Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Christmas Day!! 2013

Merry Christmas DAY!

So I'm at Day 2 of screw removal - and OW!


It has been a pretty sore couple of days. I took one 5mg Oxy at the hospital, took one before bed Monday night and another Tuesday morning - I have not taken one since. However, today I did take two Tylenol because it was feeling pretty sore. The bone/hip itself feeling but the incision is where most pain lies. When I stand up from sitting, it feels like the incision is ripping open. That's the worst feeling of all. Standing up, rolling over in bed all take a little more effort to try not to hurt myself too bad.

So the thicker outside diaper I took off last night, and the bandage I think stays on for like 7-10 days or something. It's already peeling up in one area though. If water gets in there it may get like wet and soggy and we don't want that because I don't want bacteria to start growing. I may take it off and put a new one on or wait it out.

Yeah, it definitely does not look appealing in the least. Sorry about that one. It feels as bad as it looks too!

Lastly, here are ALL my screws. RPAO, LPAO and RPAO - glasses for reference for size. The last screw is the most recent and actually the longest screw in my collection measuring in at just over 5 1/4". It's literally longer than my glasses - which are fairly wide. It's SO crazy. I really need to find something to do with these beauties. Ideas? Let me know.

Am I done yet? I think SO!! Merry Christmas to my and my hips!! Happy healing to all of you out there in the middle of recovery or just beginning the adventure. It really isn't THAT bad. HAHA



New iPad and Iced Coffee. <3



Monday, December 23, 2013

Monday, December 23, 2013

Merry Christmas Eve's Eve!

The day has finally, finally, come when my screws are removed and I'm done with hip issues and being cut open. 

We hit the road around 11:00am this morning from Kevin's house which should only take about an hour to get to Boston. Wrong. It's raining so naturally there are accidents beyond accidents and we got stuck in accident traffic that was really bad. The hour trip took 2 hrs and 15 minutes. Of course I had to pee since the only thing I can ingest is water. Which takes me to my next point. Fasting wasn't terrible. 

I ate three, yes, three meals last night before bed and fell asleep around 9pm. We woke up around 8am and my stomach was growling already. I was going to try one piece of toast but I figured it would probably be better if I just didn't have anything rather than confusing my poor belly. It actually hasn't been bad! Eating and then getting hungry is worse than just not eating. 

As I write this, I'm all checked in with my "pee in a cup" right beside me. Don't I look happy. . . 


As the picture was uploading, I was called into the holding area. 


My updates will continue after surgey!

It is now about 4 hours post surgery and we are almost home. I sat in the holding area for quite some time as I was called in a bit early - plus they couldn't get the damn catheter into my vein. Story of my life. Supposedly the anesthesiologist works on brain patients, but he couldn't insert my dumb little IV. He tried twice in my hand and it hurt so badly!! This is a children's hospital, my veins can't be that small. He then tried the side of my hand, he stuck me with the lidocaine and hit my friggin thumb nerve so that was numb for a while. I have a record of being numb in the strangest places! Finally, another anesthesiologist came and she tried in the inner part of my elbow and that was a winning stick. 

I got my med cocktail and they wheeled me off around 4-415 or so. I did not feel very sedated at all which was pretty neat. I slid over to the operating table, got hooked up with monitors and oxygen sensors and everything else. Coolest part? The camera so I could watxh everything live. I think that was the most awesome thing I've ever seen. But, that was not the best feeling in the world.  They can numb skin and everything but there's no way to numb the bone so needless to say I felt the screws being removed which was so not a good feeling. Plus one was missing for quite some time. They called in a mobile X-ray but found the screw head before it arrived. All three screws were manually backed out with a screw driver about one centimeter or so and once that was done, the drill took them the rest of the way. OW!!! I said a few profanities and that was that. Sewed me up in three different layers. Patched me up and to recovery I went, bright eyed. 

I literally felt completely normal and wide awake it was nuts. Different than last time. I was pretty loopy and sedated for my other hardware removal and I was much more numb. This one was was less wimpy. On a side note, the anesthesiologist (longest word ever) originally almost had me sign the waiver to be put out completely. He said something about drifting off to sleep and I said oh no I think I'm going to be awake. He's like oh. Plus Millis keeps his patients awake normally. Thank goodness, I definitely would not want to be knocked out. That makes recovery that much more difficult. Right now I feel normal and like nothing happened. I was given 5mg of Oxycodone and that took the edge off. I feel pretty good, teeny tiny bit sore but not bad yet. 

Here's my signed hip, me outside the hospital waiting for Kev to bring the car up and me in recovery. Yeah! DONE!


Yes, my underwear says "Eye Candy" and is def not surgery appropriate. I wasn't thinking!



Incision and bandage updates coming in a few days. Best Christmas present of all. 

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Saturday, December 21, 2013

We have arrived at Screw Removal Eve's Eve (unless Millis cancels on me AGAIN)! But he took my number and put me on speed dial so if he has to change, he can call me. I hope not.  The crap part - my surgery isn't scheduled until 3:30pm!!! COME ON! It's a 45 minute procedure. I had to postpone from yesterday because he had another case to do, so now I have to literally wait ALL day Monday - on top of fasting after midnight. I literally hate this PAO and everything associated with it. For. REELZ.

