On my way

I'm writing this from my couch - partially reclined - left leg in a gameready machine - being pressurized and iced simultaneously, and in a cpm machine - which is moving it in a nice little up and down flex motion. I'm supposed to be icing with the game ready machine 24 hours a day for the first few days, and in the cpm maching 6-8 hours a day. Luckily, I'm still kinda drowsy and drugged up and not itching to do much more than this.

Surgery was on Friday morning. Jon was still in NYC - so my parents drove up Thursday afternoon and we got everything situated with their bedroom, and all of my christmas goodies - such as a raised toilet seat, a few different kinds of crutches, shower chair, walker, and reacher. My goodness! such good stuff. We then went down to sakae and ate some delicious sushi and i drank a bit too much sake. And then off to bed.

Alarm set for 4:45 am, so I could shower with the special soap as instructed, and get to the surgery center in Redwood city by 5:45. I was regretting the sushi and sake and the fact that i couldn't have anything to drink - as i was feeling a bit queasy - hoping that i'd hold it down until surgery. Once there, we checked in and i met with both the nurse - to get ready for surgery and get my IV in place and with the sales rep to get fitted and instructions for the various equipment I might be taking home. I was told that if I had a labral repair I'd wake up in a hip brace which would stay on, night and day, 24 hours a day for 2 weeks. That hip brace was huge and would have been not so fun. In addition, i'd be in the cpm machine. The CPM machine would be required for 8 weeks if I had a microfracture done. I was hoping for the best case scenario - just the game ready and cpm for 2 weeks. thats what I got :) Now, i say best case scenario, but I gather that the reason they didn't repair the labrun is because it was too far gone to save. So, while I like not being in the brace, I do wish I'd still have a labrum. can't win em all. But, I did not need microfracture - which means that I had enough cartilidge still intact to not need to create any more artifically. This is a very good thing in my book.

Before surgery I also met with the anesthesiologist, the medical student fellow working with my surgeon (who I had met at the pre-op) and the assistant. All were friendly and made me feel at ease. When I was wheeled into surgery - i saw Dr. Safran briefly and was in awe of the massive amounts of modern equipment. Then I said good night :)

My mom and dad talked to my surgeon after the surgery and he explained waht he had found and what he had done. My dad figured out how to use his computer to record the report so I got to hear it later which was really helpful.

When I woke up from surgery I was in a fair amount of pain, and was really foggy/groggy - i just wanted to doze off. I think the pain level was around a 4 or 5. They kept giving me more pain medication by IV but it wasn't helping the pain and was just making me sleepy and wonky. I also started to get really nauseaus, and had some medicine to help with that - along with some saltines and sprite. Once the nausea was under control and the grogginess faded away, we decided it was time for me to get dressed and leave. so, the nurse helped me into my shirt and pants, and i was rolled out the door. The drive home was not so fun. I felt like i'd been hit by a truck and every jolt in the road and every car that came too close felt painful. finally, we arrived at home, and my parents helped me down the 9 steps from the car to the house. Once i got all set up on the couch with my new gear, I was feeling much better. I slept through the night pretty well - waking to take pain meds at about 3, to make sure that any pain was kept in check. I stayed on full meds all day yesterday - which means i was napping a lot :) Last night was fine, except for a bout of nausea and feeling chilled by the ice machine. Today i've cut the dose in half, and so far so good. I'd like to be off the pain meds by tomorrow - I don't like the grogginess/spaciness and I feel like they mess with my body.

It feels weird crutching around - like my hip is loose in its socket. Jon thinks this is because i was in traction - where they pulled the hip out a bit. who knows - i guess that whole area has a lot to relearn. I had a lot of bone shaved off - and have more range of motion now than i ever have - so lots of muscles to strengthen. I'm looking forward to starting P.T. I'm also looking forward to getting this massive bandage off of my leg - whcih happens tomorrow at my first follow up.

I'd say that so far, this is an easier post-surgery situation than when i broke my collarbone. That is probably because with the clavicle there was a lot more damage and trauma with the collar bone surgery - with broken ribs, lots of drilling into bone, and lots of broken clavicle bits. Also, i think having one leg and two arms is easier than two legs and one arm. Except that I can't seem to get my coffee from one place to another - hands are full with the crutches. Thank goodness I've had a full support staff - Mom, Dad and Jon - alll generously helping out as I shout out commands. I'd better not get used to this :)

One last thing - I am feeling very good about my choice of having surgery with Dr. Safran. He and his team were all very professional and everything went flawlessly as far as I could tell. It is confidence inspiring when you are part of a well oiled machine. The Stanford outpatient surgical center was also very nice - felt sort of like a nice hotel. I'm happy to go back and have the second hip operated on there. Maybe i'll have my clavicle plates removed there as well.

signing off,
v