1,000

Well, I just realized that I am just under 1,000 pageviews by loyal and supportive readers. I also just realized that it is my 1 year anniversary with you all! I wrote my first blog post on April 10, 2012, so Happy Anniversary!

1,000 page views! That’s amazing to me. I know there are bloggers out there who probably have many, many more than that…and it may not be a huge deal to most. But I think it’s pretty exciting.

I have to say that this blog started out as a PAO journal for me, something I’d post in every once in a while to mark occasions leading up to and after PAO surgery. Originally I thought it’d be for inner reflection later on, something to turn back to. I obviously hoped for people to read it and find my posts helpful for their own journey. However, lately it’s turned into my sounding board. The past couple months have really been up and down for recovery…and this blog has been the perfect place to put down my feelings, thoughts, and observations. Before I’d be lucky if I could remember to post once a month, now I’ve got posts waiting in the queue. I write my life and my recovery as it happens, and there are things that are on-going that I’ll post as fillers when not much is going on. 

Anywho, I just feel the need to say THANK YOU to all my readers. I know it seems silly, but it’s nice to know that people out there are reading, keeping up with my progress, and silently supporting me. It’s a fantastic feeling to know that I’ve got so many people, from all over the world (Hello U.S., Germany, Russia, Australia, United Kingdom, Sweden, South Korea, and Canada!) checking in, seeing how I’m doing and learning about my hip healing process. 

I want to reiterate that if any of my readers are prospective PAO or hip procedure patients, or are going through a recovery like I am…please, please, please don’t be shy if you ever have questions or comments. This is really meant to be a place that fosters all sorts of conversation. Even if you’re not going through any of what I’ve gone through and still have questions or comments, those are always welcome, too!

Anyway, I’m happy either way. I still think it’s amazing that there are so many people helping me through and following my journey. Thank you all, you’re truly the best.

Target Practice

Oh man, what a freaking ORDEAL I can be right now.
We went to Target after work tonight. Let me start this by saying that I have a love/hate relationship with Target in the first place. We frequent Target on a very regular basis...and it's where I had many a painful shopping trips pre-surgery. I would have to use a shopping cart to lean on it and walk through the store. I always love it there, but I just would get so tired and discouraged.

Anyway, I digress. Tonight. We went after work because there were many sales we wanted to hit and we had a gift card as well. I decided to use a scooter (much to my dismay), since we had a lot to do and using the crutches for that long is just not bearable. Well, the scooters were all tucked in between the express registers in the smallest possible place. I had to squeeze into the "parking space" to try and get onto it. When I finally got ONTO the scooter...I then had to unplug it. The scooter was plugged in underneath the register...not even within arms length. Can someone explain to me how much sense that makes? I had to get back out, hop over, climb underneath the register, unplug it, climb out, and then hop back. I finally got back on the scooter, get my crutches in it with me and pull it out and into the main walkway. We went about 30 feet....and the battery died. Sigh.

At that point I really just wanted to call it a day, I was exhausted and we hadn't even started yet.

 I had to get out of the scooter (again), and hubby had to push it back to its original resting position. The scooters wheels didn't work after the battery died...so this made a HUGE raucous. After a couple minutes of hubby wrestling with this $%#^\# thing, the Target employee ringing at the register next to us finally called over the speaker "Customer Service to the express lanes, please."

He did get in back into the spot just as someone came over. Then he had to crawl under the register to plug it back in so the next poor, unsuspecting fool doesn't go through the same thing. The nice Target lady helped me pick another scooter, and then even unplugged it and pulled out of the sardine can it was parked in. Splendid. She ended the conversation by saying she'd be happy to hold my crutches in back while I shopped so I didn't have to lug them with me. I loved her.

It's an interesting experience, riding one of those things in a highly populated store. You get many different reactions. You get the children who give you the LASER STARE. You get some people who really feel bad for you and go WAY out of their way to be nice and help you. You get the people who avoid you like the plague. And THEN you get the majority reaction, which is the "What the hell is a perfectly healthy looking 20-something doing in that scooter? This isn't a play place, people really need those things!" I hate those looks. I wish I could wear a sign that says: "I've had two big hip surgeries in the past 5.5 months!" Believe me people, if I didn't need that scooter, I WOULDN'T be in it. These are the same people that give me dirty looks when we park in the handicap spots. I want to tells every one of them: "Hey listen, I'm healing and I've earned these necessary perks. I've got 4 surgical screws to prove it!"

