Surgery

The day finally came for my hip surgery.  I had prepared everything as much as possible.  Schedules written out, meals prepped and put in freezer, laundry done, house clean...everything I could think of to make life a little easier once I was out of commission.  When the hospital called me on Friday to tell me the time of my surgery was the first time it was REAL.  I felt sick with worry.  What if it went horribly wrong? Was my leg going to be hideously bruised and ugly? How long was it going to really hurt? What if it was worse than they thought? On and on my scary thoughts rolled.  My surgery was scheduled for 7AM, the first of the day.  I needed to be there by 6:00AM to get all prepped.  My friend Margaret is awesome and arrived at my house at 5:15AM so she could be there to get my kids up, fed and off to school for me.  At this point most of my fear had subsided and I just wanted to get it over with.  The nurses were very nice and got me ready.  They gave me some drugs and put the IV in and the Doctor came and asked me some questions.  Jason asked him some questions and gave him his mobile number and was sent out to the waiting room.  The next thing I remember was someone telling me to open my eyes and wake up.  It was so strange.  I did open my eyes and somehow got dressed and wheeled in a wheel chair out to our car.  When my mom asked me days later how I got dressed after the surgery I realized that I had no idea.  I guess I was functioning while completely drugged.  I don't really remember getting out of the building or how I got in the car either.  I don't remember much of anything about the day of surgery.

Since the day after surgery I remember most of what has gone on but to be honest now that I'm off the narcotics I can look back and say I was not all there while on them.  The doctor did say that it was better in my hip than he thought it would be.  He did not have to shave the bone at all.  The labrum was in pretty good shape so he repaired it without any problems.  They gave me crutches and said to use them and walk flat footed weight bearing as tolerated.  I would say that I have not had sharp pains but general achey-ness.  I can put a fair amount of weight on my right leg without any issue.  My knee and quad or very stiff I assume from the traction used on my leg.  My heels get pressure sores on them from not moving in bed so I'm finding ways to keep them off the couch and sheets to let those irritated spots heal.  I'm off the pain meds completely now and only take Tylenol when needed.  Sleeping is more frustrating now that I'm off the pain meds and I have started sleeping on my good side with a pillow between my legs but overall I'm not sleeping well because I don't have the freedom to move around.

So, 8 days after surgery I'm doing pretty well.  I had six incisions with five of them being stitched.  They are itchy now.  My legs is achey but overall not bad.  I'm off drugs.  I'm sooooooo bored! I still can't drive and I'm slow to get around.  I tire pretty quickly and I'm getting frustrated that this won't just be better in 2 weeks!  I'm not good with just sitting and doing nothing.