Post op, day 2 (Dec. 10th)

The night passed by easily and quietly for me. I woke up about every four hours and pushed my PCA button and the CPM was on the entire night. Dr. Z came in at about 5:30 to check on me and wish me luck and told me that I'd be seeing him for a follow up in about 2 weeks and that he planned to discharge me today. Then his resident that was in on the surgery came in and pulled my hemovac drain and changed my dressing. When she pulled the drain out she asked if it hurt b/c I didn't make any noise and I told her that it burned a little, but nothing bad. She laughed b/c she said that everyone else who had the drains pulled yelled out and she was like "it's not that bad". I agreed, but then again, has she ever had a drain pulled from her before???? I asked her how long the incision was and she said long and showed me the length with her hands. 10 inches...hoo boy, longer than I thought it was going to be. Oh well, it's not like I have anyone to impress in a bikini anymore:) Plus, it is a battle wound I'm "proud" of.
Once the dressing was changed and the drain was out, my nursing assistant helped me up to the bathroom and then I walked in the hallway (all before 6:30 am). Todd came in about 7:30 and was happy to find out today was discharge day. I had a nursing student as a nurse along with her preceptor nurse (who was also my nurse) and she was sweet but very slow. The actual nurse started quizzing me about my dysplasia symptoms b/c she started having hip problems recently and a resident told her it was probably dysplasia. I told her what I knew and thought it would benefit her to at least see Dr. Z. She was thankful for the info. I think it is so cool to meet with people that are going through some of the same stuff and to be able to help them as much as I can. Another staff member (nutritional services) came in to give me my tray and she saw Dr. Z's name on my board and said she had both her hips done by him too and was excited to meet another of his patients as we normally aren't on the 9th floor.:)

I got my final PT lesson of the hospital stay, learned how to do stairs and was told "good leg up (to heaven), bad leg down (to hell)" when trying to remember which leg to lead with on stairs. It's helped b/c it is a bit of a mystery to me which to use first! OT came in after that and taught me how to dress myself, how to sit on the toilet easier, and how to shower with a shower bench. By this point I was full of energy even though I hadn't eaten in awhile. I called my nurse in and asked her to d/c my IV line and start me on my oral pain meds. She did and I waited a couple hours before deciding I was ready to go home just to make sure the vicodin worked. As I was getting discharged, I got another roommate, and guess what? She was a yeller just like my first one!!!! I am soooo glad to be going home:) When I was wheeled out by the hospital volunteer, I finally got a good look at the hospital...gorgeous and huge!!!! It's all decorated for Christmas and looks so pretty. Getting up into the truck was a challenge but surprisingly easy considering how high up off the ground it is. This was one thing OT worked on with me as well, but putting the bed up in the air as high as she could get it and having me back up onto it like I was getting into the truck.
The drive home was another story. There was a huge snowstorm, the roads were really bumpy and there was black ice on the expressway, which made travel very treacherous. We saw a 2 mile stretch of at least 12 cars (including semi's) turned over and in the ditch...that's not comforting! We slipped a few times, but made it home safely after 5 hours (normally a 3.5 hour drive). I was feeling horrible at this time though. Sick to my stomach and in some decent pain. Plus, I think the anesthesia is still coming out of my system and I was crying about everything. My crutch slipped out from under me on my bad side and my op leg slid out with it and I was a mess after that. I got into my recliner and slept for a good 4 hours before going to bed and sleeping the rest of the night. Oh, the CPM machine was delivered to us at about 5:30 and the guy who set it up was awesome.
Todd has been so great through this all. Not complaining once and he knows he's got a long journey ahead of him too. How I'll ever thank him enough is beyond me. He's the absolute best and must have missed his calling as a nurse:)
I was able to get myself out of the CPM at midnight and 4 in the morning to go to the bathroom and I was pretty proud of myself.
So I survived, although this is the "easier" of the 2 surgeries I will have. Not at all looking forward to the LPAO. I'm kind of scared about the anesthesia, not really sure what's going on with that? I also can't imagine ever having the energy back up to normal at this point. I'm falling asleep typing half the time and still the thought of food is not happening. I know I need to eat to keep my energy up, but I've got to poop first or it's just going to be ugly.