7 weeks post PAO!

Whew! I finally made it. Tomorrow I go back to IA City for X-rays and hopefully be told I can begin to weight bear. I hope I can, because I have been cheating. (Shhh, don't tell my doctor's office.) I don't recommend for everyone to cheat, but I have been feeling pretty good, haven't even needed to take tylenol for the past week. I have quite a limp, but I can take little steps. I am not confident to do it a long distance from my walker though! I even stood during my shower today, taking small steps around the tub to get clean. It went pretty well, but after cheating for the past 2 hours I can tell I am tired and I have some discomfort.
Today will be a short post, I will have more to report after my appointment tomorrow. This weekend my family and I will travel to Okoboji after my appointment in IA City. It will be a lot of driving, but I am so excited to have a mini reunion with my college friends. So stay tuned, the next post should be good!

6 Weeks PAO - Belated

It has been a little over 6 weeks since my surgery. I was unable to post on the exact date due to the fact I was at a state pharmacy meeting over the weekend. I was a little nervous about the weekend, I would have to stay in a hotel and be on crutches for the entire time. Fortunately the hotel had a great handicapped accessible room complete with transfer bench. My husband was able to travel with me. I still can't put on my own socks!
Everyone at the meeting was really friendly and many helped me open doors and pull out chairs for me. I am glad I live in Iowa where the people are so friendly. I don't know if people would help me out as much if I lived in New York, for example.
I do wish I had a dollar for every time I had to say periacetabular osteotomy. Even in a room full of pharmacists I still got looks of shock and "periacetabular what?"
I must say I can not wait until next week. I go back to Iowa City for follow up x-rays. Hopefully I will get the all clear to bear weight on the left. I have been so ready to walk I gave it a shot last week. Just a little step to see what would happen. Unfortunately my muscles are so weak that I almost fell over. I have been trying to stand on both legs to try to put a little more weight to strengthen those muscles. I don't feel any pain and it almost feels normal.
For my final note, being that today is Father's day, I have to give a big thank you to my husband. He has taken very good care of Caleb and his one-legged wife. We have had a few frustrating times due to my controlling type "A" personality, but we always get through it. We both can't wait to get life back to normal.

5 weeks post PAO

It is hard to believe that it has been five weeks since my procedure. Today I have not taken any narcotic pain medications, only tylenol. I still have some minor pain, but it is tolerable so I may not need to take any more percocet. Last week I had a couple of days where my pain increased, my back hurt so bad and my muscles felt so stiff, but today I am feeling pretty good.

I reached another milestone in my recovery journey - I put my own shoes on by myself! I am as excited as my two year old!

I thought I would share about some of the useful items I use in my daily activities. I have been able to shower by myself about a week after I came home. I attribute this to my awesome transfer bench. It comes out of the tub so I am able to back on to it to sit and then turn around into the tub. I also have my shower head on a hose so it is very easy to shower. I have a long handeled "poof" that has allowed me to wash my legs even in the early days when I could not bend forward. I also bought a shower caddy that sticks to the wall to hold my shampoo and soap at a handy level for me. I bought one made by OXO, the suction cups really hold very well. I also purchased some rails for my toilet. It was very easy to install. I never bought an elevated seat, I find the railings have worked fine for me. Lastly I think my walker is great for in the house. I like it more than my crutches for in the house, mostly because when I put my crutches anywhere they fall down. So I use my crutches to go up and down the stairs in my house and out in public. I did purchase a grabber, but I don't really use it. I was able to order all of these items from my pharmacy. Most pharmacies should be able to order them, I just paid cash from my medical flex account and didn't try to turn it into my insurance because I didn't want to bother, but I think some insurances will cover these home health care items. Some of these items might even be able to be rented, such as the transfer bench.

