Monday, January 31, 2011 -- Day 19 UPDATE

These updates are coming more frequent now...I could just add to my morning post, but then ALL my followers wouldn't know I added anything. :-)

So..get this, ALL my steri-strips fell off since this morning! I know right. ok, ok...I'm a scab picker so OBVIOUSLY those things weren't going to stay on for very long. Anyway, I just wrote Dr. Millis an email because either I heal like Wonder Woman, or a plastic surgeon sewed me up because I had horror pictures of what my scar was going to look like and I think it looks (excuse my language Mom..Aunt Sheila...and any other family reading this) but quite frankly it looks fucking amazing. Just had to share! Enjoy! (I think this is the only time my Husband...or Brother, will allow me to post such risque pictures on the internet!)

 Please excuse 'little miss stretch mark', I had a fat stage in 3rd grade.

Monday, January 31, 2011 -- Day 19

Almost hit Day 20 and feeling basically perfect (except I can't put weight on my PAO hip). This is where I hit the crap part of recovery I think because I can do almost everything I want except walk without a crutch. Kevin left my commode upstairs again so I have to do exercise every time I gotta pee. So I did a bad thing (don't tell Doc) but I used one crutch to get to the stairs (only about 8-10 feet from my recliner) and then only used one from the top of the stairs to the bathroom (another 5 feet or so). But why take the second crutch up and downstairs, it's SUCH a hassle. So I managed to use one, even though I DEFINITELY shouldn't being less than 3 weeks post-op but nothing hurts...I just won't want to put too much weight and run the risk of hurting myself. So maybe just leave the crutch at the bottom of the stairs next time. But I felt fine. I wish my appointment was sooner than Feb 22...I feel like these next 22 days are going to be really ridiculous. Maybe I can email Millis and see if there is anything additional I can do until then.

I slept so great last night after a BUSY day and no nap. I went to bed around 9:30 and woke up around 5am, slept right through. But after 5am I woke up a lot more because I had plenty of sleep at this point. I had some cereal for breakfast...the last time I had cereal was YEARS ago...not a cereal kinda gal, but I figure I really need the calcium from the milk, so why not chow down on cereal at the same time.

I have pulled a couple more steri-strips off that were loose, the remaining ones are still on pretty well. I took a picture of what I have so far...the scar looks good at the end from what I can tell. I'm still Shea Butter and Neosporin'ing myself up like crazy. I've ALWAYS sworn by Neo so I'm in heaven now.

Not much else to say, Kevin is off to work today so I'm back to watching my shows and ready for Dexter Season 4...SO excited. This weekend we have dinner at our friend's house on Saturday and got invited to a Superbowl party right around the corner from us so it will be a busy weekend and I am READY! I know I'm not anywhere near strong, but compared to 19 days ago...even 2 days ago, I feel great. Just now the boredom sets in.

Take a peak at my pictures...not overly exciting but it will be good to compare on future pictures. The incision area is completely numb, and it feels HARD. I'm starting to massage the area to help it heal and not have scar tissue form.

TV line-up for today...90210 re-runs, Golden Girl re-runs, Dexter and Food Network. That should hold me over until Kevin gets home to make AMAZING meatloaf. He's been a real trooper putting up with me, even though I really am trying to fend for myself, I like to be waited on sometimes too. But he's a great husband (less than a year being married) he knows what he got himself into and I'm very fortunate for that AND for a husband cooks, and LOVES cooking. :-)   <3

Sunday, January 30, 2011 -- Day 18 UPDATE

OK, really not exciting...but MY FIRST STERI-STRIP FELL OFF!! ok ok, I ripped it off, but I really wanted to see that was underneath! Just looks like a dark line...not very exciting but one step closer to being normal. I also lathered up with Shea Butter this morning and put some Neosporin on the little piece of scar sticking out. :-) Why bother when they are going to cut me open to remove the screws anyway...So I put on normal underwear today (ones that mimic what my bathing suit would look like) and the scar definitely sticks out about halfway, SUCKY!! I really gotta get a good story to tell people then. Maybe a shark got me...hmmm

Sunday, January 30, 2011 -- Day 18

Oh hello little red light on my hair straightener, you haven't lit up for me in 20 days! <3 can you guess I took a shower today. I decided I wanted to do my hair and even a little makeup today because we're gonna go have lunch OUTSIDE of the condo. Finally.

I'm doing great with this blog, I REALLY want to try and update this every day while it's early in my recovery still.

The night went well, up a couple times to pee...but this is OK now because I can get in and out of bed by myself - YAY!

Not much else to reply...the one thing killing me is sneezing, I cannot commit to a true sneeze! All that comes out is a stupid little squeak. A couple days ago a sneeze came upon me so quickly I couldn't stop it and it scared me and it hurt! Omg, it hurt the numb patch below my belly button and it hurt my pelvis where everything was cut, I swear to god all my bones move when I sneeze. Not cool.

So, between that last paragraph and this one, Kevin and I had left to do some errands. We went to get lunch and boy was the booth hard on my butt! Note to self, bring pillow into restaurants every time. From there we went grocery shopping!! I did it all on crutches, I organized the list in the order we shop and also the coupons so we could be in and out FAIRLY quickly. It wasn't too bad, but while Kevin did the self checkout I, went out to his truck (YAY I can get in and out of it by myself now...it's a Ford Ranger lifted real high with no running boards!). My left hip, aka non-op, was KILLING me. It was terrible pain before surgery with two hips and now it's hating me even more because it has to be my stability right now. Man...it was rough. But my new hip was fine. I wore my brand new sneakers and it felt like I was walking on AIR. So I felt real good about this trip. By the time we got home I had to pee so bad and Kevin never brought my toilet downstairs, he said "I thought you needed some exercise to I'll leave it upstairs from now on" boy, I sure am getting my workout today! But then again, I can get in and out of cars and bed so I guess it's all working!

