Day 1: I'm Out - New Hips and Scars
’m Out! 48 hours in the hospital — normally, it would be 24, but the bi-lateral operation demands a bit more observation. I’m Out! 48 hours in the hospital — normally, it would be 24, but the bi-lateral operation demands a bit more observation.
The big issue, of course, is how much pain is involved.
The pain is associated mainly with movement — if I stayed still, I didn’t experience any pain, whatever.
Of course, you have to move, and that’s when the “ouchies” come in.
Lifting my legs was quite painful. I really couldn’t move them without some assistance. Just using my arms to pull my thigh up helped a lot.
And then, there’s walking: The idea is to get you walking almost immediately with the aid of a walker.
Initially, that was quite painful, but as I took more steps, it became easier. By the time I left, I was walking 200 feet in the hospital corridor (with the walker), with some pain, but not unbearable.
Low Blood Pressure from Spinal Block
Here was an interesting outcome: my blood pressure had gotten so low from the spinal block (like around 97/45) that it affected my ability to stand. This happened in the early morning after the operation (the operation happened around 4:15pm.) I stood, tried to take a step, and practically collapsed from instantaneous fatigue.
Given my history, it was a bit alarming: I’ve had stents placed and this felt a lot like the symptoms I had prior to the stent placement. I asked: “Am I on blood thinners?”
“No, not yet,” was the answer.
They were pretty sure the cause of my fatigue and dizziness was because of the spinal block.
I wasn’t so sure, but I had to run with their diagnosis.
After about three more tries and as many hours, it finally started to go away. BP was still abnormally low, but I wasn’t getting the dizzies or the upper repiratory stress I was experiencing prior.
I guess they were right…
Eventually, the sensation went away and I was able to get down to some serious recovery: and that meant walking (with the walker.) Once I got moving, it didn’t feel badly at all.
The second day (today), we did a bit of physical therapy: they put me on a machine sort of like a recumbant bicycle, but with flat platforms instead of pedals. “Try to stay at 40 beats per minute,” was the instruction from the therapist. I went over a lot, but ultimately, it felt really good. I wished I had a unit like this at home…
The final activity was to try some steps. They have a little mini-porchlet with three or four steps. The idea is to negotiate them carefully, get up the platform, and then get back down.
We did this once, and that was it.
Shower, Dressing Changes, Release
Next adventure was to take a shower. They keep wanting to put a chair in there, but in my mind, there’s more likelihood of slipping sitting down and standing back up. I’d rather just stand — simply standing is less energy and pain than sitting down and getting backup, anyway.
I explained this and then took the shower standing up with the nurses concurrence. It worked fine.
Next is to replace the dressings on the wound. This gave me a chance to look at the wounds and see what they looked like. I got a picture of the right hip (above). It’s a bit puckered from the staples, but dry.
Once again, the huge thing is to avoid infection. So, I’ll be watching it closely.
Home
And now, at 3:30 in the afternoon, I’m at home and negotiating the hazards of the house. This is going ok, we have cleared out most obstructions — the walker fits most every where. I’ve taken a few practice walks, and it’s working fine.
Now, it’s the long slog back to normal mobility.