Sunday, June 30, 2013

June 28 - Day 3

So the morning arrived, Millis came in around 7:30am, just 15 minutes after I got up to pee and took my meds and he asked how I was and I just broke down. I have NEVER done this, and he has NEVER seen me with any sign of pain or being upset. His face looked in shock because I was never like this. Poor guy, he got me at the wrong moment. He rubbed my leg and said it would be OK and we would increase the meds. So he double OxyContin and get the Codone more often. He felt bad but told me it would be OK. He knows how to soothe my fears. He wanted me to go home today but because of how upset and in pain I was he wanted to see how the rest of the day went and decide later on.

He said we'd do PT, xrays and poop and then see if I could go home later. PT arrived at 10:30am just as Mom and Kev arrived and I just got my meds at 10am so I was feeling a lot better. We went to the gym and got back on crutches and did stairs. I told the girl I have two flights of stairs back to back so I did the 3-stairs up and down 4 times each. I did this no problem and she said I was fine to go home whenever I completed all my other chores. She had to see Kevin help me into bed to make sure he could pass PT also and knew how to do my bed exercises as well, he of course passed! He's the reason I haven't needed to go to PT during recovery at all.

After PT I got into bed and rested. Millis was supposed to come back around noon...of course he didn't. I decided it was time to take a shower which would make me feel so much better! So I got on the commode and Kev wheeled me into the shower and helped me bathe and it felt good. Got dressed and sat back on the bed and I was SO hot and overheating then I felt very nauseas. It was upsetting because I hadn't felt like this. It's a mix of being on these meds, being backed up from not going to the bathroom, being in pain and whatever else. I took some anti-nausea medicine but that didn't really help. Millis came around 3pm or so and went down to get an xray, the whole way now I had my head in my hand and eyes closed because I still felt so sick. We got an xray done, looked at it and saw the three screws. He corrected me about 20% instead of the original 10% so my range of motion maybe less than what it should be. But the ball is definitely covered this time around!

Millis said to tell the nurse I still felt sick so I didn't have to go home tonight, but first thing in the morning I would. Saw the nurse, asked what my options were to go to the bathroom, she said the Colace, the Mirimax, other oral pills or a Suppository.... I went with that because it was fast acting. I went, and felt MUCH better but still my stomach didn't empty out all that much. I ordered dinner, some chicken fingers and soup and fruit, Kevin went and got a burrito from a place next to the hospital and Mom came back with meatballs from Bertucci's so we had a little "last supper" in the room, we played more cards on our iPhone's and they left around 9pm. I cut back on the 1/2 of Codone and slept on and off all night.
Walking the stairs....
 Last supper



June 27 - Day 2

Dad went home this morning, no reason for him to sit around all day with the rest of us...it can get VERY boring. I told him he didn't have to feel obligated to come for surgery, I would not be hurt in the worst...but he did not want to hear that and was going to be there 100%. :-)  So he took my car home and we were left with the Tahoe.

I woke up at 6am and the epidural stopped, the blood was done and my IV was actually stopped earlier yesterday because I was drinking water at a great rate and peeing into my pee bag just fine. So things were starting to get turned off one at a time now. After my morning bath, I also asked the CNA if I could put on a normal shirt which would help me feel better and plus the tape on my back from the epi makes my back sweat SO bad, a fresh shirt was going to help a lot. I was feeling better already.

So when the epi turned off, I got 10mg of OxyCodone and Tylenol (which helps Oxy absorb). I always get nervous when the epidural gets turned off because I want to make sure that nerve down my thigh wasn't touched during surgery so I constantly touch my leg as the numbness wears off.

Dr. Millis and Erin came to visit this morning around 9:30am, he asked the nurse if my catheter was out and she said 10:00-10:30am and he said no, 6am! :-(  I finished the visit with Erin and gave her a little outfit for her soon to be little bundle of joy, she told me she's supposed to be giving ME a gift, not the other way around. She looked SO cute in her little Ralph Lauren dress! I was glad to see her, a familiar face. She said to email her if I needed anything. Millis came back and said how cute...then he told me to put on panties because there's children on the floor and I can't run around naked... (see surgery day for the joke). They left and the catheter came out, one of THE worst parts of surgery, it does not feel good coming out that's for sure. SO, the next time I have to pee, it's out of bed!