While we were in the store Trail Blazer...they sell all the outdoors type of things...the guy asked me what happened..I said I had surgery on my hip, I'm like an 80 year old basically. But damnit, I need to start making up some awesome stories. I ALMOST blurted out something about skiing down some sweet moguls and falling, or doing a half pipe in Colorado. So from now on I'm going to make some awesome story up depending on who asks me. If an older person asks, I'll say I fell out of bed. If someone at work asks, I slipped on the floor and am collecting on it. HAHA I think it's way more interesting than being like "yeah had surgery on my hip" unless you go into detail, it's just not a cool story. Gotta have a little fun, don't I?

Well I'm EXHAUSTED so I'll leave it at that. We have cards tonight and I'm back in action, still in 1st place too I think. WOOOOO!

Saturday, January 29, 2011 -- Day 17

Sorry, had to shoot off an update before I went to bed! My goal is to truly make an entry every day, so here goes.

First...I started to read a fellow PAO's blog last night and finished it this morning; however, it went from a PAO blog with 3 post-op surgeries (she had an infection as well as a tissue growth and everything else)...so it went from that to a cancer blog as she was diagnosed with this at 1 year post-op (at the end of 2009) and is currently still fighting! This really bothers me and I think had all day, how terrible! This poor girl went in for a PAO, had many issues and instead of going in for her second PAO she gets this diagnosis followed by chemo and radiation - I really need to suck up MY troubles and get on with this recovery shit..so here I come!

Other than that, today was pretty boring. I woke up and Kevin and I watched the news before getting out of bed then got some breakfast and he had to head off to do some side work. He got back around 3pm and I was bored out of my mind...unfortunately, we didn't do anything which I had hoped we would, being as it's FINALLY a day off together...so that sucked. But it's about 9:30pm and we're gonna go watch some TV or a movie in bed where I will fall asleep and wake up every couple of hours to flip over. I'm glad that I can sleep on my non-op side but it makes for one hectic night's sleep since I have to really concentrate on moving back and forth. ugh.

I forgot to mention in previous posts how DRY my butt is. haha I feel like I need friggin' Desitin (as in the diaper rash creme)!! I think from being in the hospital bed 24/7 and being sweaty and everything else it just got so rash-like! I've been lotioning it and putting on baby oil in the shower (basically I put this all over my body because I get really dry skin)...and alas, it's much better now. hip hip, hooray!

I also wanted to mention the nurses and staff at Children's Hospital because I haven't given them the credit they deserve. Talk about an amazing group of people. The nurses were SO sweet and caring, one better than the last. Working in a hospital primarily with children, you need a different attitude and personality. I absolutely loved my nurses, all of which were females around my age and typically I may not get along with very well, but they were AMAZING! To name a few, Rachelle-fantastic nurse who knew her shit! Anisa-Muslim woman who was my night nurse about 3-4 nights and the nicest woman ever, Danielle-of course I liked her because she has a great name, but she is pregnant and due in April, yay! Megan-my nurse towards the end, and the sweetest one of them all I think! She was born with hip dysplasia and was actually seen by Dr. Millis when she was a baby, go figure. I also had a nurse named Paula, she was nice enough, but just not over the top like the rest, but still very nice. I also want to give props to the CA (certified nurses assistant) Carrie, I had her for about 3 days and was also really great and got shit done! I just really loved the staff and was truly upset when I was discharged because I didn't want to leave! This coming from someone who hates hospitals so much! Anyway, you're in good hands at CHB!

A couple questions I have to Dr. Millis at my post-op appointment:
1) why my right arm is so weak - I think something happened during surgery, maybe they way they had my arm placed or something but it is def really weak
2) the numbness/pain in my lower belly/pooch area
3) how soon is too soon to have my LPAO (I want this done ASAP). Can he leave the screws in my first hip and take them all out together...should I wait longer and have the first screws removed with my second hip...I'm ready for surgery #2 but want to be sure my RPAO will not be in danger.
4) will my legs be the same length after my LPAO? I feel like my new leg is a bit longer than the other. Also, will my hip socket "settle", like a new house?

Anywho, these are the questions I have do far...but I still have until Feb 22, seems like a long time for a post-op. dang.

Goodnight

Friday, January 28, 2011 -- Day 16

So my posts will get shorter since things aren't changing as much but I will try and update every day!

I didn't do much today, Mom is leaving so we're trying to clean things up a bit and put laundry away and everything else so I've been up and around...but mostly sitting in my chair (fun)!

So, I realize that I move my hip around more than I should...I move it in and out more than 10 degrees, I put more weight on it than I should, I bend it more than I should...but if it doesn't hurt then why not? I don't feel like I'll get stronger without pushing my limits. I am stronger every day.

Last night Kevin took my mom and I to Ikea. I rented a wheelchair instead of lugging mine around with us but that was a bad idea. Their chair was terrible and the foot rest couldn't be moved at all so it kept my hip bent at a terrible angle the whole time so when I got home I needed some Tylenol, but otherwise I was good. I slept well in my OWN bed last night (mom kind of snores--sorry MA)!! And I did surprisingly well, I went on my side a LOT more, the only problem with that is I wake up a lot more to turn back onto my side. But I felt rested when I woke up.

Luckily tomorrow is the weekend so Kevin will be home with me and maybe we can go somewhere or do something. But I feel good and ready to move onto the next step of recovery.

Bandage Removal

So here is the picture I promised of my bandage removal. The scab above the incision is where the drainage tube was I think. This does follow a modest bikini line, although I can't quite tell when I wear these granny-panties. Enjoy.