My toilet rails

Shower caddy that attaches to wall

My transfer bench

My shower scene

4 weeks post PAO

My scar a little over 3 weeks post PAO

It has been 4 weeks since my PAO. I didn't get last week posted, I wish I could say I was too busy, but that would not be true. I just didn't feel like doing too much. I would say that has been one of the hardest things for me, keeping motivated. It is very easy to fall into moods that cause me to feel like doing nothing. I am going to try to keep busy from now on. I have tons of journals and CE that I could get a jump start on, plus I have boxes of pictures to put in photo albums, so I do have things to keep me busy. Besides, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. In 22 days I will be back at IA City and hopefully will be told I can start weight bearing. So, I will catch everyone up to speed with my progress thus far. A little after 2 weeks post PAO, I was able to put my own pants on without devices. I am getting better everyday with movement, I can lift my left leg and turn my ankle inward to get my clothes on. I then have to sit on my bed to put my right leg through. I can bend down to pick things up, as long as I kick my left leg out. I am pretty good with my crutches. My walker is my mode of transportation in the house. I have a small plastic container that my husband made into a basket for me. It allows me to carry things from the kitchen and around the house. I have been left home alone for the past 2 days and it has been ok. My husband is able to help with meals during the day, but I could do it on my own if need be.

I take about 2 percocet per day. I try to get by without it, but when I am in pain, I don't feel like moving. I would take Ibuprofen, but I am still on coumadin and these two medications don't go well together. (I hate Tylenol!) I tried to see if my doctor would let me take Ibuprofen, but they do not. I don't see the issue, I have to get my blood drawn twice a week to monitor the coumadin dosage anyways. Oh well I will play the game. I am not wearing my TED hose anymore. I am supposed to, but they don't feel tight anymore and I don't think I am at risk for a clot. I move a lot during the day and my last INR was 2.0. (Normal is 1.5-2.0) Plus I hate those socks! They are so hot and itchy! I couldn't sleep with them on!

My scar area is healing very well. I still have some numbness around the scar and the top of my thigh is tender, but it isn't too bad. I am able to wear my old underwear and jeans.

All in all I think I am doing pretty well. I am worried about when I am finally able to weight bear. I hope I can get back to my old self as soon as possible. I am not allowed to do physical therapy until I can weight bear on my left. I am also trying not to gain 15 pounds! I can't wait until I can get back into the gym.

Two week follow up at Iowa City

Yesterday Logan and I went to IA City for my 2 week follow-up. It is funny how time can seem to go so slow. Two weeks is really nothing, but it feels like a lifetime right now. It is hard to believe that I went through with the surgery and that the worst is behind me.
The drive was a little uncomfortable, I'm not used to sitting in the car for that long. Once we got there we bypassed the valet parking (dumb!) and went to the parking ramp like we always do. We found a spot fairly close to the elevator so I crutched from the car to the elevator. I thought we would be able to find a wheelchair at the sky walk entrance, there usually was every other time we had came to IA City. Murphy's law was in effect and there were no wheelchairs, so I crutched from the parking ramp to the exam room. Needless to say that was a little uncomfortable as well, but on the other hand I did it and I survived so that was a small victory. One of the doctors from Dr. Mickinley's group cam in and I told her about the weird groin pain and swelling in my groin, and the tenderness of my old C-section scar. She didn't seem too concerned and said it was probably from the way they had to open me up to do the surgery. (Pulling of the skin back and stuff) She then had me lay on the table and moved my hip around, flexing it in and outward. OUCH! Then she looked at my scar and said it looked great. A few minutes later Dr. Mckinley came in, he agreed that the groin pain was normal and it would go away as I healed. He also showed me my new x-rays with my lovely hardware. My hip looks almost normal now, minus the three long screws in my hip. My angle went from 0 to 27 degrees. (normal is 25-30) He seemed happy with my progress so far, he also moved my hip around but just up and down, no twisting, he knew that would be too painful. My next appointment is in 5 weeks and hopefully the x-ray will show that I can start to get off the crutches. I hope these next weeks go by faster than the last 2!
After the appointment we stopped at Williamsberg and did a little shopping before we went home. When we got home we made a trip to Sam's club before picking Caleb up from daycare. I took pain meds about every 6 hours today, which is more than I have taken the last few days, but I overdid it yesterday and by the time we got home, I didn't want to move from my chair. I am glad we got so much done, but I wish my healing would go faster!

