Day +18 Post-op

OK, being a cripple gets old pretty fast.

I am definitely moving at a break-neck 2 hops per second, into the "so over this" phase of my recovery. Still need some help on the stairs and can't cook my own food (which is making this foodie a little grumpy) but otherwise I am able to get from room to room on my granny walker at Special Olympic speed and take long showers all by myself. OK, its still really nice to be surrounded by people who clean my house, do my laundry and shuttle my kids around. Don't get me wrong, that part will be VERY missed when it's gone.

The pain is barely perceivable -- it's really only on my radar around bedtime or first thing in the morning. The rest of the time it's just various bouts of "fall over right now" sleepiness, which sneaks up on me out of nowhere. I'm beginning to think that this must be from the medications so this weekend I'm dropping half of my pain medications, and hope to taper off the other half within the next week so that I can be med-free by Week 4 post-op.

Pain medications also tend to mess with the digestive tract, so there's another motivation. Once I'm off this stuff I can start challenging my driving restrictions like a really obnoxious patient! Ohhh they're gonna love that :)

This week my mother arrives from California for a 10-day visit and I've already begun to line up outings and playtime for us because the walls are closing in quickly...

The "flower and candy phase" is coming to an end, but this really is something to celebrate. Hoo-ah!

Pins and Needles!

So ... here they are! This is the x-ray from my post-op follow up yesterday with my surgeon, Dr. Feldman, at NYU. As you can see, six "pins" (4 large, 2 small), actually screws, are used to hold together my newly-aligned pelvis and hips. Those pins will stay where they are for at about six months and then there is another small same-day procedure where they are removed (takes about 15 minutes, under general). Later I told the kids that when they are removed I will clean them up and tie a bow around three so that they each keep one a s a souvenir. They loved that idea.

Of course I had to get the doctor's office to give me a disk with the image, because when you are walking around with the support of something that looks like it fell off your tool table, you want to check it several times to be sure it will really hold you up...

Dr. Feldman was very impressed with the progress so far. He is an avid modern art collector, his big office is just covered with the stuff, and when he "revealed" the x-ray to us on his computer, he did it with such pride and flair, you'd think he'd just brought it back from some auction at Sotheby's. He was grinning from ear to ear, saying "do you see that? Perfect! It's perfect!" more than a couple of times. Very proud of himself. I assured him the screws looked really great. What the heck would I know?

Dr. Feldman was also quite taken with how I could hop myself onto the examining table and bend my knees up and generally move around with very little pain. My prize for all this progress is that I now have "release papers" allowing me to leave my house (with a driver) to go most places -- movies, friends' houses, out to dinner -- or any place that offer's a "loaner wheelchair" (my first thought: Target here I COME!)  -- as long as I have help and don't need to go more than a few steps at a time. Hooray! I do have to wait another 4 weeks before I can drive and possibly another six before I can start physical therapy -- but I can get in the pool in a month!

The best, though, the very most awesome wonderful thing he said that I was just aching for is -- I can take a SHOWER!  That's right, folks, with lovely, warm spraying water on my dirty 2-week-neglected hair and other un-showered bits.

And you can bet that is exactly what I did the second we got in the door from NYC. And then slept for 12 hours! A great day.

Landmark Day!

News Flash!

I got out of bed BY MYSELF today!

OK, so it can be really lovely to have people cook you meals, bring you things you dropped on the floor but can't pick up, surround you with fields of  flowers, wash your hair (at a salon), make you yummy treats and just dote on your every whim ... well, lovely for the recipient, anyway. But having to wake someone in the darkest hours of night who is clearly in the middle of a blissful and much-needed rest just so they can carefully slide your "dead-weight leg" out of bed so you can make it to the bathroom on time is, well, not so lovely. At this moment, Jim and I are both more liberated, independent and progressed! Small steps.

It is Day +12 from surgery and other strides of importance include: Improved Walker Skills; In & Out of Chairs Independently; Ability to Bend Leg Formerly Known as "Dead Leg" Without Help; Hospital "Commode" Graduation and First Dinner Party (in a "big girl" chair, no less!). It's amazing how many of the movements and abilities were once taken for granted -- never again...