Anyway, while routing about Target I only hit about a dozen end caps...one I nailed so hard I pulled the shelving right out. Which is remarkable because the scooter was so slow there were times I thought I was actually going backwards. Hubby walked behind me and cleaned up my mess, as usual.

The end of our trip ended with as much cluster as the beginning. Hubby had purchased a large bookshelf, and he needed a Target employee to help him get it in car. Meanwhile, a very friendly Customer Service lady came over with my cructhes and started making a big fuss over me...which I hate. " Are you okay waiting here on the scooter? Your husband can pull the car right up, I'll wait with you. Oh no, dear, don't get up until you absolutely have to. You just rest and we'll take care of everything." Great.

Hubby pulls the car up and spends the next fifteen minutes like Capernicus trying to figure out how to get this <}%{£|! bookshelf in the witty bitty Jetta. Aye aye aye. Anyway, the moral of the story is....I am just a mega-hassle right now. I think we'll keep the trips to a minimum.

Talk soon,
D

Sleep walking...

Every day, I hold onto the hope that one day I will sleep normally again. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since early October! A good night’s sleep is one thing you just don’t think about (and take for granted, in my case) before surgery. I have a handy gadget that estimates the amount of sleep I’m getting at night. It’s called a Fitbit. And the Fitbit has been telling me that I’m averaging 2.5 hours of sleep a night. I’m waking up anywhere from 10-35 times a night. Seriously?

After the first surgery, I “slept” pretty well in the hospital (when they let me sleep)…more than likely because I was on all sorts of happy juice/pills. When I got home I entered into this whole love/hate relationship with our bed. I can really only sleep in one of two positions: my back with my legs raised, or my left side with my PAO-ed leg resting on a body pillow. Once I am in one these positions…it takes about 15 minutes to switch to the other. If I sleep on my back for too long my upper back ends up KILLING me. I have to use all of my energy and switch to my side. A couple hours later my leg is so stiff and sore that I have to switch back to my back…which still hurts from lying on it earlier in the night. Preposterous. For the first 10-12 weeks after PAO, I spent the majority of the night lying there waiting until I could get out of bed and go back downstairs to my sweet, sweet, recliner. While I was recovering from the PAO, the recliner, for the most part, was the only place I could find any consistent comfort. What didn’t help things, I’m sure, is that hubby was petrified of rolling on me in his sleep (he’s impossible to share a bed with sometimes…and I’m sure he says the same about me). He very cleverly built a pillow fort for me to sleep in every night. The pillow fort was great for worries and there were fleeting moments of comfy-ness, but it was mostly just awkward for us to actually sleep in. Plus it made me HOT…all my body heat was trapped against me.

Me in my pillow fort.

Anyway, I know what you’re all saying…why don’t you just take a pain pill before bed? Right…and I tried to do that a few times…and sometimes it helped for a little while and other times it just made me nauseous or loopy. So I stopped taking them before bed altogether a couple weeks post-PAO. I know most people live with the “give it some time to get into your system, let your body get used to it” mantra, blah blah blah but I was really tired and cranky and wanted instant gratification without a side of dry-heaving.

Well, things got better by mid-late February. I started to be able to sleep on my right side as well, and that eased a lot of the pain in my back. I couldn’t stay on that side for long, but even small periods of time were heavenly. Not to mention I wasn’t sitting in the same position in the recliner all day, so that helped too. Now, since my second surgery, I’m right back where I started. I’m still trying to figure out the best way to handle it, as the all too familiar back pain is rearing its ugly head again. My leg is stiff and uncomfortable most of the night, although that seems to be getting better the past few nights.

