The price of over doing it

It is great being at home, sleeping in my own bed and lying on my comfy couch watching Netflix. However there is also a downside to being back in my natural environment. The temptation to attempt basic household chores such as picking up toys or folding and putting away clothes is challenging to fight. Being a creature of habit I easily fall back into my usual routine and I struggle to sit back and watch the household run without my input. Even the most simple task of taking my dishes to the dishwasher now requires thought and effort. I use a 4 wheel walker with a tray table on top to allow me to do such jobs as I cannot carry anything while partial weight bearing on crutches. 

When booking my surgery I knew that there was never going to be a perfect time. In order to have time to heal I was always going to have to make sacrifices. Especially coming into the silly season there will be events that I will have to overlook. One thing I really did not want to miss out on was my eldest daughter's kindergarten concert which was last night. 

In planning for my first real outing since surgery I took some of my stronger pain medication (Endone) and my husband placed my short-term disabled parking permit in his car. In spite of the permit it was still a minor-feat for my upper body and left leg to get me from the car into the venue. I really enjoyed being out of the house. While sitting on the hard plastic chairs my pain was barely noticeable and I was easily distracted by the adorable children acting out their plays and singing songs on stage. Once home last night I iced my right hip and went to bed with no more pain than I had been experiencing this past week.

Unfortunately I woke this morning with lots of pain and stiffness. So much so that I was scared to move as the pain in my groin would take my breath away. At that moment I realised that I had definitely overdone it yesterday. Looking back it was not a great idea to introduce some home exercises yesterday knowing I had plans in the evening. Although the exercises I completed were very gentle and appropriate for my stage of rehabilitation (exercise bike for 5mins with no resistance and light reformer leg work lying down) the accumulative effect created a sore and sorry Meghan today. Therefore I have learnt my lesson and I have a very lazy day on the couch planned for today. Hopefully back on track on the bike and reformer again from tomorrow. 

It's good to be home

The past week has felt like the slowest week in history- at times I would check my watch after what felt like hours to see that only a mere 15mins had passed. But on the other hand when thinking about my surgery it seems like this past week has flown and that I was only getting wheeled into theatre a day or two ago. I guess that is what happens when you are confined to a hospital room - days and nights merge together and the conventional measures of time loose their meaning. Hours and minutes are replaced by the time between the arrival of a meal, a visit from a doctor/specialist, or a nurse dispensing medication.

Since my last post I was moved into my own private room and started to become more independent with my care. I progressed slowly from moving with a pick up frame to using 2 forearm crutches. A short trip to the toilet and back still felt like a marathon and I continued to spend most of my day lying in bed. The physiotherapist visited each day and took me further, encouraging me to mimic a normal walking pattern but with a limit of 20% of my body weight through my right leg. The physiotherapists have also continued to place me on the CPM machine each day to help keep my hip joint moving.

Things I usually take for granted- such as having a shower, became my daily highlight. Surprisingly I have quite enjoyed sitting for my showers, but despite this I cannot see myself making it common practice going forwards!!

On Tuesday I was discharged from hospital and returned home. I say this after every holiday or night away from home but never with such conviction as now- Wow I do love my own bed!! I napped for 3 hours once home and was excited to spend time amongst the craziness that life is with a 3 and a 5 year old. I know it is going to be hard to be on the "side lines" of parenting for a while, listening to my husband deal with the madness of bedtime while I lay down feeling guilty, but I know it will not be forever. The key is to enjoy this down time- well as much as possible, because it will not be too long before life has picked back up where it left off and I will be reminiscing about the days where the hardest decision I had to make was what to watch on Netflix.

Day 2 post op

Yesterday afternoon the physiotherapist returned and got me up walking a short distance on a pick up frame. I managed well however by the time I returned back to bed (maybe completed a total of 15 steps)  I was exhausted and felt quite giddy. My blood pressure had dropped so I spend the rest of the evening lying down. My operated leg was placed in the CPM (continuous passive motion) machine for 2 hours at a time slowly freeing up my hip and moving it further into flexion range. Initially the machine was set to 50deg hip flexion but I have since progressed to 100deg flexion.

I woke today feeling refreshed as I managed to get 5 continuous hours of sleep however my pain was quite noticeable, making me a little scared to move. During the night I had slept on my left side with a pillow between my knees which I found more comfortable as I usually like to sleep on my side.

The nurses had taken down my pain blaster unit so I was now relying oral analgesics. Thankfully it didn't take too long for my morning tablets to kick in. I also had my IV taken down and my catheter removed.

This morning I was sent for some X-rays which show 5 screws in situ in my pelvis holding my socket in it's new position. It was quite confronting to see the images the first time and made it all feel very real. Considering the amount of work done during this surgery I am amazed by the relatively small amount of bruising I have on the surface. I think having ice continuously on it has helped a lot.

                  

Jit popped in again to see me this afternoon and sorted out some medication allowing me to stand up without feeling faint. Since then I have managed a shower (heaven!!) and have been to the toilet (those who know the hassle I had after my last PAO would appreciate how relieved I felt!) Ordering prunes as part of my breakfast was definitely worth while!

I have had a few visitors pop in including my beautiful girls. It is tough being away from them and I was concerned that they would freak out seeing me in hospital however they are quite resilient and just had lots of questions. However my husband Sam and I had to be on guard the whole time because they did forget quickly and would launch onto me for cuddles and kisses.

Only 3 more nights in at The Avenue Hospital and then home to my own bed and family.

Surgery time

Yesterday was the day.. I arrived at The Avenue hospital at 11am for check in where I was taken to my room. Unfortunately the hospital is very full so I ended up in a shared room but thankfully my "room-mate" is a lovely lady who had knee surgery the day prior and has been a pleasure to be around.