Tomorrow marks the next big landmark -- return to NYC with Jim for my first post-op follow up. Hopefully I'll get permission to try and master all kinds of other fun skills. With the sun out for the first time in a week, and the leaves looking so crisp and colorful from the window all my parts feel that the seasonal change is well underway.

Looking Good!

Yesterday I went on my first outing -- to the hair salon! Filthy, unwashed hair was really getting to me after  realizing that I would not have a "real" shower for at least another week. Ick! Sisters, can you feel me here?

So off we went, with my helper Martina and my granny walker... my dear pal Donna who works at an Aveda salon 1/2 mile from our house did a lovely shampoo/ blow-out and I felt like a new woman. While there, I saw - wait - is that a nail salon next door? An hour later and my toes were scrubbed and glowing, nails had a fresh coat -- now I'm off to rule the world!

Of course, after arriving home from this "day of beauty" I promptly passed out on the couch for 2 hours. Ahhh... so THAT'S what they mean by beauty rest!

Today we enjoy a day-long parade of visitors and home cooked meals -- I'm even happier to be clean!

First Days Home

So it is now post-op Day 9, and I have slept in my own bed for 3 days.

The realities of these Recovery Days are starting to take shape... what to expect, what to let go of, where the pain begins and ends, how the body is reacting to the recent "event", what the kids think of a mother who suddenly moves like a great-grandmother, whether or not the husband really relishes his role as Head Nurse, whether the hired help actually know how to make tomato soup for the kids the same was I used to... so much "new-ness"! A new kind of honeymoon? Still finding out.

The first day home I tried to be the Good Patient by staying in my bed most of the day, propped up with pillows, watching Crap TV (like I did in the hospital for 6 days straight) and talking on the phone. By the end of the first day, my lower back and booty were on fire -- and not in a good way! A home bed is VERY different from the state-of-the-art fancy hospital bed with buttons that could twist you into any variety of pretzel and a special layer that filled with warm air and wiggled every few minutes to prevent bed sores... Oh, even my fancy king size Temperpedic can't come close to that. I had basically added to my hip pain by not correctly positioning myself and learning how to sit still. Time for the How to Sit in One Place for Several Hours workshop, I guess. Any instructors out there? Now I've transferred down to the main floor for the daytime hours and can get quite comfy in a recliner chair in the TV room without causing new forms of paralyzation!

I'm currently on loads of medications for pain which Jim has lovingly dosed into mini ziplock bags with the dosing time written on them in felt tip pen. Some of these meds I'm familiar with from my past 3 c-sections, but others are definitely the Biggest Guns I've ever been prescribed. The weird thing with narcotics -- if you truly need them for pain, you don't get any "magical buzz" -  such a bummer! So far, I actually can't feel any change after taking them, but I recall that first 24-hour Hell Day after surgery, and appreciate how much they must really be doing for me.

The body is working well in many places, which amazes me. From the waist up, I am fine, and my left leg has virtually full range of motion. My right leg works quite well from the knee down, but between the knee and just above my right pelvic bone we have total Dead Leg. It is numb to the touch, and I have absolutely no control over it. It feels very much like that part of my body has been swapped out with a bloated, swollen, warm and unnaturally heavy water balloon.  It doesn't "hurt" per se, but if I walk or am accidentally body checked by one of kids, there is a aching pins-and-needles reaction that I'm pretty sure would be 10 times worse without medication.

Jim's been a wonderful Head Nurse so far. It's not an easy job, being nudged awake in the middle of the night so that you can get out of bed (after crawling over Nick, who, at age 5, is still  frequent bed-mate for us) and help move the Dead Leg just a foot or so in order for me to make it to the bathroom. Last night we spent at least 1/2 an hour trying to get Dead Leg to shift so that I could actually lay on my left side in the bed. This involved at least 8 pillows of various sizes, and constant re-positioning and shifting by a few inches in various directions. In other words, enormous volumes of patience and laughter. After all that, I still had the strange sensation of the 3" pins used to hold my pelvis back together, rubbing against the inside of my incision -- such a weird feeling! Fortunately, there was a time in his life where Jim had actually seriously considered a medical profession, so he finds things like pins and incisions endlessly fascinating. What a relief!