In the meantime, Megan came to visit me! For anyone who doesn't remember, she was my roommate for both of our first PAO's back in January 2011. Then she came to see me for my second and I saw her for her second and now she's seeing me for my third, and she's preggo!! Congrats Meg! She is such a sweet girl and so glad we met and keep in touch. We have this bond that is hard to have with other people. She also brought me "garbage" magazines which was awesome and kept my mind off the pain a lot of times. Just as she was getting ready to say bye, PT came in. It was a little chaotic for a few mins, but a mood lifter to see Meg and also give her some goodies for her baby boy!! 

They told me PT would be in later in the afternoon to get me out of bed and basically just sit in a chair. That's the most they do for the first day out of bed. Before PT came, I had been out of bed twice because I obviously had to PEE! I need help swinging the leg out of bed, stood up and had to pivot onto the commode and they wheeled that into the bathroom. Then back into bed, twice. PT came in and we told them what I had done and she was SHOCKED! She said well if you want, we can go to the gym and work on the uneven bars and then come back and sit in the chair for a while. So I said sure, lets go. She couldn't believe I said that. Off we went in the wheelchair to the gym with my mom, brother and Kevin. She went over the basics of walking and asked if I remember which I did. I walked down the parallel bars - better than I did the last times I think and she was so impressed. I have a little more thigh strength than I have before so I can bring the leg forward easier than before. I turned around and walked back to the chair and she wheeled me over to the middle of the room. I then crutched to the wall and back. She said we could to the stairs, but we all agreed that was enough for one day (which was FAR more than she's ever taken anyone on the first day). I get it, it's a lot, but it's also my third PAO...I know the pain, I know what I can and can't do, I know what it's going feel like...so it just makes things easier. We came back to my room and I sat in the chair for an hour until I became exhausted and back to bed I went!!

I stayed in the bed the rest of the day unless I had to pee. Mom and Kevin left around 8pm or so and I stayed up to read my magazine and listened to music. I slept pretty well overnight but was in pain when I had to get up to pee every few hours. The pain was almost paralyzing at times. At one point, I laid in bed and had a few tears but put it behind me and knew I would just get more meds and get over it.

I was also wearing an ice pack at night as that has helped my hip soothe as well. 





June 26 - Day 1

I am now on my way, "worst" behind me and onto my first real day of recovery. I started my day with a hearty breakfast of blueberry muffin, fresh fruit cup, cottage cheese (that was kinda gross) and a heard boiled egg. The food was pretty tasty to me but the egg I set aside and when the nurse took the tray away she stole my egg too! boo.

I didn't really do too much today, a lot of sleeping and talking to the family. The first day could go one of two ways and mine fell kind of in the middle. I wasn't knocked out dead from surgery but I wasn't wide awake either (each is how my last surgeries went).

Mom and Kevin and I played card games on our i'devices which helped pass the time. I could play one round or so and then needed a nap. This surgery has made me VERY tired. I wake up for a decent amount of time, kind of wide awake, but I switch rather quickly and need to sleep.

I don't remember what was ordered for lunch or dinner...I think I had a salad somewhere in there! Shortly after my parents left, Dr. Millis came in and asked if my dressing had been changed or my drain was removed and I said no to both. My pain is still under control so no big deal there. He said that tomorrow my dressing and drain would be changed along with my epi turned off and me out of bed! I heard him out talking to the nurses...and about 5 minutes later he came back in to change my dressing. He was talking to me about how the nurses taking care of me didn't know much and there's only a few he trusts with his patients and I said I TOTALLY understand. If you can remember back to my last surgery and the nurse left me dangling from the trapese on a bedpan for 5 minutes when pain management walked in...well...yup, guess how was my nurse...ding ding ding, Sue! Millis said "I hope you're teaching her a thing or two" haha I liked talking junk with my doc. During all of this, my drain was out and I didn't even know it!!!! He thought it was a little soon as it was still draining a little. But while he was there he decided to do it. He then cut my ace bandage (human diaper, Millis diaper), I was eating Cheerios at the time - oh yeah, I had Cheerios for dinner! No milk - I told him I wanted a Cheerio to heal in my incision, he didn't find that funny. I tried to touch the steri-strips but he didn't let me. Again, he did all this with no gloves on, he kills me! So he layed out the gauze on the Tegaderm (clear, waterproof bandage)...and stuck that over my wound. The drain hole was leaking a little so he said that might show through the gauze but not to worry about it.

