Ten days ago I had a posterior approach right hip revision with osteotomy. The reasons for this . aren't really pertinent and will not impact what I am experiencing. My purpose here is to hopefully provide perspective for anyone else going through something like this. It is very difficult for me to think 7 days down the road when I feel as if I am withdrawing to deal with pain & fever & to merely survive. I hope to provide a day by day progression through this process. No 2 people will have identical journeys but there will also be similarities due to the nature of the procedure.
This is actually day 10 post right hip revision. The first 2 days were in the hospital and was as close to hell as I think I can be while on Earth. I awoke from the surgery with nausea in the recovery room and had to be given medicine to keep from vomiting . That worked well but the dampening effect on my HR & blood pressure came back to bite me. I came out of the recovery room 2 hrs later than expected and my vital sign alarms kept going off so they moved me to a neuro floor as they did not have enough telemitry beds on the ortho unit. The pain was incredible and because of the vital sign issue no therapy was sent up to see me. It was almost comical as there was a poor lady that couldn't go to the bathroom on the floor so all night she would be yelling for help. The poor staff on that floor had a lot of problems getting vein sticks so in my stupor I would guide them to more productive ones, or so I thought.
Day 2 I woke up without my surgical limb TED hose on and feeling hotter as the day went on. I continually informed the nursing staff and numerous visitors that breezed through my room. Once a nurse asked why my teeth were chattering.....My TED or a replacement never came and I continually was telling the nursing staff I felt burning up. It is common to spike a post-surgical fever and up to a certain temperature is considered healthy but by the time they came back around mine had climbed to 103.5 degrees. I still had to wait 30 minutes to get something and only because my fiancée insisted. I had numerous people state the importance both before and after surgery of using the cheap plastic looking incentive spirometer. I remember 1 pre-op nurse say this will make the difference between having pneumonia & fever or not after surgery.
I was moved back to the ortho unit as my VS had stabilized. I finally got another TED hose with persistent requests. In my mind if my doctor wanted them I should have them. Physical Therapy came up and we went to walk. I don't know if my leg was stiff from not getting up Day1 or what but after Toe Touch Wt Bearing with a walker I could do no more than 10 feet. That night I wanted to try to go to the bathroom even if I didn't have to so I could begin transferring, and to not become obstructed as I had after my 1st hip surgery. After my 1st surgery I was encouraged to eat but never asked and never did have a BM before leaving and I was not going to relive the misery of the vomiting and ensuing hip pain the day I got home. The RN kept stating she was confused why I would want to go if I didn't have to but what can you say when you have already said it. It had to come down to the fact that I thought I should and the RN did not need to understand.
Rather than waiting for me to lift and initiate turning my body in the direction I was getting out of bed and slowly lowering my surgical limb down easy, the knee was allowed to bend and the pain was incredible. Then after returning to bed the surgical limb was quickly brought up and over with the same result.
Day 3 was uneventful for the most part. I walked longer(30 feet), went up/down 3 steps, got drugs and left to come home and it is from here on that I hope may shed some light on how some of the things may come to pass. It turns out I had unrealistic expectations and I am a Physical Therapist. Revisions are different beasts and bone and muscle hurt no matter what you do or how much you make.
Getting to sleep was the one part of this day I would rather forget. I placed a 4 inch high 2 foot long step next to a 6 inch step. As it works now, the right surgical limb is on the 4 inch-step with the walker in front of me and my non-involved leg is on the higher step to my left. The goal is to slowly use the arms to lift and scoot back as someone slowly lifts and holds the surgical leg out straight. Once the leg is supported by the bed then you can left the buttocks by pushing elbows into the bed and someone slowly brings the leg over , a little at a time. It requires timing and does quickly get smoother. The other is to find a chair high enough with enough padding and an arm rest so that 1 hand is on the walker and one lowering on the chair, taking care not to lean over at the waist. There is no pillow placement that will feel better for all people all the time. I have had to experiment with under heel, under calf, between and all combinations until I find one and todays comfort may not be tomorrows
I should be able to catch up to day 10 on the next blog then they will obviously be much shorter
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