So today is an exciting day because it will be my first-ever outing since returning home from the hospital -- I am going to get my hair washed at a real hair salon! It may as well be Disney World -- I am so thrilled. This plan was actually suggested to me by my surgeon's office. My single greatest post-discharge complaint was that, due to the position of the incision (lies along along the crease of the pelvis - about 6") showers or baths are on the "Naughty List". OK, so I know you can some critical parts clean with a sponge bath while sitting on the toilet (awkward! But at least I can manage it solo) what's a girl to do about the hair?? Two weeks of unwashed hair? Geeee-ross! You can just never feel truly clean, I know you girls can feel me here. Guys, maybe not as much.... But strategically, there is almost no way to do this in the home without risking getting the incision wet, very dangerous at this stage. All things considered, it looks like being driven 8 blocks to my dear friend Donna over at Fringe Salon is now on the "Ok List"!  And you can bet if this works out I'll be heading to the nail salon by next week for sure! Jim looks a little worried - but at least I have a doctor's permission, right?

Looking forward to a weekend of friend visits and family time, even though the weekday help team has been terrific. I hear lots of complaints about the weather, but so far, that has not been an issue for me!  Jim will get his first stab at 4 kids and no mom -- with one kid who is basically disabled! Keep your fingers crossed for him -- I have a feeling he'll rise to the occasion...

Home Again! Hospital Week - abbreviated version

Mommy's home!

Today we ended our one-week stay at Hospital for Joint Disease at NYU. Head Nurse Jim, with the help of my brother Frederick, made all the travel arrangements (which included a pre-travel Frappucino -- what? Doesn't everyone?). Snuggled at home in my big old NJ bed, finished reading stories and giving kisses, I can say -- "whoa! What a week!" But with relief.

For those of you checking in, I'll give a quick summary tonight before collapsing, and for those of you who really like all the juicy details -- check back! The expanded version of will be posted soon (for most, this will be plenty, tho :)).

Basically, the surgery and initial recovery went great, a little longer than expected (4.5 hours), but all "normal". The first night something went wrong with my pain epidural which took several agonizing hours to work out. I had a good morning the 2nd day, but then all the narcotics from the previous night sent my digestive tract into a tailspin with a new multi-hour screamfest. Poor Jim had to witness that one -- not sure he'll be the same!

The pain issues were definitely tempered by the fact that my beautiful setting (the Pediatrics Unit, HJD) had no more that 5 patients with all private rooms and had only been opened 3 months! Everything was gorgeous and state of the art. The view from my window was lovely and I had 2 HD flat screen TV's all to myself!

By the 2nd night, the worst was definitely behind me. Day 2-3 I made my first attempt at standing. Day 4-6 included first steps and finding the actual bathroom. It was painful, like the stiffness you would experience from a 12-hour drive with no breaks, with something heavy on your lap. It doesn't really let up. Not much eating/ appetite of any kind before day 4. Me -- imagine!

It was decided that Day 6 (Tuesday) would be the good day for discharge. While I still need help getting my surgery leg in and out of the bed, and walking to the bathroom might be done with a mid-way break, I can stand, step, and even hop up and down a few steps with someone propping up my right side. Any of this lasts for a total of about 5 mins before I need a break right now, so it's not very impressive.

Today we headed home and my lovely little people kissed and hugged and gave big sighs of relief and looked at my "new" leg with wide eyes but we all drank it in and realized we're going to be OK. We put away and set up all the new equipment sent home with us from the hospital and the kids showed me a full weeks' worth of missed projects, newly learned talents, school gossip. Groggy though I was, it was delicious to drink it all up.

Tomorrow Jim goes back to work, the kids head off to school, and I begin to do my "tour of recovery duty bed rest" for the next 6 weeks or so. We have hired some wonderful gals to help cover the home front and make sure I stay in bed without the house falling to pieces or the kids getting hopelessly lost, so this has been a great stress-reducer!

My cell phone works, as does e-mail. Drop a line any time -- cuz you sure know where to find me! I'd love visitors who want to just come and watch a movie, share a story or remind me how to knit again...

Thanks for checking in and keeping an eye on us. It makes all the difference facing the road ahead.

Hugz!