Happy Hipster

The surgery went fine. Obviously no telling if it fixed the problem long term, but I'm pleased with how the procedure and immediate after-effects went.

We got to the hospital at 6:00am. I put on my stunning light blue plaid gown (mmmm.... plaid, my favorite) and then was assimilated by the borg (blood pressure cuff that would automatically check me every ten minutes or so), finger pulse ox thingy, heart rate monitor (which had six sticky patches stuck to my shoulders, chest and ribs), and the oh-so-fun poke in the back of the hand (otherwise known as an IV). The latter being put in was the most painful bit of the whole day -- nurse told me that but I was reserving judgement on that one! She was right, however. The nurse had me mark the hip to be operated on, the intern marked my ankle of the correct leg, and the surgeon's mark is in the picture. They definitely were careful to get the correct hip!

I was very pleased with the "team" in charge of knocking me out. There were three of them and they took my earlier bad experiences seriously and gave me some brilliant medicine before the surgery to keep the woogies/pukies at bay and promised more if that didn't do the trick. But it did. Big kisses to Dr. Woodcock and his crew!

I remember the operating room and getting on the tiny table that was designed to put my leg in traction, but then I drifted off. I awoke in recovery with no pain and my stomach calm. Yay! Decent doses of pain appeared at the incisions when I moved, but if I so much as exhaled sharply, I was given pain meds. Nap, drink, answer questions on pain. Repeat two more times. Somewhere in there I became aware of Dr. Schultz (surgeon) talking to me. Here's what I caught: the tear was long and significant and there was also some significant inflammation (he said, "that was an angry hip"), all of which they addressed -- and with only a need for 3 incisions!

Then I got to move to the next curtained area where W could join me. They prescribed some pain meds (like vicodin but without so much acetaminophen), unhooked me from the mothership and let me get dressed. I got up to do this and realized that, as the surgeon was saying to the nurses, I didn't need crutches! The PA had me thinking I was going to have 1 to 2 weeks of crutches, but that does not seem necessary. I won't be turning on a dime or tackling much in the way of stairs just yet, but I can walk fine on the hip -- the pain meds are a different story :)

W wheeled me out of the hospital to the van and had me home by 2:00pm for soup, crackers, and a good long nap. I got to visit with the kiddos (who were unimpressed with walking abilities, btw -- they probably wanted the crutches) and my folks before they all left me to nap more and do this bit of narco-blogging.

Thanks to all for the expressions of love and support. Those offers of help are also greatly appreciated and have been filed away for future use, if necessary.