Wednesday, November 9, 2011

The Stress is Killing Me

I am so sorry that I have not been keeping you updated with what is going on with my hip, but since we are 3 weeks away from surgery #5, I figured I'd better catch you up.

A few weeks ago, my OS office told me they would need a letter from my gastroenterologist saying it is ok for me to undergo a "low risk" surgery, since I have Crohn's disease. Keep in mind that they have never asked for that before. Fine, I took care of it. My gastro also wanted to run blood tests. As an added side note, the week I went to see him I was really sick and completly abusing Mucinex and Robitussin! I emailed him for the results of my bloodwork and was rewarded with this message: "your sodium level is too high. You cannot have surgery with these levels. You are probably dehydrated, drink lots of water and we will do the test again".
You can imagine that that email did not help my stress levels in the slightest bit. I was also leaving on vacation the next day, so I had all the time in the world to worry but no time to get the test redone!
Today I finally went for the blood work, I did notice that the first time my blood came out sluggishly, probably due to dehydration. Today it flowed nicely! Keep your fingers crossed that it is ok this time!

Vacation is a wonderful time to relax, rest, and de-stress. I did all of those. unfortunately there is absolutely no carry-over. When you get home all the shit you left is still there for you to deal with.
Today was also my second pre-op appointment. I was hoping that this appointment would calm my nerves but it didn't.
The message I left with is that my OS is really confident about this surgery (apparently he hasn't always been this confident in the past!) and a lot of my questions will not be able to be answered fully until he actually goes in, sees the damage, and repairs it. His repair will also dictate a lot in terms of how the rehab will go.
So I was hoping for a lot of concrete answers, and a little bit of inner peace. I got none. I did get to try on the new hip brace he is using and decided to get one. He also wants me using the CPM machine for 2 weeks post-op.

I wake up in a mini panic attack every morning. Dec 1 can't get here fast enough!

3 comments:

Hotchickie said...

Good luck with everything! Please keep me updated as I am scheduled to have my labral reconstruction on Jan. 5th. Feel free to email me if you wish at hotchickie84@hotmail.com. I would be great to be in contact with somebody who is going through a similar surgery so close in time. Thinking of you!

Maria said...

Hey...Susie..at least on the bright side of things....UHC now covers this surgery! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Anonymous said...

I wish you well. I had a hip arthroscopy on the left hip on 9/28/11. I had a labral tear and they left me with 50% of the labral after debridement. At week 3 post-op, I was sitting in a chair and moved me left leg out when repositioning. I felt a pop and had excruciating pain in the left hip. It has continually gotten worse since. PT is unable to stretch or exercise me due to the increased pain and decreased ROM. He sent a letter to the surgeon saying he thought I needed another MRI arthrogram to check for another tear and I called the office and was told that the surgeon would not do another MRI because it would only show post op changes and would not identify another tear. I am approx. 7 weeks post-op and have been on crutches for all but 10 days. I am very frustated. I will see the surgeon on 11/28/11. I want some answers. All of this is from a surgery to put in the vaginal mesh. They tore the labrum during surgery. I work in retail mgmt. and have not been able to work since July 2011. I had planned on going back to work the first of December. My PT says there is no way. It hurts to walk and it hurts to sit and sleep. Any outward movement of my leg causes sharp pains in the hip. I just found your post and it has been very informative. Thank you and good luck.