In the hospital

The first thing I remember from being in my hospital room was repeatedly taking the oxygen out of my nose, and Hunter making me put it back.  It tickled, and I didn't like it.  Other than that, I was pretty comfortable... except for the numbness.  That drove me crazy.  For the first 24 hours or so, it seemed like someone was in my room every 15-30 minutes.  Maybe an exaggeration.  They would often have me move my toes, to make sure everything was good.  It was difficult, and I didn't think they moved enough, but they were pleased.  I eventually had them turn it way down, just to make sure feeling would come back.  For some reason it was on my chart that I had a morphine pump, but I didn't.  The nurse(s) asked me about it a few times, then dropped the subject.  I was just on the epidural for pain.  

The catheter didn't bother me a bit, I really didn't even notice it.  The first 'food' I got was broth, apple juice, and hot tea.  Not a great combination, but I wasn't allowed solids yet.  I refused to drink the broth, which made Hunter mad, but I didn't think it was all that appetizing at the moment.  

I slept on and off through the night, with visits at odd hours from nurses, residents, and finally Dr. P early in the morning.  I was running a temperature, my blood pressure was way low, and my hemoglobin was low.  I had received my own blood, plus what was recycled, during surgery already.  Dr. P was hopeful that my hemoglobin would rebound on its own.  

Wednesday= uneventful, and went quickly, with all the activity in and out of my room.  I stayed in bed the whole day, and continued to run a fever, although I really didn't notice much.  I wasn't too impressed with the food, but I did enjoy the hot tea with each meal.  The nurses were awesome, kept me with plenty of water, and soda if I wanted it.  Only problem - a nurse came in with apparent orders to remove the catheter.  Hunter and I both said no, since Dr. P had said I wasn't even supposed to get out of bed for another 24 hours.  Hunter began to get a little worried, and we watched more closely who was doing what.  

Sometime early Thursday morning (we're talking, 4 in the morning or something ridiculous), an ortho resident came in and turned my epidural off.  I have no idea why, I was too groggy to ask or stop him, and Hunter was sleeping.  It takes awhile to wear off, and I told the next nurse who came in, which was within the hour or so.  She said something about how they always do stuff like that, but aren't supposed to, and turned it back on.  Again, a little worried about what was going on, but no harm really done...

Thursday I finally got out of bed.  They took out the catheter and epidural that morning,  and I got up on a walker.  The PT lady was very nice, she adjusted my new crutches for me.  Unfortunately, either the catheter or antibiotics gave me a yeast infection, and I had no idea until I stood up.  I felt something running down my leg, and had to tell the PT lady, who got the nurse, who cleaned me up.  I felt awful about that, but I know they see much worse.  

Note:  I did have issues with the epidural again.  They took it out, and left.  I realized I was left with no pain management whatsoever, and managed to get 2 lortabs within about an hour.  Those had no effect, and the pain basically came in unabashed.  Dr. Parvizi came in about 45 minutes after I took the lortabs, and was a little surprised that's all I had... he said I needed oxycontin, and would have it ordered and sent to me.  Cue another 45 minutes waiting.  During this, a resident came in to take the dressing off my incision, and told me it was going to hurt.  I told him there was no way it could hurt more than I already did, and I smiled through it.  He said he'd made grown men cry before by taking the dressing off.  Finally I called Dr. P's nurse on my cell phone and explained the situation, and I had the pill within another 10 minutes or so.  After that things were taken care of more quickly... I don't know what went on with that whole ordeal.

Ayway...I sat in the chair for an hour or so, with no problems.  They came back later and actually took me to the PT room in a wheelchair.  Hunter tagged along, to watch and learn.  We tried steps.  They had a neat set of wooden stairs set up, probably about 10 or so steps, near the middle of the room.  First she showed me how to do it with two crutches, which left me with nothing solid to hold on to.  I didn't like that.  Next, sitting on the bottom step and climbing them on my butt, one at a time.  Nah.  Finally, one crutch and a railing, which was perfect.  I got back to the room, exhausted.  

Later Dr. P came to check on me again, told me in nicer terms that I looked like hell, and ordered a blood transfusion.  I was worried because I had read that it might hurt, but I didn't even notice it really.  I got my uncle's blood, and some random donor.  The cool part was, my aunt came to visit while I was getting my uncle's blood.  She stayed a while and talked to us, and was nice enough to take Hunter home with her so he could get a good night's sleep.  That night I slept more, the nurse visits weren't as many and obtrusive as they'd been.  (At some point that afternoon/evening I finally got a shower, which was the most awesome thing ever.  I really didn't care that the nurse had to help me strip, I'd lost all inhibitions by that point.) 

