drama on arriving home!

The journey home yesterday was pretty easy, thanks to platform assistance from the rail company, and a borrowed wheelchair.

I was home for about half an hour when things took an eventful turn. My dad had picked us up from the station and came in for a chat. Hubby and daughter went out for a few mins, when dad had a coughing fit , stood up, fainted and banged his head. He is absolutely fine,thank goodness, but in my panic I totally forgot about my hip, leapt up and 'ran/limped/lurched' about 7 steps across the room without my crutches! It was only when he came around, and I knew he was ok, that I realised what I had done. The pain then was unbearable. I managed to get back to the sofa, but was in agony. After a few mins my leg started going into spasms and I was really scared that I had done something serious. Hubby came back then, was not happy, but got me some meds and ice and after a while things felt a bit easier.

I didn't sleep much that night, and decided I would ring the sec the today and if necessary get xrays done locally and email them through. First thing this morning it was still too painful to put any weight through (am allowed 50%) but it has improved as the day has gone on. I still think I might ring the sec tomorrow just for reassurance, otherwise I am going to spend the next 6 weeks worrying. I am pretty sure I haven't done anything, other than upset the muscles a bit, and can't believe I was so stupid in the first place, but it was just a natural reaction, I guess. I know a couple of other girls that have done similar things, and have the same surgeon, and everything has turned out fine-I think we just like to test his skills to the limit!

Hospital stay

Surgery was uneventful, and my OS was very pleased with the result.

I woke up in recovery, after having a GA and a spinal, with a PCA and an epidural containing LA directly into the joint. Apart from the usual itching due to the morphine, for which I was given IV piriton I felt pretty good, pain free and had a decent nights sleep.

Physio got me up the following morning and sat me in a chair for around 10mins before I started to feel faint and asked to be put back to bed. The nurse went to get help, but by the time she came back I was 'unresponsive' so crash team were called. There was a pretty dramatic few mins where they assessed me for clots, ECG etc before deciding my BP had crashed due to the epidural and it was merely a faint! Ordered back to bed and that was it for the rest of the day as I went light headed every time I sat up.

The second day the epidural was removed and I managed to walk a little in the morning and again in the afternoon, then the PCA and catheter were also removed.

Following day, I passed physio on the stairs and cleared to go home the next day, however my surgeon thought as I was travelling some distance an extra couple of days would be better-which suited me because I really didnt feel well enough to travel at that time. This meant due to bank holiday train cancellations I had to stay in hospital for the full week.

Also at this time my wound started to look gross-red, oozing and blistering and my temperature was spiking. They took blood tests and swabs, which I didnt hear the results of, so I presume they were normal. They monitored this for the next few days and decided it was an allergy to the glue used to close the incision, although this hasnt been seen before. By the time I went home, it hadn't got any worse and although they weren't too keen on discharging me with it looking so awful, I promised to go to the GP if it got worse. They removed as much glue as possible, added steristrips and allowed me to leave.

2 weeks today

In 2 weeks time my second PAO will be over with. I can't help but feel excited that this signals the beginning of the end of my hip journey,and hope this hip is as successful and as straightforward as the right one was.

House is all cleaned (may have peaked a little early with that,knowing my lot),trains and hotels booked, most meals are prepared and frozen,and I have most things I need for the hospital.

Although nervous,I can't wait for the next two weeks to pass,then I can begin the road to recovery. Have lots of ideas for walking and hiking holidays next year, which we haven't been able to do for a long,long time, so am eager to get over the surgery and start getting stronger again.