7 Days!!!

T-7 days! Wow!

Time is just flying by and I can’t believe that we are now just one week from surgery. I am getting (insert any number of emotions here). All sorts of exciting things have happened, depending on what your idea of exciting is. I’ve applied for my handicap plate, I’ve applied for short term disability and temporary disability insurance, and I’ve even rented a wheelchair. I’ve started preparing my house so that I can be downstairs the majority of the time and not be bored out of my mind. I went for my pre-op blood-work (I’ll be sure to report back my “coagulation time”, I’m sure you all want to know), and I’ve even purchased all of the stuff for the goodie bags for my nurses. It’s important to say “thank you” to them, I know it can be thankless work and I want to make sure they know I appreciate all of their help. Plus it’s around Halloween and I love putting together little things like that.

Right now, I am a busy little bee, so I’m sorry I haven’t been keeping you up to speed. I’ve got a lot of Relay for Life things going on, and I’m reallllyyy trying to keep up with my volunteering work at the zoo. It’s been hard to juggle everything, and to be honest, the mileage I have left on this hip is just so low. I can’t really do much of anything without the pain cramping my style. It’s really exhausting to be in pain all the time…I am looking forward to some relief! And quite honestly, I think I could use the down time!

Speaking of relief, my mom-in-law recently got me in touch with a girl who has had the same procedure that I am having! She is similar in age, and has the same issues with DDH. For the purposes of her privacy, we’ll just call her D. D had her surgery a few weeks ago. She said she was in the hospital for about 5 days. She did say that it has been a really eye-opening experience to see how little you are able to do post-surgery. She’s very independent (just like me), and doesn’t like to not be able to do things (she sounds like another me, I like her already!).

When D and I started e-mailing back and forth, I asked her about what caught her off-guard, or what she wasn’t expecting. She told me that the biggest things were that she was given an epidural for three days after the surgery so she didn’t feel pain (I had never even thought of this), and that generally speaking, she is not used to the crutches and the wheelchair. She did mention that I should definitely practice using the crutches on the stairs before the surgery to get the hang of it. So from now on, I’m putting the crutches by the stairs and will use them to go up and down. I think hubby and I have decided that I’m going to try and sleep downstairs for a little while until I’m comfortable enough to try going upstairs. I don’t know how long that will be. Either way, our bed is very high, so I won’t be able to sleep in it anyway. I’ll be sleeping on the futon in the office for a while. The thing I’m most concerned about is accidentally using the hip…I’m thinking the less I move around, the better. Even if I’m on crutches, there’s no guaranteeing that I won’t accidentally slip and step onto the leg…I don’t even want to take that chance for a while. I’m going to have to be super careful.

D also said that I should do the physical therapy exercises every time I’m supposed to regardless of how I’m feeling, because she thinks it might help make a difference.

Mostly, it was just great to know that there is someone else similar in age that is going through this. I often feel a bit like an odd-ball because of my hip deformity.  It’s nice to know there’s someone I can talk to that understands what it’s like to have this kind of pain and the limitations that come with it. The best news is she said she is feeling so much better already! It’s only been a few weeks and she said she’s feeling pretty good! That’s good news, and very reassuring. I’ll be interested to hear how she’s feeling once she starts walking on it.

Today, my co-workers had a little surprise “get well soon” party for me. It was a nice little surprise and really made me feel great. It’s nice to know you’ve got such a great support system. I’m a very lucky girl. 

Other than that, my days have been filled with very random things, trying to finalize everything as much as I can before next Friday. I’m working Monday-Wednesday, and I’m taking a ME DAY on Thursday. I am going to get a massage, a manicure and a pedicure, and probably do some last minute shopping for goodies while I’m laid up. Friends have given me all sorts of gossip magazines, movies, etc…so I think I’ll be just fine! I’m really getting restless, not sure what to do with myself these days. This weekend I’m going on a camping trip with my mom to try and spend some quality time with her before my surgery. That should be really great, I’m looking forward to that.

Well, that’s it for now! I will check back with you next week sometime, when I know what the surgery day is going to look like!

Thanks for reading,

-D