I am a little over two weeks out from surgery...the first week was spent mostly in the hospital and the nursing home. I was on such heavy duty pain meds and had ice packs on my hip constantly that I don't recall much pain in my actual hip. It was mostly pain from surgery..swelling..sick from meds...no sleep/exhaustion due to not being able to get comfortable in the hospital bed as well as being woken up by nurses, loud noises etc.. =hospital stuff.
After I was finally released from the medical community (rescued would be a better term) my bestest friend (Thanks N) took me in since she had a one floor condo..easy access to bed, kitchen, and bathroom. Through my insurance I have received care from visiting nurses , visiting physical therapist , and visiting occupational therapist to come to the condo as well as to help me out w/ my recovery. I did not get this help my last surgery, because no one told me I could actually get theses services. Having the visiting nurse, PT, and OT come to the house is very helpful, they check my stats and meds, they change the dressing from my surgery ,and help me to get around better on crutches. I feel this help is making my transition back to the "real world" a lot smoother..less chance of injuring myself (which is always a possibility when you are using crutches).
I had my two week check up w/ Dr. Fabulous and he was happy w/ the results of the surgery. He told me that I had an impingement of my cartilage (again) so the flap of cartilage that was caught in my bone which was causing me the bad sharp pain and the deep ache he removed and debrided. Also I had other tears he debrided and my hip lining was inflamed so he cleaned that out as well (I will have the official medical jargon for my surgery once the official surgery report gets mailed to me) I also got pretty take home pics of the inside of my hip and surgery..which I actually thought was pretty cool.. So I have been doing a lot of show and tell w/ my friends w/ the pics;)
I got my stitches out too..yay(stitches out =real showers again..no more sponge baths for this girl...ever!) I was told that the pain from the 2nd surgery is worse than the first..wish I knew that piece of info ahead of time, but now from experience I can say that piece of information is very true. I still am on my my pain meds because the pain is still pretty brutal. Dr Fabulous said the pain can last up to 3 months or even longer..ugh! The good news is that he said I should be feeling significantly better once the pain dies down and my hip starts to heal..yay! He said my hip will never be 100% since it has missing cartilage and is now considered "abnormal" but I could be 75% better. He also told me that my Psoas tendon may or may not be better from the surgery (first surgery irritated my psoas tendon so much that it has been tight and swollen for almost two years..they talked about doing surgery to release it but I was like "hells no").. so now it's a wait and see situation..if it does not get better his next suggestion for my tendon would be to inject botox into it....hmmmm..not a place I ever thought I would need botox but and interesting idea nonetheless..but that is down the road...we shall see. I go back to see him again in a few weeks so I should have more info then..I am still in the "recovery phase" for now.
I am now doing partial weight bearing on my hip as tolerated (so still on crutches..on the positive side my arms are getting super strong) As of tonight I am officially back at my house, because I have been upgraded to do stairs... VERY CAREFULLY.
Pain currently: While I am resting in bed I can have pain free moments but I am also still taking pain meds, as well as aspirin, and will be starting a prescription antinflammatory med tomorrow (still lots of swelling). I think I am handling the pain better this time due to the fact that I have been here before so I was somewhat prepared mentally to know what it would feel like. It is interesting how your hip effects your lower back ,your knee, and your calf ..all these areas have been giving me a little trouble on my right side (which is normal I have been told). Plus I get these weird electric shocks throughout my calf and where my incisions are..I was told those are my nerves that have been "injured" during surgery..hopefully that will start to go away soon as well. The incision area is now less sore to the touch than it was a week ago. ICE IS NICE..literally the best thing for the pain is a very cold ice pack..it works wonders! Sleep has been hard since I sleep on my right side and I currently can't. If I even roll over on my right side while I am sleeping I wake up in a huge amount of pain then it is hard to go back to sleep. The time I feel the most pain is when I am sitting (sharp pains in groin/ hip area and achy) or walking(just pain- hard to describe..different pain from pre surgery). I pushed myself more today by doing the stairs a few times, walking outside on my driveway, and sitting outside for a bit, even though it was uncomfortable I felt I could do it..something I would not have been able to do last week..so improvement..and that is all I am looking for.
