9 Day Revision Post-Op Appointment

My stitches are out, phew. They were really grossing me out already. My appointment went well, actually, this is probably the best appointment I have ever had. There was no talk, mention or suggestion of a future surgery! I think I turned a new page! Dr. Kelly was happy with my ROM so far, and even secretly pleased that I had been in bed for so long since it seemed to help the hip a lot. He showed me all of the scope pics, there were tons, I think more than my other 2 surgeries combined. Also the before and after x-rays. He had tons of pictures of my psoas, it looked beautiful! He said he was really nervous going in that the psoas was really going to be an issue and he had promised me he wouldn't cut it. "You were right" he said, and repeated it!! I explained that I hadn't meant to give him a hard time about it, but I truly believed from the bottom of my heart that the psoas was fine. I explained that it had always been tight and tender but hadn't changed in the whole interim of pre and post surgery and rehab. He even had a final shot of the psoas as he was coming out, just to make everyone happy!

He said there was a lot of scar tissue that he removed. The cartilage on the femoral head looked great, it was not perfect on the acetabulum but not too bad. It had been damaged slightly from the cam impingement. Now for the cam.....it was there. Duh, haven't I been having impingement for a while now! The CT-scan should have picked it up, they measured the alpha angle, I have to look up the report, I believe that an alpha angle under 50 is normal and mine was 34 (don't quote me on that). Well, it turns out that I had 'special cam impingement'. It was not typical, which is why it was initially missed, it was very subtle, but not mild, meaning, it sure as hell was there but difficult to see. Just my luck! So he shaved it down and gave me a normal looking femoral head which no longer impinges ! YAY!!

I explained about the nausea and he regretted not being able to get my beloved Dr.Jules for anesthesia, but at least being in bed and doing nothing has helped with the pain. He wants me to take it easy with rehab, go slow, especially in the beginning and not to overload the other leg. Right now, it is good, and has not lost anything!

So now it all falls in the hands of rehab! I think we can handle this!!! :-)
Oh, I forgot to ask for my op-report, I will call first thing Monday morning!

Now That Things Are Clearer....

Is it fair to say I hate the anesthesiologist? I really don't know if this is his fault, but it is easiest to blame him, since I will never see him again anyway!!!! My back hurts too, in the area of the epidural, coincidence? I think not! I don't think he liked me very much, as I think I mentioned previously, when I asked for 'Zofran, lots of Zofran', he got cocky with me and said 'studies show it makes no difference if you give more than normal....' I woke up nauseous this morning but doing better now. I long for the day that I will feel 'normal' again. To make matters worse, J is sick now too. For those of you who don't know him, he is a huge baby, so clearly, this is not good for anyone. He needs to let everyone know, every minute, that he is sick. Like we can't tell by his horribly loud hacking cough. What's even better is that since we share a bed, he hacks all over me as well, nice!

My mom is going home today, so we will be on our own, hacking cough and all. The plan was to take Jk for a haircut today, his hair has gotten a bit out of control, and my mom decided to trim his bangs bc he couldn't really see anymore, so now he looks like we purposely left a mullet on the back. He is still really cute though, if I do say so myself! The children's haircutting place here is closed Mon. and Tues., so I proposed taking him to 'real' barber shop. If it stops raining,we will head on over. I tried convincing L to get her hair cut where I get mine done. I had to take her with me a few weeks ago bc of a nanny snafu. On our way, she turned to me, and in a very serious voice she asked 'mommy, are you going to sit in a truck?'. I had to explain that grown-ups sit in special chairs and don't get to watch videos and eat lollipops during haircuts. Now, when I ask her if she wants to go where I go, she laughs and says 'don't be silly mommy, I have to go to the kid's place'!!

To Sum up a Week

The worst is over. I ate 3 meals today, and they all stayed down. Here is the current crutch situation. I walk from my bed to the bathroom with no crutches. Around the house with one crutch for short distances, but if I do too much I need 2 crutches in the house. I just got 'stuck' in the kitchen, I had 1 crutch and just couldn't walk anymore with it alone, so I needed a 'rescue'. My incisions hurt the most right now, but I feel some mild pain in the hip with 'excessive' walking. I am having anterior tightness and need to get my ass to PT. Today I became semi-compliant and did bridges and isometric hip adduction. I didn't have the motivation to go looking for my theraband yet. I will take it with me when we go away for Thanksgiving. Overall, my hip is the best post-op this time than any other time. Thank goodness, I don't think I could handle pain and nausea, or maybe I just don't feel the pain because of the nausea.

Once again, I think I was right. But no one listened to me this time. I really wanted MY anesthesiologist. I also would have been thrilled to not be sedated, I didn't even bring it up this time since I was shot down so quickly when I suggested it to the anesthesiologist at my first scope. I think we could have avoided a lot of unpleasantness though.

I have my first post-op with Dr. Kelly on Wed. so I will see the pictures clearly, not through a Dilaudid haze, and get a clearer idea of what he found within the joint.

Its Dreary Out...

But inside, there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel. I went for blood work this morning, CBC, chem-7 and some liver function stuff... I think. I was then absolutely sick of being home so I went out for lunch. I tolerated a vegetable soup and roll, yay!!! I also walked to L's school to pick her up as well as to see Jk at mommy and me (nanny and me???). My aunt and cousin have been here since Thurs. to help and visit and were leaving today, so they also wanted to see Jk, it was a good excuse to take a short walk.

