16 days POST PAO!

I've been doing so great recovering! I'm really impressed on my progress and how much I am able to do! I did find out today that I am not suppose to be doing any active hip exercises, which someone failed to tell my PT! I stopped doing them and hopefully I didn't hurt anything. Every day I can feel the progress, however. I'm getting stronger and my range of motion in the joint is increasing. So far I've been out of the house a few times! It was Memorial Day weekend so I've gone to bonfires, cookouts, shopping etc! I'm still being really careful though! Right now is the time where someone can think they can do more than they really can. I need to keep telling myself that I still need to keep myself limited to what I'm suppose to do and not go to far.

I always loved when other bloggers told me some tips on what they needed for their recovery so here you go:

-Underwear (boy short style) that is 1-2 sizes bigger than usual for the swelling
-Crutch pillows (I bought them at Walgreens and they help so much!)
-Grabber
-Back Scratcher (since you can't really reach your legs/feet very well)
-Shorts/Pants that are usually used for maternity (they have a band on top so it doesn't hurt the incision)
-Good living room chair to sit in with enough support and arms
-Pill organizer (I take meds every four hours so its nice to have something to organize everything!)
-Fan (I found that when I get hot I get sick from the pain meds. Keeping a fan on makes me feel a whole lot better!)
-Family/Friend support (you need a lot of help in the beginning)
-Shower chair

What I'm most excited about today is that I finally got my X-rays from during surgery!!! I can finally see my internal body bling!!!

One week Post PAO

I'm seeing improvement every day. It is amazing how much can change within one day. Sometimes I am in extreme pain when the pain medication wears off. But overall I'm seeing a decrease in pain. I'm getting around better and becoming more and more independent! Yesterday I got completely ready for the day ALL BY MYSELF! (with the help of my boyfriend getting the items from around the house for me of course). This included washing up, brushing my teeth, and getting dressed in pants! I was even able to lift my left leg on my own! I'm so happy to be in such a good spot one week after surgery. Last Monday I would have never imagined I would feel this good!

Hal

I had my first PT appointment the day after I was discharged. My PT's name is Hal. I couldn't have a better home-based physical therapist. He knows so much about everything. He thinks on his feet and knows all the tricks. He can look around the apartment and come up with equipment out of household items. Here are some of his ideas:

• Use a cookie sheet under the heel of your foot (on your bad leg) upside-down to reduce friction. Bend your leg up and down and much as you can. You can put a tissue under your heal also if there is still too much friction. This helps you use your muscle that our usually wouldn't be able to.
• Homemade ankle weight: Put two soup cans in a long sock and tie it around your ankle.
• Use a milk carton (or something the height of a milk carton) to help boost yourself up and the top of the stairs. This is helpful so when you are scooting yourself up the stairs, you aren't on the floor at the top. It gives you a little boost so that you can then boost yourself into a chair from there.
• Use a leather belt and wrap it around your foot on your bad leg. Use this to help move your leg where you need it to go. 

Hal is great and makes me really want to do my exercises. He knows what exercises that help the most and I'm really seeing improvement fast!  He even personally got me a shower chair really cheap from someone he knows that owns a discount shop!

Coming HOME!

I was discharged on Friday (4 days after surgery!). I felt great and was so excited to be home. Luckily I only live 40 minutes from the hospital. I'm glad because the pain medication can make me a little car sick. I got into the car fine. I ended up scooting backwards onto the bench seat in the back of my boyfriend's car and had my left leg resting flat. This was the easiest way to get in. Getting out, however, was a different story. I had to maneuver myself around and get out of the door I was resting on. It was difficult, but I did it!

My hospital bed was set up right as we were pulling up to my apartment. Perfect timing! I got inside and felt immediate calmness. I missed being home! My favorite part of coming home was the reaction I got from my cat, Callie. She came around the corner and looked at me, her eyes lit up! She meowed and meowed really loud and ran over to me. She rubbed up against my leg telling me she was so glad to see me. This made me feel so good! Later that night she made sure to come and snuggle with me to make me feel better. This is something she doesn't always do, so having her do this meant a lot! She tried to lay right on my incision. When I didn't let her, she moved to my right hip.