Anyway, the moral of the story is, sleep is just not the same for me. Some nights are worse than others, and I’m sure it’s only going to go up from here. I long for the day I can sleep on my right side again. I tried it on Saturday (naughty me!), and it was only pleasant for about 2 minutes. At which time I immediately regretted the decision. My poor little hip is just not ready for that yet. I feel like my hip is just infinitely angry with me since the second surgery. We had been patching our relationship back together, slowly but surely after the PAO. I feel like after putting it through another surgery it may have just decided that I’m not a good friend…it may very well be revolting. It’s aching a lot, and my nerves are exceptionally angry; far angrier than they were before. They are painful to the touch, like a bad rug burn on deep inside of my thigh. I still get that awesome random stabbing pain deep in my thigh, followed by deep itching that I can’t relieve. The nerve damage is the most aggravating part for me. I can deal with the hip aching (what’s a while longer of that? I’ve had that for like 10-12 years!). I’ve also noticed that sometimes when I have to move my PAOed leg a certain way, I get some clicking. It’s not a loud click, or painful…but it’s definitely there. I hate to complain because all-in-all my recovery has been pretty easy breezy. In the grand scheme of things, I’m doing really well. It’s just very little annoyances. I’m coping with the crutches and being active, my triceps are going to be huge by the time May rolls around.

One last annoying rant: Hubby and I went to a fun convention this weekend for some us time. Let me tell you, for a large convention with TONS of people and vendors there were NO PLACES for handicapped people to rest. I was on my crutches all day long, and I had a really hard time finding places to rest. It’s one of those things that you would never normally think about until you need it. There was only one place in the whole building that had chairs for people to use and rest. End rant. 

That's all: Happy Monday!

Talk soon,

D

PAO Essentials List

I saw this on another hip blog and thought it was an ingenious idea. It’d probably be good to give you some ideas on things I used to make my life easier post-surgery. These are really in no particular order. If I remember random things over time, I'll continue to add to this post.

Step stool – I used this to get into and out of our bed, which is very high. I placed it perpendicular to the bed on the outside of my leg, facing in towards my left, un-PAOed leg. I faced away from the bed, with my back towards the bed. Using the bed to brace myself, I used one crutch on my right side to push myself up and move my left foot onto the stool and stood up on it. I sat on the bed from there. We had ours prior to the surgery, but I’m sure you could get a good one at Target, or any medical supply store. One like this would be good:

Shower seat – Absolutely, 100% integral. We have a tub shower, and if it weren’t for the shower seat there is NO WAY I would have been able to shower at all. Because we have a tub shower, we purchased a shower seat that extends over the lip of the tub and out of the tub. That way I could sit outside the tub and scoot and swivel into the tub. This is essential if you’ve got a tub shower. Otherwise you won’t be able to get over the tub lip. You’ll need this even if you have a walk-in shower, as you’re going to get tired really fast. We got one almost just like this:

I had the handle on the inside of the tub, and that helped me immensely. These are adjustable.

Plastic trash bag for your chair – The visiting nurses taught me this. If the chair you choose to spend the majority of your time in is cloth, you may want to lay down a plastic garbage bag so that you can slide easily to the edge when you need to stand. I also used this for some of my exercises. My leg was too weak to over come the friction between my pants and the cloth chair. The plastic allowed me to slide my leg.

Warm socks with rubber grippies on bottom – these will be your best friend. The hospital sent me home with three pairs. I use them almost every single day.

Ask for extra Surgical TED socks – These are the knee-high white, super tight anti-embolism socks for circulation. The hospital only sent me home with the ones I was wearing and they get gross fast. Ask for extra so you can rotate them. This is what they look like, mine were white but apparently (for the more fashionable than I) they come in beige as well:

Towels for your crutches – Seems obvious, but you’re gonna be on those ALL the time, you’ll want some extra padding. Duct tape some comfy folded hand towels to the top of your crutches. 

Bed pillow – I took an extra bed pillow with me everywhere. I used it in the car if my back hurt, I used in the wheel chair to support my back while I leaned. I used it at people’s houses while I sat on the couch to protect my surgical hip from people hitting it, and to raise my leg if I had the opportunity to, etc.

Body Pillow -

I used a body pillow to sleep and it was a HUGE help. I placed it on my non-operated side so that I could turn and lie on my non-operated side and use the pillow to support my operated leg. It was a huge help for me because I had so much trouble getting comfortable in bed. I had a lot of back pain and it was nice to have options for positions to move and try to relieve some of the pain.

