Sunday, June 10, 2007

Post-op x 1

I remember waking up in the OR, at which point I think my surgery was over, but I don't really know for sure. Don't freak out, I didn't feel anything...my surgery was performed under spinal anesthesia with sedation (maybe not enough!!)
Actually, I wanted to watch the surgery,and my surgeon Ok'd it, but the anesthesiologist nixed the idea!! I'm happy now I didn't, it went quicker this way!
I woke up again in recovery, still pretty groggy, while a PT was putting my leg into a CPM machine. I fell back asleep! Then a nurse asked me if I was in pain, I said my incision hurt a little, I guess she interpreted that as yes, so she gave me morphine. This happened 2 more times, until I maxed out the morphine. This whole time I was supposed to be able to regain feeling and function in my legs but it wasn't happening. I was told that for an 8AM surgery, you should be able to go home by 12 or 1, I remember seeing all the other people who had gone into surgery around the same time as me go home, while I was still trying to wiggle my toes.
My surgeon had come over to me once immediately after he was done to tell me what he had found, a really large labral tear and bone spur on the acetabulum that caused the tear. He also told me that unfortunately, he had not been able to repair the tear, it was too "mangled" and had to be debrided.
Then I went back to sleep!!!! It took me a very long time to come out of the spinal anesthesia, I think the nurses were concerned because my surgeon came back to check on me a second time after he finished his next surgery, I still wasn't moving my legs too much. I did eventually regain control of my legs, at which point I had to eat something..note to self: bring a snack next time!!!
I went home around 5pm, after a nurse shift change so me not eating anything was overlooked and I was given vicodin!! I live 20 minutes from the hospital, and yelled at my husband the whole way home every time he hit a bump or pothole on the street!
Another lesson learned: I will set my alarm the first night and take pain meds every hour. I will never forget the amount of pain I was in the next morning, with 8 hours of no pain meds, I lunged for the bottle of vicodin!!!

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