I think she knows that my hip is hurting. I really felt this when I was lying on my stomach a few months ago on the couch. She came up and sat on my back and started massaging my LEFT hip! It was hurting really bad at the time and it really made it feel better! Animals seem to be able to sense a lot! I love my little kitty :)

Here are some pictures of the car ride home:

Day 2-4

The last days in the hospital went pretty well. However, there was one big problem. My epidural ran out of fluid and the nurses didn't know how to change the bag!!! This was on Day 2:

I woke up at 6am from my epidural machine beeping. I paged the nurse to have her check it. She said she would call anesthesia because she didn't think they were allowed to change it. (This meant I would have to wait for someone from anesthesia to come up to my floor and change the bag. That would take forever!). About half and hour later she came in my room with a new bag. She said they told her that she was allowed to change the bag. What a relief! Right? Wrong! No one on the entire floor remembered how to change the bag and the password to unlock the machine. They were messing around with it for an hour before they finally decided they needed to call someone. (This has been 1 1/2 hours without the epidural controlling my pain. I was in so much pain I couldn't move. I started crying but had to stop myself because it hurt so much. I think I was gripping the blanket so tight my knuckles turned red). They kept messing around with it and it seemed like forever until they got someone that knew the code. Luckily, my boyfriend came as quick as he could and got to be with me the last half hour of this. I think I almost broke his hand I was squeezing so tight! Overall, I was without an epidural for around 2- 2 1/2 hours. It then didn't kick in right away. The anesthesiologist finally came up around 8:30 and boosted up the amount and told the nurses to give me some pain meds. Finally the pain calmed down.

Sometimes this happens. Things go wrong and people don't know what to do. I was a very unique case and the nurses weren't trained in my specific surgery. However, what really made me upset is that...IT HAPPENED TWICE!!!! The next night again the nurses didn't know the code to unlock the machine. They didn't take in account the increased amount of fluid from when the anesthesiologist changed it and it ran out quicker. I was thinking to myself "NOOO!!". But luckily they worked quickly and got the code within half an hour.

My hospital stay was very nice. Everyone was very kind and seemed to care about me and how I felt. Other than this the pain was controlled extremely well. This was the only major hiccup.

GREAT INFORMATION!

If you are wondering about my situation and the surgery this is the best article! It has excellent information and describes everything very well so everyone can understand. Please read this if you are interested in learning more about Hip Dysplasia.

http://www.hipandpelvis.com/patient_education/periace/page1.html

(There are 4 pages to the article. At the bottom of the website you can go to the next page)

DAY 1

The first day actually wasn't that bad. The epidural was working great! I barely had any pain in my hip. The only pain I had was from the incision. I wasn't allowed to eat anything other than clear liquids which was making me hungry. All I had was tea and broth.

The PT came for my first session. I sat up and got to the edge of the bed pretty easily. I felt good and then she had me stand up. As soon as I stood I got really light-headed and told her I had to sit down. The last thing I remember is her saying, "O.k. lets sit back and the bed". The next thing I know, I was lying down with the PT in my face saying my name over and over again. I was so confused. As soon as she said I passed out I remembered what was going on. I think this happened because of a few different things. I was dehydrated, I wasn't eating real foods, and I was lying down for almost 24 hours straight. My body just couldn't handle it. She gave me some exercises to do and said we would try again tomorrow.

They started me on real food finally after this. They realized that I needed the nutrition. I felt so much better once I started getting "real" food. I say "real" because the hospital food was probably the worst food I've had since I was in my middle school cafeteria. I try to eat as healthy as I can. This food was processed, dry, flavorless crap. However, I was so hungry I would eat anything. I also was thinking that I was already paying for this so I might as well eat it. I was very surprised how many calories they would let you eat. Before I choose my own meals, they gave me disgusting ones. For instance, for breakfast I had eggs, potatoes, canned fruit, bread, cereal, etc. and on top of that a Sara Lee doughnut type thing that was 450 calories!!! All together, that breakfast was way too much. Picking my own meals was much nicer.

Overall, Day 1 was a success. Family came in and out. Everything seemed to go by pretty quick. My favorite part of the day was when my sister came with my brother's present who lives in Texas. IT WAS A KINDLE! I love it!