That paragraph was long so we'll start a new one here. After he cleaned me up he told me I would get my units of blood overnight and my epi would come out the next morning (a day earlier than normal). I was glad because the epi really covers things up and I was ready to get on my feet and rock and roll! So, he had mentioned my blood went bad - which didn't make sense to me because I had given two pints a week about only 3 weeks ago! So whatever. Around 10pm the nurse came in and started my first pint, the Red Cross took whole blood and didn't "spin" it down so it was thick and was going to take some time to drop in which is why we did it over night. It started at 10pm and I also got the heating pad on my hand which helps the vein open up so the blood goes in easier. This pint took just over 3 hours and then the second pint came up. So I asked my nurse, I thought Dr. Millis said my blood had expired.  She corrected the statement, on the bag of blood there are small "test tubes" of blood which they use to do testing on the blood, that is what started to get clots and it went bad. NOW it makes sense. So around 2-3am I started my second pint which would end just around 6am, perfect timing for the epidural to come out.

I forgot to mention, PT came in to give me simple exercises I can do by myself in bed. She was the same one I had for the first surgery. So what I had to do are:
1- Ankle Pumps: point and flex my feet 20x
2- Quad Sets: flex my quad 10x
3- Glut Sets: squeeze my butt 10x

 Having trouble focusing, but here is my body bandage and blood drain!
 I also had the booties on my legs that contract and expand to help with circulation. They also make my legs itchy and sweaty!
 My incision after I got a new dressing. The top gauze is where the drain was. Sorry the picture is a little close to my hoo-ha. Did I mention one of my rules to Millis was to make sure my tan lines match up! He then told me to make sure I wear panties around the floor because there's children!! ha refer to day 0 when I told him I wasn't wearing any. :-)
 Day 1, just chillin' with my neck pillow and snuggie

June 25 - Day 0 - Update

I'm actually a few days ahead but backtracking to make sure I update day by day. My mom helped me take notes so we didn't forget anything. I did update once I got to my room, but here are the series of events!

We woke up at 5am (I slept OK on a pull out sofa)..and went to the hospital, got there at 6am as required and checked in. I had to pee in a cup so they did the pregnancy test (any female over 12 years of age). I sat in the waiting room for only 2-3 minutes and they called us back to the PACU. Typically only 2 people are allowed but the nurse let everyone come (my parents and husband). I got changed into my fashionable Johnny and laid back on the bed for what seemed like FOREVER! Other patients started arriving and all were being taken care of and I waited, and waited and waited...peed about 3 times and waited! I said as soon as Millis gets here it's going to be fast moving and sure enough - doc arrived with a team and things started happening. He signed my leg, I went over the rules again...talked to anesthesia and debated getting the nerve block or stick with the Epidural that worked like a charm each time. We literally went back and forth...and Dr. Choka (not sure how to spell her name), but she has done my epi for each surgery and she said that because I've had such a great outcome for them, we should stick with it. The block is guaranteed to numb only the right side but it's still kind of new. So I got my IV catheter in which took a while because my veins are so tiny (this is a Children's hospital, no?).  Said our goodbyes and they wheeled me off! Got the OR and transferred to the operating bed and bent over so they could insert the epi. I don't remember laying back down....They wheeled me in about 7:45am...

Woke up in recovery around 2:00pm - with a sore throat and numb tongue!!! I also check to make sure my operated leg is numb - which is was. I told the nurses they woke me up from a good dream. I was given a cherry Popsicle in recovery to help my throat and my tongue. No one was sure why my tongue was numb, but it was kind of weird. My Mom and Kevin came in to see me first and I was just finishing my popsicle. The Kevin and my bro came to see me and took the time for some photo ops! I was in recovery for about an hour...then the nurses said it may be a couple hours before I get to a room so my family should go get dinner. Then a couple minutes later she told Kevin to go get my family because I had a room and I was about to go. I don't remember getting to my room or going in the elevator, I just kind of remember waking up in my room. I was in a double which is OK, but I was on the window/bathroom side which was great.

