Friday, July 20, 2012

It's all fun and games until someone sets a date.


Well, we’ve had in interesting couple of months on this hip journey. Originally, I was supposed to have my surgery consult back in mid-June. It was cancelled because Dr. S wanted to see me on a day when he had no other patients. We then scheduled it for July 16th. So, this past Monday, my hubby and I mentally prepared ourselves for the big meeting. We gathered all of our questions, looked at dates on a calendar, and prepared ourselves to learn all we needed to know about, and schedule my surgery in the fall.

We arrived at the hospital only to find out that Dr. S had been called to an emergency surgery and he would not be able to see us. What a huge bummer. It took a lot of effort to not be selfish about it, and not be aggravated that we weren’t even notified (turns out we were…which is a whole other story in and of itself). I just tried to remember that if it were me that needed emergency surgery, I’d want Dr. S to drop everything for me, too. I will admit that I was more nervous and emotionally invested in this appointment than I had thought. I was pretty deflated the rest of the day. 
My biggest concern leaving the hospital that day is that if we waited much longer to schedule than we wouldn’t be able to get the time-frame that we wanted. I would be upset knowing that I had been waiting for MONTHS to schedule the surgery and in the end we couldn’t get the time I wanted. So, when I called Dr. S’s wonderful assistant, I explained my worries. She completely understood and said that we would schedule my date right then and there! Who knew it would be so easy. So, the date of the PAO is officially set for October 26, 2012. I will have my surgery consult on August 6th (hopefully).

So, we are just over three months away from surgery! That is just mind-boggling. It’s a strangely wonderful feeling to have an actual date to look forward to (or dread, however you want to put it), but it’s also very scary to now know that it is, indeed, going to happen. All of a sudden, it’s very finite. I actually AM going to have surgery and it WILL be before the end of the year. Yikes. I keep waiting for someone to call up and say “Just kidding! Your images look fine, it’s just a little something-something with an easy fix.” 

You see, before it was so fluid. I’m going to have surgery eventually. I’m going to have surgery to fix my hip “down the road.” I remember the original appointment with Dr. E from 10 years ago like it was YESTERDAY. I distinctly remember him saying: “You’re going to need surgery by 25-30.” I remember thinking he was loon (among other things), I would never need surgery. And here I am! Where the heck did that time go? And since when do we age so quickly, both in years, and in condition? It’s been 10 years…and it feels like it’s been the blink of an eye. 

I refuse to get philosophical…so I will leave with this:
I have my consult on August 6th. I believe this will be the first truly informative appointment, which will lead to the first truly informative entry. 

Questions for Dr. S include but are not limited to:
Am I given a list of things to do beforehand?
Should I get a temporary handicap plate?
I have heard of people donating blood to themselves beforehand for this surgery, should I?
Who will be performing the surgery with him?
How long is the surgery?
How long should I stay out of work on TDI?
How long after surgery should we wait to have kids?

I’ll be sure to post as soon after the surgery consult as I can. Hopefully it actually happens this time!

Thanks for listening/reading/following my journey,
D