Heating pad – I kept this near my chair for days when my back was just not behaving. 

X-Large Gel Ice Pack – This will help you ice the surgical site on a regular basis. I iced every day, several times a day for the first few weeks. I had several different ice packs available. You can get them at Target or any pharmacy.

Tray tables – I set one up on either side of my recliner so I could have everything I needed at arms length. It helped keep everyone a little saner. If you're not sure what I mean:

Small wristlet (something pocket sized) – Ladies - for short trips, I put all of my necessary items in here when I traveled. Necessary being: License, medical insurance card, chapstick, cell phone and anything else you REALLY need. All the other crap I usually take in my purse was useless to me. 

Backpack – When you’re going out for a whole day, take a small backpack that you can fit all your necessities in. Medications, my purse essentials, whatever you'll want for the day etc. Using a purse was almost impossible. A backpack will make your life so much easier. 

Rent a wheelchair – Really. Just do it. The doctor made the arrangements for me, and I told myself I’d never use it (apparently I have a pride thing), and guess what? It was my most bestest friend. Make sure you get one with adjustable foot rests…that way you can extend it so your leg/knee isn’t bent too sharply. I only used it a handful of times, but it was a lifesaver when I did. I am wishing I had it after this second surgery. And FYI, you lose all sense of pride in the hospital…

Here's a pic of the one I had, the foot rests were all sorts of adjustable. The most important thing is that they could be moved out to the side of the chair to make it easier to get into and out of the chair. The footrests also could be removed completely from the chair to make it easier to store in the trunk of our car. This was great, and a lifesaver.

This was our first REAL outing after surgery (besides going out to get my VOTE on). A Target trip (we LOVE Target).

Comfy Slippers – Self explanatory. Let's be honest, you won’t be able to tie your shoes; this just makes it easier for everyone.

Lots of loose-fitting sweatpants – Self explanatory. However, it’s probably ALL you’ll wear for a long time. I have 4 pairs…and it wasn’t always enough.

Peroxide, cotton balls, etc – I clean my incisions every couple days. (You’ll only have one (big) incision, I had an additional surgery).

Vitamin E lotion – This is for later on, once your incision is fully healed. This lotion will help keep the skin moist and healthy and can help reduce the appearance of the scar in the long run.

Grabby thing – You’ll probably need one of those mechanical arms that helps you grab things. I got mine at CVS, in the "As Seen on TV" (I laugh at that section). I have one like this:

 I didn't use this, but I bet it would have been helpful if I had remembered I owned one.....

Cleaning Body wipes – Let me be honest with you. You’re not going to shower very often. I really tried for 2 showers a week and was lucky if I felt good enough to do that. Besides the feeling good, it's just a debacle to try to get undressed, into the shower, maneuver in there, get out and get dressed up again. You're EXHAUSTED after you attempt this. These wipes will help you clean up and feel less grubby on days when you just can’t bring yourself to get in the shower. You can get these at any pharmacy.

Dry shampoo – Same as above. I got mine at Target.

Electric razor – If you have similar treatment to me – you’ll be on a serious blood thinner for a while after surgery. The hospital told me NO SHAVING with a razor after surgery. I had to use an electric razor. Reason being if you cut yourself, you’re not going to clot well at all and you’ll just keep bleeding. The electric razor isn’t perfect…but for me shaving made me feel a little more normal.  I got mine at Target.

Baby powder – I loved this stuff after surgery. It kept me feeling somewhat fresh when I hadn’t showered in days. The hospital provided this for me, but you can get it at any pharmacy.

Different textured fabrics/materials – Random, right? Let me explain. Since surgery, I have a large area on my thigh that is numb. My PT told me to rub it with different textures to try and wake up the nerves. If you have the same outcome, I suggest this as something to keep bedside. I do it before I go to bed a couple times a week. I use a fleece blanket, Velcro and cotton.

2 weeks post second op

Oyyy I am so sick of crutches. Every day I wake up and the first thing I think is… “I better get up now because I have to pee and it’s going to take me about 20 minutes to get to the bathroom with my debacle-ness of a self.”

