Open Surgical Dislocation....Over

I had my open surgery 5 days ago. For the entire week prior to the surgery, I was a mess. I was constantly on the verge of a panic attack. The only reason I was able to finally calm down was because of my acupuncturist who is the most amazing woman I have ever met. If you live in the NYC/lower Westchester area I highly recommend you see her for just about any ailment. http://www.acupunctureforlifeny.com/ I see her for anxiety, which is directly related to this surgery. The Monday before my surgery I was feeling panicky so I stopped by her office so that she could put in tiny needles in my ear at points that help me control my anxiety. I felt so much better the next day. Maybe it is just a placebo affect but when I went for pre-op testing in Wed, I was expecting my blood pressure to be through the roof and it was normal. I couldn't believe it. I saw her for a full treatment Thursday and on Monday, the day of my surgery, it was still normal. My pre-op blood pressure is usually really really high! I was on the same floor that I have been for my previous 5 hip surgeries and my shoulder surgery. I was surprised they didn't have a sign that said "welcome back Susie"! I got my favorite nurse who in the past has been a goddess getting my IV started. Unfortunately this time my veins weren't cooperating and it took 3 times to start my IV. The other difference was that I had to put on TED stockings prior to the surgery to help w my circulation. The surgery was done using a spinal epidural and sedation with the anesthesiologist maintaining low blood pressure to prevent too much blood loss. I was brought to the OR around 430 or 5. The next thing I remember was waking up in horrific pain, probably the worst pain I have ever experienced in my life. I was so nervous about this happening and I had a long discussion abt it w the anesthesiologist and with my surgeon's PA. The floor I had surgery on is where mostly the arthroscopic surgeries happen. The bigger surgeries happen on another floor. I was afraid the PACU wouldn't be able to handle me! It took 2 hours and whole lot of dilaudid to get me comfortable. Once I could think I realized that the epidural had worn off on the right (op side) and not the left. Not good! I had a pain pump w Dilaudid in it so they kept telling me to press the button on it. I don't think it helped too much though. At around midnight they moved me to the PACU on the floor where they do the "real" surgeries and I spent most of the night there. The nurses was great and let J stay with me since there was only one other patient in there. I began to feel very itchy from the meds so she gave me some Benadryl in my IV. I had a strange reaction and began to cough. We didnt think much of it and it worked so quickly I just fell asleep. By around 5am I could move my legs an acceptable amount and was transferred to a room. I was comfortable and in no pain as long as I didn't move. I had a urinary catheter and an epidural still in place. The pain pump went right to the epidural and the catheter was a blessing in disguise because there was no way in hell I was getting out of bed to use the bathroom. I was getting meds round the clock, I don't know why I was getting some of them but I was too out of it to question or argue. I was getting iron, a multi vitamin, aspirin, Percocet, toradol in my IV, Zofran in my IV and Nubain in my IV for itching since I had a weird reaction a second time to the IV Benadryl. As far as the surgery went, I have spoken w my OS a few times but need to get the op report to know exactly what he did. From what I understand, the old allograft had actually incorporated nicely but wasn't functioning at all. It was pretty easy to dislocate my hip. Once he put in the new one it created a good seal that could be seen since it was an open surgery. I think he also said he shaved down bone under my psoas but I will have to confirm this when I am less drugged. The epidural and catheter came out on the 3rd day and I began using a bedside commode since I wasn't doing great in PT. I think I got as far as sitting at the edge of the bed and standing on the second day. The 3rd day I took a few steps and made it from one side of he bed to he other. By day 4 I was feeling a lot better and really wanted to go home. I pushed myself in PT and walked far enough to make them happy and did a few steps. The best part of coming home was taking a shower. I got to use my fancy shower bench and I have to keep the incision dry until my OS can check it, but it was a real shower! My incision is closed with dissolvable sutures and steri strips. Since I've been home I have spent most of the time in bed with my CPM. I have to take aspirin and wear TED stockings to prevent blood clots.