Surgery day - right hip SDD (Dec. 8th)

I woke up to hear my phone blasting out Beyonce at 7:18 am so I pretty much figured the hospital was calling me and I was sure I was going to be told come in earlier than 12:30...nope, my scheduled time had been pushed back by 1.5 hours, so they didn't want me in until 2 pm, surgery to go at 4 pm...(Insert disappointed scream, silently). I was at least told I could have clear liquids until noon since I was nothing by mouth since midnight. I took advantage of that!!!
So, with a small pity party for myself, I threw myself down on my bed and whined how I had to wait even longer to eat, and get this surgery over with already.
Todd was a champ, rubbed my back and told me it would be just fine. And you know what? It was, I survived:)
My friends suggested going to the Detroit Zoo to pass the time, since we had time. It was fun surprisingly considering it's December! Lots of animals were out and very active.
We got to the hospital at ten minutes to 2 and I was checked in. No nerves at all, just ready!
Admission was a breeze, the IV insertion was smooth, and upon talking to the anesthesia team, we agreed no versed because I wanted to "tour" the OR suites! They were good sports about it and showed me around as much as allowed from my stretcher. That place is HUGE! 75 OR suites in the hospital...16 for ortho alone! My room was quite large and the whole staff was laughing with (ok at) me about my "tour". They said I was the only one who'd ever requested that, but could understand why since I am an OR nurse too. Still no versed on board and I was trying to get a good look at the instrument tables, but didn't get to see much. My circulating nurse and anesthesia nurse wanted me on the OR table:)
I was hooked up to monitors, given an oxygen mask, and told to enjoy the ride. I woke up 2 hours later in recovery room and it was scary for me. I was in the absolute most ridiculous pain I'd ever been in my life and I was hyperventilating so badly I couldn't tell the nurses what I needed, which was something to kill the pain. It felt like my hip had a grenade go off in it. They kept saying they had to call for "something else" and shoved the PCA button in my hand but I was still so consumed by pain that the PCA didn't register with me until later. It turns out that I am morphine resistant, so all the morphine they had been pumping into me had virtually no pain killing effect AT ALL during surgery or after in the recovery room...nice. Dilaudid was the 4th and final pain medicine they tried and the only one that works for me via IV, so that's what the doctor ordered for my PCA along with a basal rate (continuous rate) to help catch up with the pain. Apparently Todd was accidentally allowed back into recovery while I was still being treated for my pain and he said he was pretty scared for me when he saw me. He said I didn't look like me at all. My whole face and eyes were pretty swollen and I was gasping in huge lungfuls of air but nothing was coming out. He thought I was delirious at that point but now realizes I was pretty lucid as I remember quite a bit of being in the recovery room. I thankfully don't remember it lasting 1.5 hours which is how long recovery went.
About an hour into being transferred my pain started to settle down and I was able to convey my needs. My nurse was an angel! Very patient and kind. She worked with me throughout the night to get me feeling better, and she did great. My pain scale went from 10/10 to 7/10 which was sooo much more comfortable for me even though she said that was still too high. Throughout the night I was unable to pee on the bedpan (due to the dilaudid) and I had to be straight cathed then eventually a foley cath went back in. Good thing too, because I was making quite a bit of urine! She also set me up on my CPM (continuous passive motion) machine and put SCD's on my legs (keeps me from getting blood clots).
The time came for Todd to leave for his apartment and just an hour later I was given an elderly roommate. Never got a wink of sleep because the poor thing fell and broke both arms and her hip! She cried and yelled out all night, so I was inable to rest at all because I felt like I needed to use the call button for her to get her help.
Pain was definately more tolerable now, probably about 5/10 and I was much more comfortable overall.