Hunter came back in the morning, Dr. P visited and said I looked much better, we went to PT again.  Totally mastered the stairs (Hunter said I flew up and down them, and the PT lady's jaw dropped), and learned all the OT stuff.  I got the sock putter-onner, shoe horn/sword, grabber, and leg lifter.  She showed me how to get in and out of bed, in and out of the shower.  After this session, PT released me, which meant I could leave if I wanted, or stay if I wanted.  I was not pressured either way.  Hunter and I discussed it, and didn't see any reason to stay another night.  We got my prescriptions, and he ran down to the pharmacy before they closed.  Right as he came back Dr. P popped in again, and was surprised to see me leaving.  He called me a 'very strong young woman' and seemed sort of impressed.  So, surgery on Tuesday afternoon, and I left at about 8:30 pm on Friday... not too bad!  

The drive wasn't bad, I had enough drugs to not notice it much.  I did have to get out and pee at one point at a rest stop, which gave Hunter a small heart attack, seeing me on crutches while that tired and loopy, but we managed.  =] 

1/27/09 - The big day!

The big day arrived.  We made it to the hospital by 7, and went in to register.  We were soon sent to another room to talk to a nurse and get checked in, check paperwork, etc.  We had the issue with the blood donations, but she got that straightened out, as described a couple posts ago.  

By 9 I was in pre-pre-op, laying back on a bed in a little area with a curtain, with Hunter sitting next to me.  We talked about anything and everything but the surgery, and he didn't want to be there at all, it freaked him out.   A nurse came by to see if I needed anything shaved, and someone gave me my hospital gown to change into, as well as those goofy little grippy socks.  

Around 11 or so I was taken back to preop.  A room lined with beds, just outside the operating rooms, with a central hub surrounded by doctors and nurses.  This is where I met the anaesthesiologists.  The one guy was a resident/student/something, I don't remember exactly what, but he was really cute!  He was the one who tried to put my IV in.  And I do mean 'tried.'  He started in the back of my hand, and claimed to have found a great vein.  It didn't work.  He apologized, then tried again a little farther up.  Again, it didn't work.  He apologized profusely, and my hand at this point was covered in bandages from the failed attempts.  On his third try, the head anaesthesiologist came to help, and the two of them together got it in.  I didn't mind, but at the same time hoped he wasn't doing the epidural!

After they got the IV going, the epidural was next.  I was wheeled to another area for this.  I had to sit on the edge of the bed and arch my back like a C.  I think there were 4 or 5 people watching/helping.  I was glad they did it while I was still awake and cohesive, so I knew for sure that it hit the correct leg.  

Back in pre-op, I had everything stuck in me that needed stuck in me, and was sitting and waiting again.  Dr. P rushed in, did some things at the desk in the middle of the room, talked to a few people.  I had only seen him once before, so I didn't expect him to recognize me, but he did.  He looked over and smiled, came over and looked over the chart, we talked a bit, and he autographed my leg with a marker.  He said he had seen the CT scan, and the correction would be difficult, but he felt like he could get a good outcome.

I was wheeled back into the surgery room at about 1 pm.  There seemed to be a billion people in there.  The anaesthesiologist told me they would give me something to help me relax.  I saw 3 guys hoist me legs straight up in the air to put in the catheter.  

The next thing I remember, I woke up while they were I guess putting me back together.  Twilight sleep apparently means that you can, and probably will, wake up at some point.  It was weird, nothing hurt, and I wasn't particularly bothered by being awake, but I did talk to the anaesthesiologists behind me and let them know I was awake and could feel things.  The one surgeon by Dr. P was pushing down on my hip forcefully with both hands, and I could feel pressure.  I could also feel a sort of grinding, like if you rubbed two pieces of granite together.  

I ended up being awake enough at the end of the operation that they actually asked me to help them get me onto the other bed to go to post-op.  Whatever, I didn't really care.  My surgery ended up taking less than 2 hours, and he was very pleased with the results.  It went better and more quickly than he'd originally expected.  Hunter told me later that Dr. P called him on his cell phone to let him know I was out, and things went well.

Post op was interesting... they kept checking whether I could feel/move my legs/feet, and the antibiotic they gave me through the IV made me itch like MAD.  I complained of the itching, and they gave me Benadryl through IV.  That's the best stuff ever, put me right to sleep.  This repeated several times, and I didn't get out of post op until around 10:30-11 at night.  This was partly due to not having a room ready yet, too.

While I was having fun itching and sleeping, Hunter was repeatedly getting booted from waiting rooms.  They closed at different times throughout the evening, so they'd bump him to the next one.  In one there was a woman screaming, so he just left and went to another.  Finally they let him in my room, before I got there, and he was napping.