The nurses left me and there I was. I was in zero pain. My left leg (non op) was completely numb which was terrible and my right leg was partly numb but my hip was numb and that's all I was concerned about. I ended up eating some chicken soup and ice chips. My brother had an interview during my surgery so he came to see me after look all spiffy! Everyone left around dinner time and went over to Bertucci's to get fed and then back to Waltham to stay for the night.

I got woken up quite often to have my vitals checked. I slept well in the meantime and the epidural was doing it's job. Aside from being numb and my tongue being weird I was also having a hard time focusing as my anesthesia was wearing off.

Here are some pictures to represent the day of surgery - day 0!

Just a quick update, while I was in the PACU before surgery in my Johnny..I got up to pee before they started the IV and I got off the bed and Millis said "you can put your panties on, you don't need to take them off" I said...uhh..that's not really going to happen...I didn't wear any "he's like WHAT, you didn't wear any, oh man!". It was pretty hilarious and EVERYONE heard the convo...but every other surgery I had to take them off...I can't win! (see day 2) 


My brother came to see me after his interview - here I'm in recovery.
 Kevin and I in recovery
 In the PACU at 7am before being wheeled off to surgery. Fashionable in my Johnny.
 Just got injected with my IV meds before going to the OR
 My Popsicle in recovery and being a cyclops because I couldn't focus!

Surgery is over, now it's time to recupe!!

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

June 25 - Day 0 (quick update in the hospital)

Well I'm in a room, window side with a roommate. I'm doing ok. Hard to focus, I think bc I need blood. Millis said I'm in control since I've been here two times before. I asked them to bump my epi down again, went from. 12 to 10 but I'd like to be at a 6!! No fever or weird feelings. Epi numbed my left leg completely, it's awful. My tongue is numb, no answers on that. Right leg not numb but hip is. Odd. I have one of those motion sickness patches begin my ear, I don't want it. Very very tired and need to sleep. Had soup and ice chips. Try to upload a pic. Bye!

Monday, June 24, 2013

PAO-eve

The emails, the texts, the phone calls and cards are coming...preparing for my third and (hopefully) final surgery for A WHILE!! Yesterday I was in a really strange mood. I'm not constantly thinking about the surgery but I am going through my packing list in my head and what I need to do at home before we leave tonight along with loose ends at work and what not. We have frozen meals that I made a few weeks ago and Kevin's Mom came down for the weekend and brought some more meals and my sister-in-law sent some goodies along as well, SO great and am looking forward to us not having to cook for a while. That makes things easier.

The condo is clean, laundry is done, commode has assumed its position, crutches in the car, meds tote bag ready. I think things are good. Not much to do tonight but pack the last few things and we're off to Waltham to meet up with my fam.

Today I'm doing better but still feel weird. I'm sure I won't get much sleep tonight. I hate this feeling. I'm not nervous about the surgery at all. I'm dreading the recovery, trouble sleeping, can't get up and go. But I know it's going to fly by (assuming how complications like stress fractures!). So I'm ready, my head is everywhere else but let's go. I must have been a real asshole in my last life...not that I'm not one now, but come on. Enough is enough.

The rules Millis has to abide by:
1) Do not hit the nerve on the front of my thigh
2) Do not make my leg any longer, if anything 1/2" shorter.

If he follows these, we'll be all set.

Back to work to finish some things up so my boss doesn't have to be swamped - but he probably will be. :-)

Saturday, June 22, 2013

June 22 - 3 more days

So reality is setting in. One more day of work and lots to do before I CAN'T do things for a while. Doing my last load of laundry for a while, running up and down stairs before I can't for a while...sleeping on my stomach and curling up before I can't do that for a while - ok enough of the depression!

Last night I started packing so I'm not last minute throwing things together and forgetting my necessities. Third time around, I think I have this thing down to a science. ALL time necessities for a PAO - cough pillow, eye mask, neck pillow, snuggie, and ipod. Without any of these, my hospital stay would be miserable. I got my comfy clothes - and oh yeah, my two-size-too-big underwear...another necessity. I'm not sure why I kept them, but I guess in the back of my head I knew this would be happening again. Things are coming together...I got my commode and shower chair (from my parents house) and those are chilling in our spare room along with my crutches which were behind the door for the last two years - another thing I decided to keep just in case. I had to wash the armpit covers because they were all discolored from deodorant- kind funny seeing them in the dish-drying rack.

