day 1

For the first 24 hours or so post-op I was in the hospital. During that time I would be awake for about 15 minutes then nap for an hour. Very exciting. I was also hooked up to a morphine pump (PCA pump) to keep my pain under control. When I woke up my hip/thigh felt like it had been hit repeatedly with a baseball bat, though everyone's experiences tend to differ. In addition to the pump, I was attached to and IV that kept me hydrated with fluids. I also got three infusions of antibiotic during my stay as this the norm for all surgery patients at my particular hospital.


relaxing on the inpatient floor

Due to the tendency of my hip to dislocate I had to keep my hip immobilized in bed until my brace was delivered that afternoon.

the lovely Pillippon hip brace!

In the late afternoon I was sent off to physical therapy to practice walking on crutches and using stairs. Most hospital won't let you leave until you pass those tests! Then I was drugged up and loaded into the car to head home.

The big day

After starting the day with my breakfast of champions (apple juice and water) we headed to the pre-op clinic around midmorning for general admitting and some basic pre-op testing. Not pregnant? check. Allergic to anything? check. Not wearing any jewelry? check. Vital signs? of course. After that we headed up to the pre-op holding area where I waited on a bed to meet with my surgeon and a whole bunch of other people. We got some hard news from the surgeon who told us that he didn't know what shape the cartilage would be in and that removing part of the labrum would be my best option. We all knew it would be a waiting game to see what was going on.

Let's do this!

The lovely anesthesiologist placed an IV and gave me something and I was out before we even reached the operating room.

so sleepy

It seemed like 10 seconds had passed and I was waking up in the PACU (recovery room). I was monitored closely and I drifted in and out of sleep. Soon my parents came in with good news. My labrum was perfect and we had the pictures to prove it! They mentioned something about my other surgeon coming in to talk to them, something about my femur and a brace. We were all so excited about my labrum that we didn't pay any attention to  it.



Ready to roll to the inpatient floor!

As we were getting ready to leave for the floor, the phone next to bed rang and the nurse answered it. Then she gave me a funny look and said "it's for you" and handed it to me. Apparently it is not standard for surgeons to call their patients in the recovery room.  He talked to me for close to 10 minutes. I was still quite sleepy and I think I understood about 30% of what he was saying. Every few minutes he would pause and I would say something like uh huh...really? oh jeez. yup. really? mhm... ok. From what he said this is the basic explanation of the wild shenanigan my left hip has decided to pull on me. After looking at the cartilage through the arthroscope he noticed that my femur was all dented, like a golf ball. (normally it should be nice and smooth). He then must have called in my other surgeon, the one who does open surgery, to come and help out. He imitated my walking pattern as the other one looked at my femur through the scope. As my leg was going though the motion of walking my hip was subluxing-coming out of the socket a little bit- with every step! I do have very very loose joints. (If you were wondering, we are looking into the possibility of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome at my post op appointment but more on that later). As a temporary fix he placed a few stitches on my faulty hip capsule. (known as capsular reefing). For my rehab we have to be super careful to prevent a full dislocation as my joint is compromised from the surgery. I am currently in a Phillippon brace-pictures soon! I am also on crutches, touch down minimal weight bearing, with the brace for 4 to 6 weeks plus 2 more weeks on crutches without the brace. The interesting thing is I am currently on bedrest without a CPM machine (constant passive motion) or ANY physical therapy as the goal is for me to make as much scar tissue on my capsule as possible!

The night before hip surgery 7/25/11

* This is the first part of a series of posts written (almost) everyday for the first few weeks while recovering from a hip arthroscopy. Hope you like it! *

Since we live about 80 miles away from the hospital where I have my surgeries, my family and I decided to spend the night before my surgery at the hospital's family housing complex. This was a complete godsend to us as my pre-op appointment was at 10:30 the next morning and we would have battled nasty morning rush hour. To help get rid of pre op jitters we went to a fun dinner and headed back to our room for some pre-surgery preparation...



chocolate milk, cookies and trashy magazines? yes.

Since you can't eat after midnight before surgery why not have your last meal be milk and cookies? We also borrowed the movie The Incredibles ( I know it's a kids movie, but it's pretty fantastic). Plus it turns out I have more in common with elasta girl than I might have thought...more on that coming soon!

getting ready for surgery

On July 13th I had an arthrogram (see the last post!) and though the metal anchors in my hip caused some blurriness (a.k.a. artifact) my surgeon believes that my labrum has become detached and that arthroscopy is our best option. This will allow us to see what's and fix it in a minimally invasive way. Last Thursday we found out that there was a cancellation for this Tuesday and they were able to fit me in! That's the day after tomorrow and I can't believe it. I've been getting ready this weekend (which apparently includes a lot of trips to Target) and I'm incredibly thankful to get this over with during the summer and have the chance to start my senior year without crutches! I hope to have lots of photos and in-depth posts about my recovery. To start things off, here's a pre-surgery list! Packing and getting ready for surgery is a huge part of my mental preparation and it really helps me come to terms with things and feel less anxious.
  
Things to bring:

• loose fitting pj or sweat pants (if you bring one thing, bring these!) You will want to wear jeans for a week or so after surgery.
• T-shirt
• slippers/grippy socks for slippery hospital floors
• magazines + music
• a thera band (if you have one and if your protocol includes it) to tie your ankles together to keep your post-op hip for rotating externally.
• toothbrush, toothpaste, hair brush, etc.

You're never too old for a stuffed animal and they're great at holding oxygen masks near your face.