1 week post PAO

Well I finally got caught up with my blog. It is 1 week since my surgery. My butt hurts. I am tired of sitting, but find it to difficult to get in other positions. I have been able to make it out into the real world once every day. Monday it was to get my blood drawn, since the hospital social worker dropped the ball on that one. Tues I went to Scheels for different sandals & my Hy-Vee. Wed I went to Target & Bed Bath & Beyond (needed a good vanity mirror for applying make-up. I get tired standing on one leg all the time!) Today the visiting nurse came to my house to draw blood for my INR. After that Logan took me to the Home Depot so he can order wood to build a retaining wall this weekend.
I am able to get around pretty well with the help of my walker and crutches. My walker helps me while I am in the house while the crutches help me get down stairs and out in public. I tried to ween myself off the pain meds yesterday, again it didn't go so well. I talked with Tess and she said it is still early, so I shouldn't worry about that for now.
I can move my leg forward while walking with crutches, but can't move it from side to side very well. Sometimes I can lift it up to an ottoman, sometimes I can't. I think I have the downward motion figured out, that doesn't hurt as bad. I have had a bit of swelling in the left leg from my knee upward. It gets worse at night and feels very weird. The whole hip joint is just plain SORE and it feels very tight. I am told this is normal, so I will try not to envision bad scenarios with the joint.
Showering is not too bad. I am so glad I have the transfer bench for the shower, I don't know what I would have done without it!
Several times in the hospital I would wake up in a stupor and have to remind myself of what I did, and am so glad now that the past is behind me and I can look forward to a better future with a non-dysplatic hip. Now if rightly can hold out, only time will tell.

Alice in Wonderland

The number one reason I didn't like my hospital stay was my roommate, "Alice". She was crazy, literally. She was on the floor because she had shoulder surgery on her right arm. It was in a metal brace that forced her to keep her arm extended straight outward. They had wanted to discharge her on the day of my surgery, but when they asked her where she was she said she was at St. Luke's in Cedar Rapids and it was 2002. She also lived alone in an apartment with 2 flights of stairs. She clearly was not ready to go home to take care of herself. Often I would make sure the curtains were closed between us because I didn't want to talk to her. This didn't stop her from talking. Sometimes she talked in her sleep, sometimes to me, and sometimes to the TV. Ahh, the TV, she never turned it off. Never. It was so loud and was the main reason why I didn't sleep. If I have to stay in a hospital again and may have a roommate, I will pack a night mask. I tried to use my IPOD to drown out the sound, but the charge ran out in the middle of the night.
Every other word out of Alice's mouth was a swear word and I never knew what she was doing. On Friday night, she had a bed alarm placed on her bed, so she got up several times and set off the alarm in the middle of the night. No sleeping in my room! I was a little nervous that she might hurt me. I couldn't move literally, she could and who knew if she would start to think some crazy thought and hurt me somehow. I kept thinking about the movie "Misery" when Kathy Bates crushes the leg of her captive. Luckily this never happened. She had so many good sayings that Sat night Logan and I had to jot them down, so as not to forget it. Here they are...
Scene: Hospital room with two beds curtains drawn for privacy.
Night 2: Alice had gotten out of bed and is looking around holding a blanket around her waist.
Nurse: "Where are you going?
Alice: To go look for a job.
Later... "No we are not all from Dubuque."
(Thankfully a nurse came in and got her to turn off her light at least when it was 11pm)
Night 3:
Alice randomly says: "So would you guys consider finding this?" "No, go and tell him he has to get out of there!" "Sounds like its...Ooh! I sorry!"
Alice talking to TV: "I think you should sleep on it!"
My personal favorite, "I didn't know I was a diabetic?!" Every time the nurse's aid would come to check her glucose before meals. Did I mention she had a huge baggie full of tootsie rolls and other chocolates?
The staff tried changing her pain meds, ruled out an UTI, gave her oxygen, everything they could think of to make her lucid, but I think she was just crazy, plain and simple. I wish Alice the best, she clearly can not take care of herself and it seems that she has no real help at home. I only wish she would have turned the tv off.