1 more week!

Holy cow! I only have one week until my surgery. This time in a week I will be recovering in my hospital room hopefully feeling pretty good from the pain meds. My surgery is at 8:00am, so I will hopefully make it to my hospital room by early afternoon. I had my check up at Methodist to make sure I am fit for surgery and I was given the "all clear". It was a little nerve rattling because they had to take a lot of blood, but I survived and even went by myself! I had a bit of a panic this morning when I realized that I will be alone every night that I am in the hospital next week. It is going to be so hard to let Jeff leave on surgery day and then he will only be over after work the rest of my stay. My parents said they would come the day after surgery to be with me and other people have mentioned coming to visit. Then the work week after surgery I have "baby sitters" set up for Monday thru Thursday. I'm hoping to be independent by Friday, June 17th, ten days after surgery. I'm just trying to be positive and think about the final outcome but there are a lot of things worrying me.

• Am I going to be able to do my class work? Will I get bad grades?
  
• Am I going to be in a lot of pain?
  
• Am I going to be able to do the exercises they tell me to do?
  
• Can I get around the house with two large dogs?
• Am I going to be stuck in the bedroom for several weeks or can I move to the couch?
• Is the surgery going to fail? Am I going to be stuck having a lifetime of surgeries?
• Is my insurance going to be a pain?

Am I crazy for worrying about all this stuff? I can be extremely irrational sometimes, but I don't think I am being that way right now. I just need lots of hugs and I am probably going to cry a lot this week. For those who see me regularly--be prepared!

28 days from now...

I will be having my PAO performed by Dr. Scheid. Whew...surgery is scary. I met with Scheid this morning to get my questions answered and I feel confident that everything is going to go well. Here is a list of the questions that I asked and answers that I received.

How many PAOs have you done? How many do you perform per year? He performs between 20 and 30 PAOs per year. He actually just did two yesterday.

Why do you think previous PAO’s you have performed have failed? Everyone's hip anatomy is different. Sometimes it is difficult to see how a person's femoral head is shaped and how it needs to be corrected prior to surgery.

Do you foresee any issues that could cause my PAO to fail? No, everything looks normal and pretty straight-forward in what needs to be corrected. He is going to pay special attention to my femoral head to make sure that it does not need any reshaping. He is also going to be making adjustments to make sure my rear coverage is corrected as well.

Should I have an updated MRI prior to surgery? Not necessary since I am having Dr. Maiers repair my cartilage.

What is the worst case scenario for surgery? Death, infection, all the normal complications that come with any major surgery. Biggest risk with the joint is that there is an over correction and an impingement occurs.

Can I get my knee screws removed? Yes.

How long will the surgery last? 2-3.5 hours for PAO. Dr. Maiers will take about an hour.

How long should I be in recovery? 2 hours

How long should I be in the hospital? 4 days

What kind of room will I have in the hospital? A private room with space for a cot if anyone wants to sleep over.

How long on crutches? Will I need to use a walker? 10 weeks on crutches and possibly use a walker at first.

How long no weight bearing? Will start to put weight on leg at 5 weeks.

When will I start PT? At 6 weeks.

What will my pain management plan be like? This will be discussed with anesthisiologist the morning of surgery. Most likely epidural, then pain pump, then have to be on oral medication for 24 hours before I can be released from the hospital.

Will I need a catheter? Yes, it will be put in while I am asleep and I will wake up with it in.

Will you be using anything to accelerate bone growth? Was this used during my knee surgery? No and no. It has been shown to cause excess bone growth in some patients and my bone should heal easily without it.

Will I be using a CPM machine? No

Can I get a temporary handicap tag? Yes, I have the application that can be taken to the BMV right after surgery. Can use the tag for 3 months.

How can I get a wheelchair to use at home? Yes, will be arranged before I leave the hospital.

Any equipment that I need to acquire prior to surgery or will it be provided when I leave the hospital? All of this will be arranged while I am in the hospital.

Any nerve damage expected? Will probably have a numb patch like I do on my knee.

Will I have to do lovinox shots or can I take aspirin like after the knee surgery? I will have to do the shots this time. Once a day for about a month after surgery.

When will I be able to shower? 7 days after surgery. Can shower before hand, but can't get incision wet.

It is so hard to believe that this surgery I have been planning to have for about 2 years is finally happening in 28 days. I am ready now to just have it over with so I can move on with my life.