The PR company for HSS called me today. They loved the pictures and loved my 'story', they want to do a follow-up shoot in my house. Crazy! But being the desperate housewife that I am these days, I can take some time out of my 'super busy' day for this!

Now I am back at home once again, tired from this day of adventures.
Apparently I had a PT appointment this morning which I completely blew off, I do apologize P, it was rude and inconsiderate, but I thought I had no appointments this week. I don't think I will be in again until next week, I just want to take it easy and really get over this, then begin to be compliant with my rehab! I will start some exercises today, I will keep you posted!

Nausea Nausea Go Away

Yes....you know the deal. Better but still nauseous. I am going to get some labwork done today just to rule out something (don't know what). I posted this issue on a Crohn's board, similar to the hip boards, the responses were overwhelming, and all said it must be the anesthesia. This is the last time I have surgery without Dr. Jules! In fact, this better be the last time I ever have surgery!!!!!

Sunday Funday

I was hoping today, once again, would be better. Last night I got out of the house for a little but had to quickly come because of....well, you know....
This morning was back to feeling like crap. A good friend came by and brought me a passionfruit iced tea from our new Starbucks (yay) which was wonderful. The combination of sweet and tart is really helpful. Around noon I had some rice, which stayed down, and later I showered and left the house! We had a good friend's b-day party. I sat in the car in fear that I would get sick, with a bottle of ice water, slowly sipping! I made it!
I made it through the party with lots of drinks and some chicken soup, and made the car ride home as well. Now I am comfortably resting in my bed! Since I was up and about, my hip hurts a drop, the incisions are the worst. They hurt a lot more this time. The pain is pretty superficial. Maybe Dr. Kelly just pretended to actually do surgery to get me off his back, made incisions and moved some instruments around to give the impression!!! Hahahaha, Paranoid or what!!

29 Hours Since my Last Hit

I am Percocet free...still. The withdrawl is going well!!! I don't think I can ever take narcotics again, I am so scared. I have been in bed for 29 hours with ice on and off, I occasionally haul myself out to use the bathroom or ride my bike for fear of a DVT. I am also trying to remember to do ankle pumps and quad sets and short arc quads in bed to help the blood circulate.

I am a lot better than yesterday but not great, I can't believe the nausea has not completely passed. I am eventually going to have to get up and do more stuff, then the pain med situation may become sticky. Worse comes to worse, I have Darvocet, which has been good for me in the past. I hope it doesn't come to that.

It is definitely not what I take, but how much. I think the levels were just so built up in my system I couldn't tolerate it anymore. Live and Learn!

A New Day, A Brighter Day

I wish! I woke up nauseous, It has now been 22 hours since my last Percocet and I still feel like crap. Last night I felt better so I had dinner, then took 2 Tylenol and went to bed. I was not expecting to wake up sick again. I have been drinking ice water only, I took a Zofran, hasn't helped much. I showered and decided to ride my bike a little since I have been so sedentary and do not want a DVT. The bike still hurt my butt, thanks perineal post, but better than Tuesday. I am losing track of days as I leave my imprint on my mattress!

I plan on icing, icing, icing, and not moving. Luckily I have a laptop so really have everything I need with me. We had grand plans to go out for dinner tonight...we will see!

Raining on My Parade

If you would have seen me this morning, you would have been very impressed. I was dressed, really dressed, skirt, tights, shoes, top (I ditched the hip brace). I had makeup on, my hair looked good. I looked presentable. J and I had an 'interview' for L's preschool for next year (welcome to the wonderful world of NY). We went, the school is in a small building with 4 floors, no elevator. But I was feeling great. I had taken Percocet through the night as needed, Zofran in the morning. We arrived and I did all the steps for our tour, they loved L, they even asked 'what can we do to convince you to let us have her next year?' One less thing to worry about.

After the interview, we dropped her off at her current pre-school and I walked home the 1 1/2 blocks. I came home and got into bed since my left leg was tired and my TFL and adductors were aching. I was also hungry, but nauseous and lightheaded. 'Traditionally', Wed. has been my 'not so great day' post-op. I decided on toast and tea for lunch. My stomach decided on no toast, no tea, and no more Percocet, and proceeded to expel every thing inside of it, numerous times.

This left me in a dilemma, I NEED narcotics, ok, that sounds bad, but temporarily, I am in pain and need something. I put a call into my OS office, with a note of urgency, and luckily got a call back within 20 minutes. I was told to wait until the Percocet is all gone/metabolized, no narcotics right now. This may be a reaction to anesthesia as well, not just Percocet. Start with ice chips, proceed to water, then crackers and take Tylenol. I am feeling better nausea wise. I have also iced like a madwoman, to numb it up to help with pain.

It also helps that my thigh is pretty numb from the surgery itself, hopefully it will go away on its own, it is a pretty large patch this time. All anterior, over my quad.

I had big plans to attend the PTA meeting tonight at L's school, since I had been doing so well. Maybe tomorrow I will have a more exciting day. I would love to work on my TFL on the operated side but the entire area is purple, looks awful. This is the worst I have looked after surgery ever. L asked me why my femur is purple! She is so funny. She is great with anatomy. She knows the following bones: Scapula, humerus, radius, femur, patella, tibia, calcaneus, phalanges, clavicle and 2 muscles: gluteus maximus and hamstrings. She is my little genius!

I am starving, as you can imagine. I am going to go try to eat something.

I have been in bed for 7 1/2 hours now, my leg has been climbed over numerous times but rambunxious children and is holding up!