Surgery again!

When arriving at Glenferrie Private hospital for my surgery I was not as nervous as I had been for my first hip surgery.. I think that going through the surgery process previously made me feel more at ease as I knew that I would first be admitted by the nurse who would put tags on my wrist and right ankle (which unfortunately reminded me a lot of TV shows when they show a body at the morgue!!) and make me drink a disgusting mix of fizzy stuff, then the anaesthetist would visit and ask me multiple times if I had any allergies to medications and finally just prior to being wheeled in DY would pop in and say G'day and reassure me that I was in good hands. A big arrow was drawn with red texta on my left leg pointing up to my hip. I jokingly asked if this was to make sure that DY operated on the correct hip and I got a very serious "yes it is" reply! I had invited a colleague from work who was my physiotherapist to view the surgery as I believed that it would be a great opportunity for him to learn from DY. The staff assured me that I would be all set up to "preserve my dignity" before he would be allowed into the room.

I was 2nd on the surgery list for the day so luckily the wait was not too long until they rolled me into the operating theatre. This was the first time I had been conscious in an operating theatre as previously I had been knocked out in the anaesthetics room. I was asked to shimmy across onto a narrow cold table, and I tell you this is no easy task to do while wearing a backless gown with no underwear!! While lying there I could see trays of sterilised equipment to each side with scary looking tools sitting ready to be used and in front was 4 computer screens which would be used by DY to navigate his tools while performing the arthroscope. Both of my ankles were strapped into separate boots which were attached to the end of the bed and the anaesthetist put a drip into my right arm. There seemed to be a dozen people in the theatre all busy getting something ready for the surgery when I remember the world going fuzzy.

When I think about it- general anaesthetic amazes me with its ability to bring about a reversible loss of consciousness, but despite this I really dislike the feeling I get when coming out of the sleep like state. It's almost like my mind is fighting to get back control however the effect of the drug makes me feel confused and disorientated. After spending a bit of time in recovery I was wheeled to a private room where my mum and dad were waiting for me. I was instructed on how to use the PCA (Patient Controlled Analgesia) pump which would deliver a bolus of morphine when I pushed the button. I pressed down expecting to feel a wave of pain relief but instead I felt nothing. Despite knowing that there was a lockout time after each dose I continued to press the button more than 30 times in 12 minutes. The nurse sternly told me that I had to wait 9 minutes after each dose of morphine before the machine would deliver another dose and therefore I should try to press the button less. The tone of her voice made me feel like she was judging me, implying that because morphine is a strong drug  I couldn't be in that much pain. Thinking to myself "stop being so delicate" I stopped pushing the button as often but I lay very still being careful not to move my left leg. After a couple of hours the same nurse lent on the bed to perform my obs and she noticed that the bed felt wet. Thinking that I must have been too hot and sweating she arranged to change my gown. It was only then when we all realised what had happened.. my morphine drip which was controlled by the PCA button had come detached from my arm and my bed had been receiving my morphine doses. I felt relieved, I had in fact a high pain tolerance having gone 4 hours after surgery with no analgesia. They decided to remove the PCA machine and provide me with oral panadeine forte as needed.

Once my pain was better controlled I was able to move around the bed more. I spend most of the next 24 hours sleeping and this was only interrupted when I needed to call the nurse for the bed pan.  Despite begging the nurses to let me go to the toilet and telling that I was a physio therefore assuring them that I knew how to non weight bear with crutches, I had to wait until the physiotherapist came in to teach me. I have never been so happy to see a fellow physiotherapist. He spent 1 min with me to check that I was safe to move about without putting any weight through my left leg and then I was free to move about with my new best friends the crutches, which were to be used every time I got up for the next 2 weeks.

DY visited me in hospital prior to discharge and informed me that everything had gone great. He said that had taken off 30% of the width of my femoral head (the ball was reduced by about a third of its original size) which had been shown in the literature to be the maximum amount of bone to be safely taken without having a high risk of stress fractures following. He then reinforced the need for me to be compliant and not put ANY weight through my left leg for at least 2 weeks which is when I would have my follow up appointment with him. I was sent for final scans at Glenferrie Hospital to check the shape and the position of my femoral head within the cup and then was discharged.

As my boyfriend Sam would have told you I was not the best patient. Lying on the couch watching the Hills TV Series DVDs was fun for about the first day, however that was about all I could manage. I was surprised how much the surgery had taken out of me.. still needing to sleep every hour or so and only spending half an hour upright or sitting before needing to lie down again. The worst part of this whole surgery experience was that the analgesia had caused me to get "blocked up" (if you know what I mean) but after a few days of trying green leafy vegetables the laxatives worked a treat!!

Sam was great during these two weeks- making me food, keeping the house clean while still working. I do recall him saying at this time "I never realised how much you do around here!" I had always known how lucky I was to have Sam and my amazing family and friends for support but it was during these early days after the surgery when this hit home and I felt blessed to have so many people that were willing to help me out.