake up so I could shower and we had to leave at 6:30 for my 7:30 arrival.  Heaven forbid I should be late!  My long hot shower was wonderful.  It would have been even better if I could have coffee but no such luck.  Nothing to eat or drink after midnight last night!  I stepped out of the shower and as I was passing through the kitchen I saw the clocks.  OOPS..it was 4:45 am!  When I was setting the alarm last night I must have bumped the button for the time, YIKES!  More time to be nervous!

 

Val brought me to the hospital but I insisted she drop me off and go about her business at her farm.  She had more important things to do than to sit in a waiting room all day long waiting for me!  I traversed the halls alone, and it was kind of like walking into my own funeral or something but this is the way I wanted it.  No drama.

 

I was in a bed  and an IV was started amazingly fast.  Wow...well, better fast than drag this on!  As soon as I met the anesthesiologist   I asked for some calming drugs and got them.  There is no turning back now, I need to do this because of the pain I am in whether I am moving or not now, but it still sucks.  This all goes back to my first nightmare of an experience over my right hip replacement.  It took me 4 years to make myself do it again and the only reason I am here is because of the minimally invasive procedure Dr. Rother will perform.  I don't think anythng could make me go through the procedure Ihad the first time again.

 

Well, before I knew it I was getting wheeled down the hall...all of which is a pretty vague memory at this time as I was pretty groggy, just the way I wanted to be.  I saw all sorts of containers around which I figured were new "parts".  I asked if I could see them and they seemed surprised I would want to,  but before I knew it I was out cold.  The next thing I remember was waking up in recovery in some awful pain that they had a hard time controlling, it took them awhile.  The bad pain happened again after they wheeled me to my private room with a view too.  It took a lot of drugs for the unbearable pain to stop but after those first episodes they managed it better for me, thank God!

 

Ok so it's over with now...there is nowhere to go from here but UP! 

April 3, the day before

Well the day I never thought would come was now here.  My first hip replacement on the other side was such a disaster all around that I swore I'd rather crawl than go through that again.  Then last June I met Dr. Rother.  I liked Dr. Rother right away which was a miracle in itself because I did also grow a dislike for doctors after my first go around with hip replacement surgery.  I feel like it was my lucky day when I met Dr. Rother.  He made me want to sign up for a new hip the first time I met him.  He does the newer less invasive procedure that was not available to me 4 years ago.  He also has a sweet manner about him that made me trust him. 

I didn't sign up right away though, there were some things we needed to do before we knew if I needed a new hip for sure or if it was my back that was giving me so much pain all the time.  This was another one of the very reasons I never did sign up to have the other hip done before now.  Would it do enough good to matter?  

I had spine epidurals and hip injections with little to no sucess starting last June.  At the time I planned to have the left hip replaced in October but the more I thought about it, the timing of winter and the possibility of falling on the ice had me re-thinking that idea so I decided to wait until spring.  I am glad I did in a way, because we had a particularly hash and long icy winter.  The problem with that descision however, was spending those extra months pretty much in agony 100% of the time.  Each day seemed worse and by the time March arrived and I called to make the appointment for the hip replacement I didn't know how I would make it another few weeks. 

The weeks flew by pretty fast though, as I had a lot to do to get ready and I was busy with the preparations up until the last minute.  Which is where we are now...I am as ready as I will ever be.  Val is here to take over and care for my fur family and I have absolutly everything taken care of for this whole month. 

pre-replacement 03-25-08

Today I went in for my second epidural.  The first was a week ago yesterday.  I sure hope that by going through these procedures the chances of complications arising from not being able to lay on my back have been lessened.  The only thing I can say about it.... is epidurals suck.  The Dr. that does them is a very nice guy & he does a good job.  The anticipation is the worst.  The other part of the worst lasts about 3 minutes but it feels like a lot longer than that when you are the one laying on your stomach and getting a needle full of drugs stuffed up your spine.  Nice Dr takes a moment to chat and although it is short it helps.  He told me a story today that gave me hope.    His father was all but in the operating room for a back surgery but at the last minute they decided to do a hip replacement first and see where they were at after that.  It turned out that was the permanent fix, no back  surgery needed.  I had not expected to hear this story today and it gives me great hope.  Wouldn't that be something?  I cannot remember being able to walk more than a few feet because it hs been years.

I have been working on making the moves in order to have this event take place.  I keep calling the procedure by many names as I am trying hard not to think about it too much.  There is nothing I can do to change this situation and wishing it wasn't so would be a waste of good energy so I refuse to go there.    Instead, my mind is needed to concentrate on the impending tasks to ready myself for a period of  immobilization.  This is my biggest chore.  The second biggest chore is to somehow get my spring cleaning done because it will be awhile before I can do the extra things and I sure can't picture me sitting in any kind of mess or disarray.  Things are pretty orderly so far though.  It is not my nature to let the place fall apart but it has also been a great challenge to just do the day to day lately. 

I have a shopping list that includes everything I could possibly need for at least a month but I am still working on it.  At some point I will have to stop adding to the list and do with what I  have!

Today I bead shopped.  Now I am broke, lol...Just kidding, I have some other jewelry/business related items to tend to before I am housebound as well.  I prefer to support our local bead and glass shops rather than to shop online except for a few items that are hard to find otherwise.  I don't know what I would do without my brick and mortar local shops. 

 I suspect I will be making another trip to more than one shop in the next week. 

 My list for other supplies has been growing but only slowly.  If  "slowly" is a sign of a complete list, it is not too bad.  If I have anything financially to look forward to next month it is the fact that I won't be spending ANY money on gas!..I am just going to get extras of everything on my lists.  Hmmm...I could work on trimming down winter heating bills or electric, both of which have been exorbatnet this year.  Which shall I choose?

One thought that just popped into my mind is to make sure I get at least one frozen pizza, lol.  I haven't had pizza in months.  I will go for the Shelton Family pizza made locally by lifelong friends.  It is great pizza!

On the pizza note I will close for this night.  Countdown something like 9 days...