Happy New Years Everyone....
Well... I have been home from the hospital for 3 days... I had my left hip replacement on the 27th of this month... only 5 weeks after the revision on my right hip..... 3 major surgeries in 3 1/2 months.... wow... I am exhausted. I was very concerned about getting the left hip done before the end of the year though when my medical deductibles start all over again.
I had the same team working on my as the first two surgeries... and as usual I was a panicked, nervous, sobbing wreck. They gave me injected pain meds in the recovery room... but once they got me into my regular room it took 2 hours before they hooked up my IV pump pain medication... I was pretty much in agony by that point. PT did not get me up the first day since I could not feel my feet, but they did get me up the second day. Apparently, the IV pain meds were not working very well because I thought I was gonna die... I have NEVER in my whole life experienced so much pain.... I am ashamed to admit I was screaming and everything... took 4 people to get me back into bed. We switched from the IV meds to oral Percocet... which did take the pain away while I was in bed... but when I tried to get up in the afternoon it was a repeat of the morning's attempt. The OS ordered another X-ray to make sure nothing had shifted... thankfully everything looked ok.
The 3rd day in the hospital we attempted to get up again... this time I had been on the Percocet for a full 24 hours, and I tried to get up off the left side of the bed (we tried the right side the day before, which looking back seems pretty stupid since I had to move my left leg over the full width of the bed to get up... sigh). I was able to get up... still with pain, but it was not so bad that I couldn't handle it. I only took two little tiny steps and then stood while the nurse changed my dressing (this incision is about 15 inches long.... guess my swimsuit modeling days are over... ha ha). The evening again was a small success... I was able to take about 6 steps.
The morning of day 4 had me walking all the way to the bathroom (quiet a feat I must say.... the hospital room I was pretty darn big).... my OS came in to see me in the afternoon and told me I was allowed to go home.
I was thankful to only spend 4 days in the hospital... no blood transfusion or heart monitors this time... thankfully. I am having some pretty severe pain... it is the worst when I am about 20 minutes before my next pain dosage is due. I am not a believer in pain medication (as my previous posts show) but this time I am keeping up a steady stream of the medication.... at least for awhile. The pain medication really messes with my emotions and I find myself bursting into tears at the drop of a hat, but I can't take the pain right now. My poor right leg is now doing all the work and it probably was completely ready for that job... ha ha.
My surgeon will be doing a home visit this evening... he is coming up to change my dressings believe it or not... and will be coming up to remove the staples in a few days as well... I declined home nursing and home physical therapy this time because of the new year deductible, so my doctor is being pretty kind I think to help out like that.
I am pretty sure some will think I was crazy to do this all so fast (and I would probably agree with you... ha ha) ... but... it just had to be done.
I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year...
Hugs
Anyhow... I just wanted to post a quick update....this has been a long... terrible adventure, one I don't think I would repeat if I had the chance to do it all over again... but at least I am over the last hurdle and now I just have to recover so I can get back to work.... I only have until the end of February before I have to be back.
Australia