Well I am tired from my first actual long day so I am off to bed.. and hopefully get some much needed sleep! Nite;)
After I was finally released from the medical community (rescued would be a better term) my bestest friend (Thanks N) took me in since she had a one floor condo..easy access to bed, kitchen, and bathroom. Through my insurance I have received care from visiting nurses , visiting physical therapist , and visiting occupational therapist to come to the condo as well as to help me out w/ my recovery. I did not get this help my last surgery, because no one told me I could actually get theses services. Having the visiting nurse, PT, and OT come to the house is very helpful, they check my stats and meds, they change the dressing from my surgery ,and help me to get around better on crutches. I feel this help is making my transition back to the "real world" a lot smoother..less chance of injuring myself (which is always a possibility when you are using crutches).
I had my two week check up w/ Dr. Fabulous and he was happy w/ the results of the surgery. He told me that I had an impingement of my cartilage (again) so the flap of cartilage that was caught in my bone which was causing me the bad sharp pain and the deep ache he removed and debrided. Also I had other tears he debrided and my hip lining was inflamed so he cleaned that out as well (I will have the official medical jargon for my surgery once the official surgery report gets mailed to me) I also got pretty take home pics of the inside of my hip and surgery..which I actually thought was pretty cool.. So I have been doing a lot of show and tell w/ my friends w/ the pics;)
I got my stitches out too..yay(stitches out =real showers again..no more sponge baths for this girl...ever!) I was told that the pain from the 2nd surgery is worse than the first..wish I knew that piece of info ahead of time, but now from experience I can say that piece of information is very true. I still am on my my pain meds because the pain is still pretty brutal. Dr Fabulous said the pain can last up to 3 months or even longer..ugh! The good news is that he said I should be feeling significantly better once the pain dies down and my hip starts to heal..yay! He said my hip will never be 100% since it has missing cartilage and is now considered "abnormal" but I could be 75% better. He also told me that my Psoas tendon may or may not be better from the surgery (first surgery irritated my psoas tendon so much that it has been tight and swollen for almost two years..they talked about doing surgery to release it but I was like "hells no").. so now it's a wait and see situation..if it does not get better his next suggestion for my tendon would be to inject botox into it....hmmmm..not a place I ever thought I would need botox but and interesting idea nonetheless..but that is down the road...we shall see. I go back to see him again in a few weeks so I should have more info then..I am still in the "recovery phase" for now.
I am now doing partial weight bearing on my hip as tolerated (so still on crutches..on the positive side my arms are getting super strong) As of tonight I am officially back at my house, because I have been upgraded to do stairs... VERY CAREFULLY.
Pain currently: While I am resting in bed I can have pain free moments but I am also still taking pain meds, as well as aspirin, and will be starting a prescription antinflammatory med tomorrow (still lots of swelling). I think I am handling the pain better this time due to the fact that I have been here before so I was somewhat prepared mentally to know what it would feel like. It is interesting how your hip effects your lower back ,your knee, and your calf ..all these areas have been giving me a little trouble on my right side (which is normal I have been told). Plus I get these weird electric shocks throughout my calf and where my incisions are..I was told those are my nerves that have been "injured" during surgery..hopefully that will start to go away soon as well. The incision area is now less sore to the touch than it was a week ago. ICE IS NICE..literally the best thing for the pain is a very cold ice pack..it works wonders! Sleep has been hard since I sleep on my right side and I currently can't. If I even roll over on my right side while I am sleeping I wake up in a huge amount of pain then it is hard to go back to sleep. The time I feel the most pain is when I am sitting (sharp pains in groin/ hip area and achy) or walking(just pain- hard to describe..different pain from pre surgery). I pushed myself more today by doing the stairs a few times, walking outside on my driveway, and sitting outside for a bit, even though it was uncomfortable I felt I could do it..something I would not have been able to do last week..so improvement..and that is all I am looking for.
Well I am tired from my first actual long day so I am off to bed.. and hopefully get some much needed sleep! Nite;)
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