Pam ~ As of today, I am FREE of my crutches and tight compression "stockings". I'm celebrating by trying to get my house picked up :-).
I've already shared some of the details surrounding the first two days of "recovery", but I'm going to try to more fully "summarize" how things have gone. (BTW ~ This is going to be long.)
Surgery Day, Thursday, June 2nd - We got up early on Thursday morning to be at the Surgery Center by 6:15 a.m. I checked in and then waited for a while until they took me back to get changed and ready. I had never had an IV put in before, and I would be content if I never have to have one again. Not very pleasant. Anyways......
Several people came in to "introduce" themselves to me - the anesthesiologist, the "lead" doctor, his associate, and a couple of nurses. The doctor made sure to draw a smiley face on the correct hip (reassuring, for sure!!!). Then they introduced me to these wonderful things called "compression stockings" (sarcasm intended). We
quickly slowly pulled one onto my right leg :-(.
Once they had me all ready I said my good-bye to Nathan and then walked down the hall to my surgery room. I climbed up onto the table (this felt sort of weird to me) and they started hooking me up to all sorts of things. They put a mask on my face as they told me they were going to start giving me a little oxygen and I had the thought of "I'm getting a little dizzy. Should I close my eyes before I fall asleep?" and then I remember no more.
My next awareness was opening my eyes to see a wall in front of me. My nose itched so I reached up to rub it and the nurse said something to me. I think it might have been "Hi" but I'm not really sure :-). She told me I had an oxygen tube in my nose and I needed to leave it alone. She then asked about my pain level, which was about a 7 or 8 at that point. She gave me some more pain medicine and I continued laying there (I really don't know how long). After a while, she told me that I was doing great and she was going to take me to the other "recovery" room where I could sit up and get something to eat.
Here is what I have pieced together of what was done during my surgery. The doctor made two small incisions (each about the size of a button hole) in the front side of my left hip. He inserted a camera into one hole and his tools into the other hole (I have pictures if anyone is weird enough to want to see them). The tear in my labrum was about 1 centimeter to 1 1/2 centimeters long. The doctor shaved part of my hip bone down in order to put an anchor into the bone. He put two anchors down and then "tied" the labral tear down with two nylon-like strings. He tied a knot in the strings, and that was that. The strings and anchor don't go anywhere. I now have weird "stuff" hanging out inside of me :-). The tear should eventually heal over to just scar tissue.
Back to recovery. When I was trying to get off the bed and into a recliner chair (which hurt like CRAZY and was not easy to do - took 3 nurses working together to help me move) I realized that I already had the large and awkward brace around my middle and down my leg. I had the brief thought of "I don't even want to know HOW they got that on me while I was unconscious."
I was finally settled into the chair and the nurse gave me more pain medicine. I don't think I have ever hurt that bad in my entire life!!!!! They brought me a cup of ice and water along with a plate of saltine crackers. They wanted to get me eating so I could start taking the oral pain medicine. The nurse said she would go get Nathan for me. Over the next few minutes (again I really don't know how long - time didn't seem to make any sense to me) several people came by and said something to the effect of "Where is your husband? Is someone getting him?" Finally Nathan came :-).
I "snacked", people came by, they talked, I "think" I listened, they gave me oral pain pills, I swallowed them, I "dozed", they told me I could get dressed and go home. That's all kind of a blur. We won't talk about the process of getting dressed.
We got out to the parking lot and headed to the car. But when we got to the car, I started feeling VERY nauseous and promptly leaned over the wheelchair and puked. It was just water (I hadn't eaten anything since the night before) but it was still nasty. (I don't get sick to my stomach. In the last 15 years or so, I have only puked ONCE!!!!) The nurse wheeled me back to the building and went inside to get me a cloth to clean up. I very painfully got into the car and we headed home.
We live in a 3-story townhome. Getting up the stairs that day was a HORRIBLE process. I sat on the stairs and we tried to inch me up the stairs slowly. I couldn't lift my leg at all, so I would lift myself up and Nathan would slowly lift my left leg up to the next step. It was VERY painful and slow going, but we finally made it to the top and got me to the couch.
This is plenty long for today. I'll continue the story later :-).
I will never forget that day when I rescued Louie...the steamy, hot swamp, the muggy smell of swamp water, and the occasional sight of "gator bumps" gliding silently ahead of me. Suddenly, a small green object came into sight. As I drew closer, I recognized it as a baby alligator. But, something was not right. Instead of crawling around on land or swimming in the swamp, it was lying on its back with its legs in the air. Suddenly, I saw a HUGE gator heading for the baby alligator. If I did nothing, the baby gator's days (rather, minutes) would be numbered. I paddled as hard as I could toward the baby gator. The big alligator was approaching at full speed! Would I get there in time? Just as the HUGE alligator lunged for the baby gator, I swept the baby gator up and into the canoe. The splash of the HUGE alligator as it landed where the baby gator had been just seconds before almost filled my canoe. I paddled furiously to put as much distance between me and the angry alligator as I could. I break out in a cold sweat just thinking about what could have been a tragedy. I am so happy that Louie has a home and is safe at last!