Last weekend we went camping - my last hurrah for a while. Not a big camper, but I decided I need to do things NOW because I'll be a bump on a log for a while not being able to do a lot of things. It was a fun time, with beach visits, bike riding and what not. We left for camping the night I donated my second pint of blood so drinking wasn't in my future. Two pints down-YEAH! They were amazed my iron was high enough to give since I had just donated 7 days before. I'm a trooper. Here are some pictures to prove it!

So I took a little (6 hour) break here and I forgot all the things I wanted to say.

This weekend my monster, I mean, mother-in-law is here for a visit and to celebrate a (belated) birthday dinner. Also, along with her came some goodies and frozen meals! THANK YOU! I've been preparing some frozen meals also which I didn't do in the past but figured why not, that way Kevin doesn't have to come home from work and then be put to work cooking every night. I'm also preparing some breakfast wraps to freeze for him because...why not?

Not much else to report, I slipped yesterday and REEEEEALLLLY tweaked my right hip and it was so painful and now today it's killing me...to the point where I may have torn the labrum again. HAHAAA! At least it came at a good time. Be on those pain meds shortly. ;-)  This is going to be TMI - but I don't think I'll have a visit from "aunt flo" this time around. haha That'll be a joyous thing. But we all know I have shit luck, so I probably will.

Here are some pics...I will most likely post again before the surgery to share my nerves which actually should be in check this time around. I am a pro and all...maybe Millis will give me the scalpel? 



 Here we are at Point Judith, Rhode Island having some SEAFOOD! yum

 Oh, did I fail to mention someone hit my car at work? UGH...loser. But I went through the insurance and they let me rent a Mini Cooper in the meantime - can't say I minded it!! It was a fun little guy to drive around for a few days and take corners at 70mph. Now I want one for a toy.
 Here's the beginning to my packing - cough pillow, eye mask and most importantly...two-size-too-big underwear!
I'm really doing this again?? Shoot me.


Tuesday, June 18, 2013

June 18, 2013 - 7 days to go....

Here we are, just a week away. I'll be, hopefully, in my room by now on the road to a (short) recovery. I have had the early, first surgery of the day the last two times but this time doc said he wanted the 4 yr old boy to go before me so I may have a later morning, early afternoon appointment which suuuucks! I'm gonna have to fast for so long.

I have some pictures to upload but they aren't on my computer yet...so a better post will be following in the near future! I went to the gym tonight and decided to use the elliptical because I was in quite a bit of pain today! I ran last night but I'm losing motivation since I only have a few days to go and I'm going to lose it all during recovery. But since things are kind of painful I AM looking forward to this. Just hope we're all in the right mindset this time around!!

Updates later with some FUN pics!

Friday, June 7, 2013

I'm a liar

Yeah, so that was a lie...my videos (end of Feb 2011) ARE working. I think they just didn't want to play on my iPhone - java. Enjoy!

Scar update....

I promised some current scar pictures so here we go...

My right one will be cut into AGAIN, and then again at the end of the year for screw removal so hopefully that one heals just as nice as it did the first time. The incisions are really hard to see because they healed so well, I swear my surgeon is also a plastic surgeon on the side. <3 him.

First two are right...second two are left, and the last one is both even though their hard to see. Hubby was trying to be the best photographer he could at 7:30 in the morning!






While I was home, Mom and I were talking about X-Rays and she was pretty sure she still had her originals from before she had her THR...so I grabbed them and they actually turned out being my original ones from 2006 when I started having most of my discomfort. So here's a looksie at my left which was causing me a lot of pain at the time due to a torn labrum - my left was the worst overall but my right was more painful which is why it was PAO'd first..
I'll try to get my videos working again from back in Feb 2011 timeframe. For some reason they decided they did not want to play anymore which is a shame because that's some of the most difficult things for me to watch, still. It sums up a lot, without any words.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

June 4, 2013 -20 more days

The days are going quickly and the weekends are booked which means revision day is quickly approaching. I'm in good spirits...now...not sure how I'll be the night before the surgery.