Anyway, today we are in Rhode Island to celebrate Christmas with Kevin's family, exchange gifts, have a cookie swap and eat! YUM. But it is the start to a chaotic week for us - which isn't necessarily a bad thing. We'll head to Boston Monday morning, and Millis actually took mu number incase he can cut me open earlier in which case he will then call me. So we will plan to get to Boston at a decent hour and hang out - not sure doing what - but we will. Haven't been in Boston around Christmas time so it'll be a new experience - unless I'm fainting from lack of food consumption. bah-humbug.

Just quick update - with a scar picture which I haven't showed in a while. Not that it matters since in two day it'll be cut open for the fourth and final time!

Final product will be up in a few days - not sure if I will have an x-ray or not, but I will be sporting the Millis diaper along with the dreaded Tegaderm. ARGH!



Happy Merry Christmas Week!


Saturday, December 14, 2013

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Let's talk about the 0-Saturday record I have going on today!

Morning started out swell, slept until 8, had a nice breakfast and the snow started falling. First snow of the season and I end up having the worst day! Kevin and I went out to do some errands - first stop, the grocery store. So, I am extremely nervous of falling - I was over that and now being only 6 months out from my last surgery the fear has returned. ARGH! Walking around the store and...I freaking slip and FALL! So stupid. The floors were wet all over the place and my dumb Uggs have no tread - my arms were full and BAM..I slipped and tried to catch myself and boom right onto my knees (after slipping twice walking into the store - both times with my right leg giving out). EXACTLY what I didn't want to do. I am so mad. My knees are sore now but my hip(s) feel fine so I guess I didn't do anything to them luckily.

Moving along, next stop Starbucks then onto the Liquor Store. I was walking so carefully...in the vodka aisle on the phone with my Mom and BOOM, dropped my FULL Grande Iced Coffee!! argh again. Cleanup on aisle 3. What a nightmare. Kevin wasn't even around (for my fall either)...I had to go find him and confess my clumsiness. At least he was an A+ husband and let me go back to Starbucks to get another drink, he even went in for me so I wouldn't bust my ass walking in.

Couple more errands...home...did laundry ALL day and then went out to dinner. Got back into the truck after dinner and went to kick off my boots on the running board..miss the sole completely and hit my foot on the truck - it's instantly bruised and still hurts!!

I quit. First snow and I have already done 3 stupid things. Is it Spring yet?

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Update

Just a QUICK update - drum rollllll

MY NEW BLOG HAS LAUNCHED!!!!

Please check me out at LivingLarocheLife - I'm still working out some kinks, but you should be able to follow me very soon! Thanks for the support! :-)


Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Wednesday, November 4, 2013

Just a quick update to vent - I had to reschedule my screw removal again, YES AGAIN! What the hell. I schedule this dumb thing back in what...July or August to be sure I had a date set before he got too booked. I have literally had to change my date 5 or more times. Brenna, his scheduling nurse, emailed me and said he had an emergent patient coming in from Florida on the 20th...ok, if it's that important why can they wait 3 weeks to see him in the first place...and what the heck, they can't wait two more days. ARGH! Annoying. So after I had all my plans set for Christmas, I now have to shuffle things around a little. This is exactly why I book things far in advance and book them early because I want wiggle room in case I have to reschedule - like 12 times.

Anyway, props to my fellow Hipster Laurie up in Canada. She hit her 1 year RPAO and RFO (right femoral osteotomy) which is when they cut the femur because it's too long and then attach it back together with a screw. She's doing pretty well - hip pain is OK but the pain her her femur is still not great and her thigh is numb. But yay! We formed a bond via email and text over the last year while I helped boost her during recovery. 

A new blog name has been set, domain is purchased and theme is now being set. So keep an eye out for that to be linked up here shortly. It'll be completely not hip related - lets get our minds off of these poor hippies. Please follow me over there and support the other aspects of my painfree life.

<3

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Decemburrrrrrr

Aw yeah, my mos favorite month of the year!! Not only is it the wonderful month of Christmas and getting to spend time with family and friends and enjoy the gift of giving...but it's ALSO my Birthday month. :-)  I get questions all the time whether I like having a birthday so close to Christmas...and the answer is YES most definitely. My birthday is Dec 6 so it's still far enough away from Christmas Day where I was always able to have a separate party - have birthday wrapping paper and such. Although, as I get older, more and more things interfere with my special day. However, apparently I was about 2 weeks early - in that case I think it would be too close to Christmas - but either way I love it. 

AND, it's the month of my 5th and hopefully last hip surgery! My screws are coming out on the 20th - same day surgery, in and out. Couple days on crutches and some pain meds and I'll be fine. I remember the feeling last time of the screws being backed out and it didn't really feel great. The incision was quite sore for maybe about a week or so, not looking forward to that but I want these dumb things out of me. So, right from my surgery we're heading to Rhode Island to celebrate Christmas with Kevin's family and then back here Sunday for a crazy week of work/nowork/celebrating and family. Looking forward to it all. 

Quick recap in pictures from Thanksgiving. Kevin was the chef this year and made a Julia Child recipe that was PHENOMENAL. You won't usually find Stuffing or Gravy on my plate and I went back for seconds on both. 





My Mom had a lovely table-scape with little treats at our place setting.


And being home for the holidays wouldn't be the same without Zoe being mischievous and finding a cozy spot in the bathroom sink...how could we scold her?



When our bellies were full, we cleaned up and allowed Mom to rest up before heading into work at 6:30pm to work the night into Black Friday morning! Unreal. She got home at 5:30am and we went back out shopping around 11am for a couple things here and there.

Back to the grind and wanting these next few weeks to pass quickly so we can start the new year and so I can have some vacation time!