It's really something to think that exactly one month ago I was packing my freezer with homemade soups (very spicy, of course) and really hoping that my Living Will was up-to-date and losing a whole lot of sleep.
What a difference a month makes!
Now I'm hobbling around on one cane -- though doc still says I need 2 so that's what I'll do when "my public" is watching; hiking myself up and down stairs (yes, more than once a day) and definitely getting out every day. I am a "Lady Who Lunches" now! Seen just about every decent movie there is in theaters these days (and some doozies, too). The Life of Leisure is very fun and about time.
Can we talk about the driving thing? So it's against THE LAW to drive before 6 weeks after this surgery - because I am Handi-Capable (which, BTW, made a great halloween costume). So girls like me -- even though I am narcotic-free now, cannot get behind the wheel, even to drop my little Sweets at a playdate or karate class 2 minutes away. Grrrr. But I am getting that badge thing for my rear-view mirror and look forward to activating My Special Parking Spot. Yeah, you bet!
BUT I sound ungrateful. Rest assured, I am, as I sit around day after day in a bored and restless stupor, very grateful indeed. This recovery has gone remarkably well, beyond anyone's expectation (including my rock star surgeon). Was it the hours of distance swimming and completely psycho-cardio spin classes I took for the months leading up to it? Perhaps it was the recent hours (weeks?) of looking up old friends on Facebook or reading every posting in the Huffington Post? Was it the globally renowned rock-star surgeon? Do I have superpowers or even superbones (which is possible -- I have never cut through them before!)?
We may never know. Pretty sure it's been dumb luck so far.
But thank you for continuing to check on me and send me fabulous gifts (well, many of you, anyway:)).
Next MD visit: Nov 19 -- may I receive blessings to return to The Road! After all, a Trader Joe's just moved in a mile from my house. I may not have the strength to resist. Traveler's beware.
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My Support Crew
Jim, Nick, Madie & Liana
The Countdown Begins...
First blog, first major hip surgery, first chance to lay on the couch for weeks on end (well, in about 25 years, anyway...). Here we go!
Jim and I have spent the better part of the past week "laying down the runway" as we prepare for takeoff on Wednesday at the Hospital for Joint Disease at NYU in NYC where we will be greeted at dawn (it's always dawn for these things, is that so you too tired to change your mind?) by our rock star surgeon, Dr. David Feldman.
While Liana, Madie and Nick head off for school ( and hopefully just a little oblivion) I will get fully acquainted with the blue-ribbon anesthesia team who will set me up with an epidural and hopefully knock me out so well that I won't notice the piles of surgery tools (Home Depot sale, anyone?).
Three or four hours later I will wake up with a completely re-aligned hip socket (if you really want to know more, I have included links here in another box about osteotomy) and hopefully pain-oblivious through the wonders of epidural support. The last 3 times I ever had an epidural, they handed me a baby within about an hour. That would be a little unnerving here, but would make for a great story, right?
By the time I really figure out where I am, hopefully it will be in the new pediatric unit at HJD which is all-single rooms. Ahhhh... to be a kid again! This piece of good news is side perk of being cut up by the guy that runs the whole place. He mostly works on kids, and since I basically have the full-grown version of a kid birth defect, he is now cleared to use his power tools on me.
Then the makeup and styling team arrives.... or maybe just Jim, my wonderful Head Nurse who has seen me through 3 babies pretty darn well (he does a great post-op puppet show, just ask him!). He and I will get cozy and hopefully enjoy at least a day of epidural bliss (um, that would be just me).
Then there will be a few days of training and workshops -- How to be a One-Legged Mom for a whole bunch of weeks. Hopefully this will include lessons in How to Obey the Laws of Bedrest, because that is the class I could seriously fail in. Pretty sure these workshop days will include a bunch of narcotics, so this would be a good time to ask me for money.
So that's what's on my calendar this week.
Check back for more updates, and if there aren't any after surgery day (can you believe these hospitals without wi-fi! the nerve!), you can text Jim on his cell, because I am guessing he will be watching a lot of Oprah for a few days.
If you've read this far then please know that I can laugh a lot more than cry about this next big step because of friends and family like you -- who walk with me each step of the way, and who know that this is not a fatal illness, far from it, and that having love, laughter and support will mean that we can do jumping jacks together at Christmas. Because I have never done that, have you?
Hi My daughter is considering having the same surgery with the same doc. Would I be able to pick your brain? Many thanks!! Betty
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