I can walk around the block with the frame. I can pivot around and move things. Metro Rehab will ensure a safe and strong recovery.
Just had my last 2 endone before the road. My bags are packed I'm ready to go.
Eileen on her way to pick me up. We might even have a coffee on the way.
My Goals:
Get stronger
Build balance
Improve coordination and flexibiity
Feel fit and energetic
So I can walk the hills again whether they be here, Vietnam or the Amalfi Coast.
Enter Monday morning. A new energy blows in to the ward after a sleepy minimally staffed weekend.
Noise, excitement, bells, those who arrive with a weekend beyond these walls.
Soon the Monday Operations people will find themselves in a room up here while they await their procedure. They will be decked up in Hospital gear, a hair net, red if like me you have an allergy to penicillin. They will be given the most flattering undies/nappies. There will be visits from anaesthetists, doctors and nurses. The Dr will draw an arrow to the correct position on the operated limb, just to be sure.
They will wait in turn before going to pre-op room where they'll get that lovely warm blanket and the spinal block with morphine in the spine.
The operation will go ahead and they won't know a thing. They'll wake up in the recovery room. And then they will be wheeled back to this ward.
But we will be gone.
The bell toll hour
The song does ring
The falling minor third
Hey you got that thing?
Call my wife
Get her on the phone
Get lost in here
Cos it ain't my home
All I know is da fear
Kind nurses they do keep near
Nurses are patient
Nurses are patient
Nurses are patient
Do you hear!
Must have forgotten about what happens when the block wears off. My first attempts at walking yesterday sent me into a spin, with blood pressure dropping and nausea coming in.
They took out the drip, blood bag, oxygen, leaving only the urinefoot. This morning that came out too, so I'm a free agent.
But I had a lot of pain in the night, on my right hip but also on my right foot, which we cant explain. We started off with panadol but then upped the ante throughout the night.
This morning I'm having breakfast in the chair and feeling so much better.
went in to RPA for 2nd Hip Hop yesterday at 6.30am but waited until 12 noon for the warm blanket outside the operating theatre. Meantime fastIng from evening before,
I had spinal block with morphine and i remember absolutely nothing. I came to in Recovery.
And later I found my lovely girls surrounding me in the single room I was returned to. A broke the fast in traditional hospital fashion with a cheese sandwich and a cup of tea.
My girls spoilt me with handcream and mags and their company.
Compared to Hip 1 I had a relatively peaceful night in my room. Last time I was in Observation with bleeping and interruptions all night.
My blood pressure was very low so there was extra hydrating going on. And I have a pain relief button, but am still under the influence of the block. Just starting to wear off now.
One total treat are these leg wraps, that massage your lower legs, purportedly to stop thrombosis but infact just feel great to get these periodic massages.
Soon off for xray, then first steps this arvo.
Left Sydney with my sister to travel to Tasmania in my van, Frida. We took 12 days to do it, stopping along the coast in National Parks along the way. Every day we would go for walks along beaches and coastal tracks, exploring new scenery. And that's when I discovered my right hip couldn't do uphill and would ache at night.
Materials for hips, and more info on Total Hip Replacements http://hipsterclub.com/2014/06/08/total-hip-replacement-implants-2/