Pre-op went as I expected, it's only my fourth time doing this. Arrived late due to traffic even though we gave ourselves plenty of time, driving through the Ghetto didn't help either. They moved the fasting patients to a different area so you're now allowed to eat/drink in the waiting room which was appreciated at 8:30am on an empty stomach. I got called in about 5-10 minutes after arriving and had my vitals taken..back to the waiting room for 5 mins...called in to meet with the nurse, asks a lot of questions, etc. etc. etc.....waiting room...liaison to go over my insurance and all that other crap....waiting room...anesthesiologist. Now this was interesting because she was 15 years post-op PAO from Dr. Millis...one child before and 2 after surgery and she has not been in pain since. AWESOME story and childbirth for her wasn't a problem. Her daughter wore the harness as a baby and her son also is showing signs of dysplasia, darn hip gene!!! But she was really nice and was good talking to her. She said that I was lucky to have the outcome from my epidurals that I did...they both numbed the proper leg and I had no other issues. Not sure if "lucky" is necessarily the word I wanted to hear, but cool! She also said they are putting in blocks which work 100% of the time and is not a guessing game. Since the epi worked both times, I feel like I should stick with that...but now it's making me nervous!

I tried to donate my pint of blood while at the hospital, but they couldn't fit me in so I have to do that locally and then they ship it off to Boston for me. Next, I went to Fegan, 2nd floor and had my appointment with Mr. Miracle. I had to get xrays, again, and he was supposed to hold my legs for them but they snapped the shots before he came down. Got right into a room and waited a few minutes and Erin and the Doc came in. Moved me around, he told me I was a "freak of nature" which is preeettyyy funny because my brother always called me that, but basically I'm too flexible for having two PAO's! And when I say flexible, I use the term lightly....the angles he moves me I guess are just better than most. Guess my tendons are just more forgiving or something. YAY! Before Millis left the room, I like him I had two rules for him that he MUST abide by: 1- do not hit the nerve and make my thigh numb, 2- don't make my leg any longer than it already is, 1/2" longer actually.

He took off and Erin stayed to go over the surgery and what not and answer any questions. I was curious about my socket/pelvis bones being weak. If you break something and glue it back together, the spot where it broke is usually weaker and will break much easier. So I thought that's what my bones would be like and she explained that my area is actually going to be much stronger because the new bone is just as strong and now I have MORE bone in that area that I never had. That was interesting. She was looking at my pre-op xrays and was not surprised I needed one revised. Because of the lack of coverage on my right socket, my bone couldn't be moved as much as it should have been without stretching the nerve too much and causing long pain and possible damage - longer recover. So I can appreciate that. I hate calling this a redo because nothing went wrong...bones just need to be tweaked another 10% or so.

After my appointment I went to the blood center and gave some blood and a urine sample to make sure I wasn't a walking pneumonia or anything and BOY was that the most chaotic place in the hospital. I mean, c'mon...needles and children. AFTER all of this, I was DONE!

In the meantime, my brother arrived and sat through my appointment with me - at one time there were 6 people in the exam room. SHEESH!

Today, I spoke with the Red Cross and scheduled my blood donation for Friday and another one for the following Friday. The anesthesiologist kind of freaked me out saying that with all the scar tissue I have, I will probably bleed more. I'm prepared to need both units this time. I only ended up needing one unit for each PAO in the past.
Other than that good stuff, not much else to say. My right hip is kinda eh...hasn't been great since mid-April. It pinches, throbs, aches and gives me stabbing pains every so often. I'm ready to put this behind me and have a normal life again (I feel like deja vu)!

Speaking of deja vu, while writing this, I realized yesterday was my 2 year LPAO anniversary. WOO! So yea, this is like deja vu for reelz.

Few more days and I'll be on the other side, learning to walk, recovering from the very beginning allllll. overrrrrr. againnnnnn. I'm going to try REALLY hard to be in a positive mood throughout recovery, but no promises. It's mainly the sleeping that gets me the most frustrated. But we have a new bed now so maybe, just maybe it'll be better.

Here's a link to another PAO page and 5k donation page, all money raised will go to Hip Dysplasia research!!
Check it
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DONATE!

Hip Hop 5k

If not for anything, do it for those babies and young girls (and boys) living with excruciating hip pain and going years without getting the proper diagnosis. 

I will upload some old (2006) xray pics and some recent scar pics shortly