Surgery day was this past Thursday. I've been a bit out of it lately, so I will now try to catch up on everything that has happened since then!
First of all, I am extremely thankful to be alive. When someone faces major surgery, there are all sorts of things that cross your mind (in my case, I was thinking worse case scenario) and was scared to death to leave my family.
I had to be at Vanderbilt at 6:00am. My husband had to drop me off then take my daughter to school (they didn't open until 7) and then take my son to summer camp by 7:30. Knowing my OR time started at 8am, I pretty much knew John wouldn't make it back to Vanderbilt to see me before I went in. Once I signed in at the admitting desk, I called my mom (who works in the main OR at VUMC and was just getting off her 7p-7a shift). She met me on the floor when they wheeled me up to the holding area.
Every single person who walked up to me said hello and that they knew my mom, and were very sweet. That was quite comforting. They had me put on a lovely gown - one I had never seen before, then started asking questions while they got an IV started. They then talked to me about anesthesia and the potential of an epidural block to help with pain relief. I let them do it - figuring, if they recommend it ... then I guess I should trust them and do it. I will realize later that I was glad I did!
Questions answered, IV started, block injection complete, now time for some versed (?) in my IV to calm me. Anxiety was running at full force now. To my surprise, Joe Fitzpatrick (our new Minister of Music / Worship and Music Pastor at our church ... my husband and I were active in our church choir before our son was old enough to starting coming to worship this past fall) came by. He had us gather around hand in hand (including me and my mom, and a few nurses who happened to be standing there) and said a wonderful prayer. About 3 minutes after Joe left, my husband walked in. What a HUGE relief to be able to see him right before surgery!! We didn't have long to visit before it was game time. I hugged my mom, told her I loved her, and she stepped aside. John walks up. I stare longingly into my husband's eyes, hoping and praying this is not the last time, and I was off to the OR.
This OR was not too different than any other. Bright lights, cold, no bright colors on anything. I remember hearing clanking of metal instruments and tried to ignore that. :-) The manager of the anesthesia team said "ok, here we go" ... then I saw him walk over to some machine beside me, and that was all I remember.
When I awoke, I asked the nurse who was standing beside my bed what time it was, and she said 4:45 (PM!!!). Surgery took about 6 hours ... I was FLOORED! I think I was more floored to be alive than anything. Surgery was successful - here are some stats.
- Surgery time: ~6 hours
- Tasks performed: PAO with 7 screws, hip dislocated so that abnormal bone on the femoral head could be shaved off
- Sutures: ~30 along a 12" incision
- How I felt: major cotton mouth, but NO pain!
- Good deal of blood loss, but all of my own blood was re-used
- I was informed I had rolly-poly veins. Bruising to come would explain this and the difficulty they had during surgery putting in my additional IV's and arterial lines!
Once a room was ready, they wheeled me over to it. They told me they couldn't let me drink anything (other than sucking on ice chips) until I got to my room, because the bumps along the way to get to the room can sometimes make people nauseous.
I was in the hospital for 4 nights. Had some good nights, others not so good. Initial pain meds were a morphine drip + percaset. Morphine was not doing the trick (c'mon - they say push the button every 8 minutes for pain, but hello ... how are you supposed to do it when you are asleep??), so they switched me to an oral dose regimen of OxiContin (12-hour time released pills) plus 2 Percaset every 4 hours plus a stool softener plus an acid reflux pill (I will realize once home what that was for).
Vitals were checked every hour. On the 2nd day there was some concern with the drop in my red blood cell counts as it may lead to a blood transfusion. Because of my age, they were ok letting it drop to the level it was. It ended up not dropping any further during my stay.
Physical Therapy stopped by on Saturday morning, helped me do a few exercises (couldn't do too much because my pain wasn't under control yet). PT said they would come by later that afternoon, and didn't, and also never came by on Sunday. Monday rolls around, they finally decide it's safe to discharge me, and I make a firm statement that before I leave I need someone to help me figure out how to get up the 7-8 stairs I'll have to tackle from the garage inside the house. Fortunately, we did spend some time on that. Problem was, I was exhausted. With absolutely no appetite for the past 4 days, being on serious pain meds, having no energy, PT wearing me out, and muscles around my right hip now seriously compromised ... I was scared to death about how I was going to make it up those stairs once we got home.
Home journey and where I am today to come. Gotta move around some now - my fanny is getting sore!
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