Wow, I completely forgot about this blog! I didn't even know people still read it, until I received an email from a fellow-hip patient this morning. A lot has happened since my last post. First, I was lucky that I healed rather quickly from my left hip arthroscopy. I was able to return to the gym around four months post-op. I hired a personal trainer who is also an osteopath, and we worked at strengthening my hips before my PAO (periacetabular osteotomy). When I saw my surgeon's PTs at my pre-op appointment, they were amazing at how strong my legs were. I had quite a busy summer, filled with weddings and family shoots. My left hip held up quite well, but my right hip was struggling more and more as time went by. My surgeon booked my PAO for November 16th. November 16th. Even if I had gone through four hip surgeries, I never felt so nervous going to the hospital. I sat in the waiting area on the op-floor, nervously biting my nails. And then it was time. I walked into the OR, glanced at all the tools that were being laid out by the surgical staff. There was a LOT of tools. The anesthesiologist then said "ok, we're going to put you to sleep now" and I surprisingly answered "um, I am supposed to have an epidural, too." So it was quite nerve racking when he seemed clueless, said he would check with my surgeon, then coming back in and saying "oh! you are right!" What is the point of having a pre-op two weeks before if he didn't even seem to have read it? Anyway, putting in the epidural was a mess. I have a fear of those kind of procedures ever since my needle accident, so when I felt him poking in my back, I burst out in tears. He was unable to get it in, and after trying for what seemed like an eternity, asked me to sit down so he could try in that position. My eyes were filled with water, and I could see my surgeon, blurry in the distance. I clearly remember the anesthesiologist barking at the nurse "CAN YOU GIVE HER SOMETHING??" and the nurse, nervously replying, "I already gave her two doses." Clearly, they were not working! They then must have then given me a ginormous dose, as the next thing I knew, I was waking up in recovery. I never have smooth wake-ups, as I often wake up in pain and somewhat confused. This was no exception. I woke up and my epidural was NOT working. At all. So I felt everything. Every. single. bone. break. The brain is smart in the sense that I do not clearly remember what happened, but I know I was crying and the nurses felt terrible for me. My surgeon even came to my bedside, and placed his hand on my shoulder. They couldn't give me any pain medication as my epidural pump already had some in it (although I wasn't receiving any). They could only give me Tylenol, and we had to wait for the anesthesiologist to come out of surgery. It was terrible. The anesthesiologist then nonchalantly walked up to my bedside, and fiddled with the pump next to me. I finally had relief. I was in the PACU for close to six hours due to hard to control pain, fast heart rate, and low oxygen levels. The fast HR was partially due to the amount of blood I lost in surgery (1400ccs according to my nurse). I was in the hospital for six days, and the first three days were really, REALLY difficult. I had so many issues with the epidural pump (broken tubulure, wrong dosage programmed, catheter not perfectly placed) and it took a while to figure things out, pain management wise. Luckily, the surgery went as planned and my surgeon was satisfied. Recovery has been quite intense, much harder than what I had previously experienced with hip scopes. I am now six months post-op, and I still have daily pain. My surgeon expect my recovery to take longer due to my previous surgeries, and also because I am hypermobile. I do feel that my hip is WAY more stable, so definitely am happy I went forward with this surgery. I am doing PT twice a week and I am working hard at strengthening my hip. We are planning to get the screws out sometime in the fall. I look forward to it because they are quite uncomfortable in certain positions, or in specific weather (worse when it is damp days)
Anyway, I don't want to bore you with my story! Let me know if you want more details and I can post more in the future. Cheers!
0 Comments
|
AuthorMy name is Marie-Christine. I'm 34 years old and live in Montreal, QC, Canada. I have had two failed hip scopes on my right hip to do undiagnosed hip dysplasia. My amazing surgeon, who is in Quebec City, performed periacetabular osteotomy in November 2017. He also did one left hip scope (non dysplastic) in February 2017. Archives
May 2018
|