First Steps

Ive just taken my first steps. Baby steps. From the bed to a walker to a chair.

Stayed there feeling quite light headed then nauseuos. Back into bed for anti nausea meds and more rest.

A day later

The pain is setting in. Now that the  block has worn off. I pushed the self-administering pain relief button all.night.

All yesterday arvo theyd get you to grade your pain from 0-10. And I gave a zero or 1. Now its a 5.

ive been nodding off all morning and resting in a far more comfortable position. Just had a cuppa and toast but beyond this I have no appetite.

Must say the staff are fantastic.

Post Op

Sitting up like Lady Muck. This time in a 4 person ward for heart monitoring.
My left leg has been numb from the thigh down. Feeling is just starting to come back in the form of pins and needles in my left foot.

I believe the operation went smoothly but I wasnt there. There was music and happy commotion going on up there but I dreamed I was travelling in the underground. I was moving along a tunnel with alternate adjoining glazed billboards, softly lit, with alternate burnt orange Aboriginal textured sign and quite stunning white motifs on black.

This is where i stayed until I came to in the recovery room.

Now un this room with the gumtrees outside. i have a catheta going to the lower right end of the bed. blood drain on the lower left. heart monitoring and blood pressure on the upper right and drugs-on-demand on the upper left. As  i still feel no pain ive just pushed this once. you cant push more than once every 5 mins.

As a reaction to those drugs theyve set me up for vomitting just i case: a sickbag, a towel and a bowl. Not looking foward to that bit.

Thanks everyone for your infusions of love. That has carried me thru this.

One hour away

Im in the room where i will be spending the next few days.  7th floor looking west. There is a construction site next door but the double glazed windows mean ots relatively quiet.

Inside is another construction site. Im robed up with a red hat on and red wrist and ankle bands to denote Im allergic to penicillan.  I have white tie up disposable undies like my sumo wrestling outfit. Covered by the elegant back opening cotton gown.

Rosie escorted me in today. Didnt sleep a lot last night but know perfectly well why. Things have moved along quickly here and ive been visited by so many people - anaethesist, registrars, nurses, cleaners.

The anaethesist gave me the option of a general or a spinal numbing of the waste down. Recovery is better from the latter apparently. They sedate you and give headphones for music.

Im feeling ok. i just hope it all goes smoothly. occasionally a sweeping thought like when you take off in a plane. Not much of a chance of anything going wrong but what if this is the one that does.

So Lordy Lord No Complications Ok?

Love

VIVI

One day to go

Ive taken off 2 extra workdays  before I go in. It's been a good idea. I have time to pack, do my exercises and psychologically prepare. Really l-o-v-e sleeping in.

I have books to read, the use of Rosie's Kindle, a tablet, some sewing. I have some new nightshirts, some sheepskin shoes and the dressing gown Rosie gave me for Mothers Day.  I have a sheepskin for my backside that apparently makes being in bed for so long more tolerable.

Ive had to keep free of cuts and broken skin and free of colds and illness, lest the operation be postponed.

My sister Jo and daughter Rosie are my support birdies but my sister it turns out, has shingles, poor birdie, and so we can have no contact. We are relieved its shingles as she had a melanoma cut out last August and we were fearful of the cancer manifesting itself again.  Was thinking we both might be in the same hospital at the same time, unable to see each other.

Im really comforted by Rosie coming to stay tonight and coming in to the hospital at 6am tomorrow morning. Settling me in. I fast from midnight - no coffee tomorrow morning even tho Missy's next door makes a Tobys Estate.

I guess Ill be entering another universe, anaesthetics taking me to other dimensions, while my body is sliced open and the carpentary begins.

God give me courage!

The Pre Admission Clinic

12.30 and im eating ginger chicken and rice in Cafe Missi next door to the QEII Building of Royal Prince Alfred Hospital  (RPA)Sydney.

Im about to go in for a Pre Admission Clinic. Thats like a one stop shop where u meet surgeon, anaethesist, physiotherapist, ot etc. Ive half filled out about 10 forms.

i have another 10 results to take with me from pathology, xrays, ecg organised by my GP.

and then theres the questions i need to ask:
- what about arthritis elsewhere in my body?
- what happens to the spurs and cysts?
- how can i prevent further deterioration?

do i want a solo room? what if its lonesome? but what about sharing with someone groansome and snoring? But I wouldnt want to turn down the opportunity of meeting and sharing the experience with someone half decent either.

12.55 Now in the waiting room with about 30 people with various walking aids. im 11th on the list. I get restless in waiting rooms. I think Ill catch a flu from someone. im also not good at waiting. i like to be busy.

Hip Op Demo without the Blood

This UK Animation about the Hip and replacing them, is kinda neat! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMMCQ8yhAls

Getting Closer

Three weeks away now.  Switching away from Work Mode and into Op Mode.

Am I nervous?  Not so much anymore.  Not since I found I could stay in a Rehab place after the Hospital stay, at no extra cost.  Now my private health insurance IS working for me.

I was worried about not being assertive enough to stay in Hospital for the length of time I would need.  They are keen to get people out of beds as soon as possible for the next people.  And while my friend and I entertained swapping places so I could be on the ground floor with her cat Tiger, and she and her gentlemanly dog Claude, would be up the 36 steps in my flat with my cat Mishka - as the time drew near I began having anxieties about how this would actually work out.

It would be too squashy and there wouldnt be room for my sister and daughter to stay.  And what would I be asking of them anyway?  How would it be for my daughter to help with her Mum in this condition?

So instead the Rehab Hospital will be 3 meals a day, someone to make the bed,  physio including hydro therapy twice a day, access to a Physio, OT and Social Worker.  People who have experience with orthopaedic recovery.  When I can climb the stairs there, I will be ready to go home.  This is a great comfort to me.  Visiting hours are 3pm - 8pm and I'm already excited about entertaining visitors.  They have 5 star food and extra food can be purchased for guests at a modest price.

Medical Prep recently has been: blood tests, urine test, chest x-ray, ECG - all to take to the Pre-Admission appointment next Monday 15 July.  That will take about 4 hours.  Lots of forms I've half filled out, I will need to take.  Got it all into a display folder.

Financial Prep has been getting a 2 way claim form sent off to Medicare.  Medicare sends to my Health fund and when I have both cheques from them, I combine it with the difference and send it off to my surgeon.  It'll be about $2800 out of pocket, with another $740 for the Anaethesist.  The Assistant Surgeon, Prosthesis and Hospital stay are all covered by my Health Insurance.

Physical Prep has been getting a set of grabbers.  Buying some tracky daks (made in Bangladesh God Help the Workers), some easy to slip on sheepskin shoes.

Emotional Prep has been ordering 2 books I'd love to read in recovery - one about Hubert Wilkin, Antarctic Explorer and the other about the 1967 bushfires at Fern Tree where I grew up.  A jigsaw puzzle of Renaissance Florence that my daughter gave me.  And maybe embroidering some table cloths.

Am I being overly optimistic?  Well I dont know.  But it doesnt hurt.

I know I'm going to be out of it with an anaesthetic before the blood spurting and carpentry begins.  I know if they do the lateral, the muscle will take a long time to recover.  But I also know that most people are very satisfied with their hip ops and re-discovering movements that have been denied to them so long while the arthritis set in over many years.