Keep in mind this was my first surgery ever, though I've been put under before, I've never been cut open.
Surgery was scheduled in the afternoon. Its about a 2 hour drive so the drive home was what worried me, but I figured i'd be knocked out for most of it. On the way there we stopped and purchased a walker, the kind with wheels, just to help me around the house after the first couple days. I mostly wanted this because it had a little chair on it and a basket.... its not easy to carry things when on crutches.
We got to the surgery center about 30 minutes early but they got us started right way. This was a surgery center in an office building so needless to say I wasn't used to that. The nurses reassured me it was more efficient than a hospital, and I guess I had no issues to complain of. They took me back to the pre-op/post-op room (Emergency Room setting) and I got into my gown and the doctor came out to mark my leg. Gave me a quick synopsis and off he went. The anesthesiologist was next, put her mark on my leg, and she stayed around a bit. She asked if I wanted the nerve blocker for my leg... Of course i wanted it!! It took about 30 minutes to set in, but when it did, my leg felt like it weighed 100 pounds when I tried to lift it.
Another nurse came over to check the paperwork or do whatever, she lifted my gown and saw the markings. She then read the procedures to me to make sure they were doing the right things. I had to have a little fun..... When she read off "Right Hip...", I said no no no, its my left hip. The look on her face was priceless. I quickly told her I was only joking. The other nurses chuckled so it was all in good fun.
There was a 12 year old girl next to me who just had the same surgery and she wasn't crying or anything so that was a little sign of hope that it wasn't too bad. She was talking and everything and went home before I went in for surgery.
My family came back to see me briefly and off I went into the operating room. I was nervous but I didn't have the nervous breakdown I expected. I honestly think it had a lot to do with Dr. Birmingham making it seem like not such a big deal. This is where choosing your doctor is important, if you have a bad gut feeling about a doctor, GET A DIFFERENT ONE, and don't worry about making one doctor feel bad. They have a million more patients where you came from, so do it for yourself!! The anesthesiologist told me goodnight and I was out. Next thing I knew my family was standing over me and said, "About time you woke up, you've been sleeping forever."
One of my biggest fears was waking up in excruciating pain, which honestly wasn't really the case at all. It felt weird, but I didn't even really say "ow." It was stiff of course and couldn't move it because of the nerve blocker. The nurse brought me some graham crackers and I remember saying "before you told me you had cookies, what are these?" She laughed and got me some cookies. Just before leaving she asked if I wanted anything, water, apple juice, grape juice, etc... I asked for apple juice, she handed me a water.... I wasn't really thirsty so it matter either way. That would have been the only problem I had, which isn't a problem at all, but I said this would be an unbiased blog, so there it is.
I went home and i immediately wanted to get started on my CPM machine to get my leg moving. The 2 hour ride wasn't bad, but we had to stop at Walgreens to fill my scripts, so that was an extra 30 minutes and my leg was starting to get really really stiff. I put my cold therapy machine on and jumped into the CPM machine (figuratively speaking of course) and it felt good. I was to use the CPM for 3 - 6 hours a day, about an hour at a time. The water therapy was as needed and air compression was anytime I was sitting for a long time, especially at night.
After an hour in the CPM, it was placed on the floor. I started my pill regiment and kept the cold water/air on all night. Overall it was going a lot better than i thought up to this point.
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