I had the pre-op appointment yesterday with Ali, Dr. Huffard's physician's assistant. She is really nice and gave me TONS of information. We started with going over all the family history, etc etc. Then she talked about the procedure itself. Let's just say I am REALLY, REALLY glad that I am going to be asleep during the procedure. Apparently, I am going to be on this medieval-style torture device that's going to literally pull me apart. I'm going to be strapped onto an inversion table and they are going to pull down on my legs and open up the joint so they can get in there. She said that most of the pain after will be in the knees and feet, from the pressure. Oh joy. Gonna be doubling up on Advil/Tylenol and such. Oh boy!
HUMOR BREAK: Apparently, because of the placement of part of the device, I could experience numbness in the.."nether" region, as in, I will know that I have to pee, but I won't be able to tell if I have actually peed or not. She said it doesn't always happen, but its possible. I kind of want it to happen because it would be pretty much hilarious!
The procedure is 2.5 hours, then the same amount of time in recovery. They are going to get in there, shave the bone, repair the labrum, and something called capsular plication, which means tightening up the ligaments in that hip. Sounds like a blast!
After I talked with her, I met with the people who do casts and braces. I am going to have TWO braces; one for day (the daytime ensemble) and one for sleeping (evening wear). I'll have those for two weeks. The day one is this one http://bledsoebrace.com/products/philippon.asp. Its going to only allow that hip to be at a 60 degree angle at most. Sitting ought to be fun. The night time one I don't have yet, they will give it to me in recovery. It makes me pigeon-toed while I sleep and keeps me from moving my hip while sleeping. It might be 2 weeks before I get some real sleep with that one. I'll also have crutches for 3 weeks. Yahoo!
Finally, the end of the tour was the actual surgery center, where I met with a nurse and we talked logistics of "going under" and what I can expect. I have to take a shower the night before and the morning of with this super-powerful antibacterial soap. Funsies. At least I won't be at a hospital where I have more of a chance of picking up an infection.
Everyone was super nice. The people at Orthopedic Associates make me feel so comfortable. It helps with the nervousness. Still, this is unchartered territory for me, so I am pretty nervous still. Thankfully, my amazing boyfriend Ethan will be a great care-taker early on; he'll be there when I wake up. :) He's taking Thursday and Friday off, and then the following week I'll be kinda on my own. I've been promised visits, and I should be mobile-enough to be somewhat functional. My plan is to watch awesomely bad movies via Netflix (I've already had some great suggestions) and catch up on reading. I have a bunch of magazines I am behind in.
I am trying to stay positive and look to the future where I'll feel better overall. Still, prayers, visits and encouraging words will always be welcome!
I'll probably post the morning of, and then whenever I feel up to it after.
xoxo
MK
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