Otherwise.......things are going well. I’m making myself move my leg as much as I can as often as I can. I really don’t want my muscles to atrophy as badly as they did last time. My thigh is still really weird feeling (very descriptive, I know). It’s all tingly and numb every once in a while for really no apparent reason my nerves will FIRE off and cause me to squeal a little. It’s really great…keeps me on my toes (figuratively speaking, as I obviously cannot do anything on my toes…). I do everything one-legged…I hop everywhere. I watch my husband bounding all over the house all two-legged-like and I get very jealous. What a show-off. I’ve been dealing with this crap for so long now I forget what it’s like to even walk normally! I keep telling myself that 4 months from now, I’m going to be the bionic woman…never to be slowed down again. But…it’s going to be a loooonnnggg 4 months.

I put one of our bar stools in the middle of kitchen and it’s completely in the way for my hubby…but it’s a fantastic way for me to rest while doing things in there. Otherwise, when I’m trying to do dishes or cook or something, every few minutes I have to hop along the counter over to my crutches, get on them, use them to get to a chair and sit down. When I feel better I have to do the whole thing reversed…it’s absurd. It takes me an ETERNITY to do anything. And I’m so tired I need a nap after everything I do. It’s like my body is saying “Ya know what…one surgery pissed me off enough…and now you went and did again?! I’m done. No more energy for you.” I get winded from the simplest things. I’m trying really hard to not be a wimp…but I can’t believe how tired I am all the time. After the first surgery I completely expected it…I mean I was growing bone, after all. But this time? Phew-yyy, let me tell you. I constantly feel like I’ve just run a marathon. I’m not sleeping well at all, and all day long I’m feeling like I have to catch up to everyone else.

I will say that this surgery, besides from being on crutches for 7 weeks AGAIN, was not NEARLY as bad as the PAO (obviously). This time, there was no real muscle damage, and there’s no restriction on moving the joint or specific angle I need to stay below. The only restriction is no weight bearing. I also can’t drive…because it’s my right leg. I feel like a kid without their license, I have to bum rides off everyone.

But, generally speaking, my leg feels pretty good. The one thing I am noticing, though, is my sacroiliac joint on my left side is really giving me a hard time. I had been having some pain before I went in for the second surgery…but I could have it adjusted at PT and sometimes that helped. Lately, being on the crutches and trying to do things left-legged has really been giving me a lot of pain. I can understand why…it’s taking the brunt of all of this. I just am not sure how to help keep it happy. I’ll have to ask Tom (my PT and I are on a first name basis) what he thinks. Additionally, since the surgery I’ve been having on and off (more on than off) bouts of pain in my…..groin area…except it’s not reaaallly the groin. He had to cut a portion of bone RIGHT THERE and sometimes I get some pain. It’s a dull, aching pain. I’ve mentioned it to Dr. S. and he says it’s because it’s such a large “break” and it’ll be “broken” for a long time. That’s the part of the bone healing that is going to take the longest. I mention this, not to humiliate myself, but because it’s really the only pain I’ve had consistently since the surgery. It is nagging, but it’s not terrible. Just something I certainly was not expecting.

In other (less embarrassing) news, the bandages and steri-strips came off a couple days ago. I have three tiny incisions with stitches. I laugh when I look at them because it looks a little bit like they are held together with those plastic wires they use to hold price tags on clothing. The incisions are glued together again, as well…so it looks like I’ve got little patches of super glue…and little plastic clothing tags. I’ll post a picture. Eventually…I’ll post a picture of my other scar as well…but haven’t figured out how to do that quite yet. I’ll be quite the sight to see once everything heals, with 4 scars in such a small area…it’ll look like I got in a knife fight (which I guess technically I kind of did).

I scheduled my next appointment with Dr. S. today. It’ll be May 9^th. It’ll be the appointment where he assesses if I can get off the crutches. At that appointment, I’m going to ask for copies of the pictures from the arthroscopic surgery, that way I can post here and you can see what he did in there. It’s interesting to see.

Alright, that’s it for now. I’ll leave you with a few pictures:

Discharge from the hospital day! 10-30-12

This is from the first day I could walk after PAO. My first step on my new hip almost 50 days after surgery.

  

This is my post surgery x-ray at my 12-6-12 appointment (6 weeks post surgery)

Arthroscopic surgery incisions

Talk soon!,
D