Prior to surgery I showered with a special antiseptic wash. I put on my attractive hospital gown and waited in bed (see picture below). I was collected at 2pm and taken up to the theatre holding bay where I was greeted by a lovely theatre nurses. I spoke to the anaesthetist and of course was visited by my surgeon Jit. By this stage nerves had started to kick in but Jit has a magical way of putting me at ease. Before I knew it I was being taken through to theatre.

 

For the surgery I had a spinal block combined with a light anaesthetic. The benefit of this was complete numbness to the lower half of my body that remained after surgery - meaning I had no pain what-so-ever when I woke. What felt like a blink of the eyes I woke in recovery with my usual post-aesthetic shaking. With both legs numb I was feeling great. I was back on the ward by 6:30pm where my beautiful husband was waiting for me. Attached to me I had oxygen via a nose prong, a drip, a catheter and a "pain blast" which delivers pain relief directly into the surgical wound. I also had a pump at the end of the bed which is attached to a stocking like sleeve on each lower leg and every 20seconds one side inflates and deflates - squeezing my calf - helping to move the blood from my feet and legs to prevent DVT.

Over the next 5 hours the feeling gradually returned to both legs, transitioning from complete numbness --> to tingling --> to being able to move my toes --> then ankles --> and eventually normal sensation. I was given small sips of water but was not allowed to eat anything until the sensation had returned, meaning I went 19 hours without food. Boy did those sandwiches taste yum when I was able to eat at 1am.

I managed to get small cat naps throughout the night in between hourly obs (blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation etc) and checking my sensation / movement of my right leg. Initially I could not settle because of the noise that the calf compression pump made however after a while that along with the drip pump acted like white noise and helped me drift off to sleep. Usually being a side sleeper (with my preference being my right side) it felt awkward lying on my back with my head slightly elevated. One tip that I have found to be a god-send is using a neck pillow. It allowed me to completely rest my head and neck while being slightly upright

This morning the physiotherapist came to check in on me. I was given some gentle exercises of moving my ankles up and down, squeezing my quadriceps (thigh muscles) and to start trying to slide my heel up to my bottom (this is the one I find the most difficult and a little painful so I will have to take my timed build on it over the next few days). As my blood pressure has been good (I have done my best to have little sips of water often to stop my usual BP drop after surgery) I managed to sit on the edge of the bed and even stood up with a walking frame for a few minutes. The nurses changed my sheets and helped me to have a quick sponge bath and I was able to put on some pyjamas. 

So here I am sitting up in bed writing my blog feeling quite good. This early on it is all about rest to allow my bone to start to heal. I will most likely have an Xray done in the near future so I will try and get a copy to post on here so you can check out my new hardware!! 

Take two... Here we go again

I have been very lazy with my blog over the past number of years and that is mainly because my hips have not really played a big role in my life and have not been as high on the priority list. Instead I have been keeping busy looking after my two beautiful girls (now 3 and 5 years old), running my physiotherapy & clinical pilates business, getting away and going for adventures in our caravan and mainly enjoying life.

The only time I would think about my hips is when I had my yearly check up with Mr Jit Balakumar. Jit has been monitoring my left hip while also keeping a close eye on my right (non operated) side by sending me for imaging when needed. Prior to this year I have never had any issues with my right side, and this is despite having severe dysplasia on this side also. It was the middle of the year when I first noticed a dull ache in my right groin at night time. It was a far too familiar feeling taking me back to early on with my left hip. Knowing my history I didn't put off making another appointment to see Jit and the outcome of that appointment was as I had predicted - time to look after the right hip and have a Periacetabular Osteotomy (PAO).

It has been a very different preparation for surgery this time compared to 6 & a half years ago. My main concern and focus has been around how are we (my husband & I) going to manage my rehabilitation with two young children who still very much depend on my help. My husband Sam is a superstar dad and he proves that daily, however we work best as a team. With me out of action and unable to drive for 6 weeks it means he has a lot more on his plate. Thankfully we have a wonderful support network and have not been short of people offering us a hand. I have spend countless hours forming spreadsheets that cover everything from who is picking up/ dropping off/ looking after the children /who is taking me to post op appointments and so on. This along with organising coverage and scheduling for my business while I am unable to work has helped keep my mind busy and as a result I have not really had any time to be worried about the actual surgery itself. I know it is a big deal but I feel strangely comfortable by the fast approaching surgery, even a tiny bit excited to have it over and done with. I guess having an idea of what to expect this time around is also putting my mind at ease.

So with only 3 sleeps to go until I go back under the knife I thought it was an appropriate time to put my blog writing "hat" (or should I say mum bun/top knot) back on and fill you in.

There are a few people who were not in my life first time around and have been asking what exactly is a PAO surgery and why would I be having such a big operation when I look perfectly healthy. Rather than trying to explain it to you here is a link to a fantastic video that explains all that you may wish to know -->

www.ypo.education/orthopaedics/hip/periacetabular-osteotomy-t148/video/?fbclid=IwAR1_0-CXGBT3PQTuOe-KVZayPIQWxR-QqzpeyOeYNM4UxilZ6Ax994XUg1c

(You may need to copy and paste if the link is not working!)

But if you do not have time to check the above link out then I guess in a nutshell the surgery is moving my hip socket (cue using one hand as a socket and other as a ball to represent the hip joint) and moving it into. better position to make it fit together better with a goal of preventing degenerative changed to the hip joint.

Hit me up if you have any questions as I will be checking and updating my blog a lot more over the coming months.