Recent Email

I just wrote this email to someone having surgery soon. I figured it could help other people out too:

I had that surgery on August 29th. Was released on the 30th and crutched to my second story apartment. If you are leaving later the second day, just stay the night be cause they are charging you for day two anyway! (I wish I had known this). Plus if it is the weekend, most likely the pharmacy will be closed and you WILL notice when the pain meds start wearing off.

A raised toilet seat is a plus! The orthopedic nurses ordered me one as well as a shower chair. The original seat didn't fit the toilet so I had to be watched until the stable bedside commode (this can be placed over your toilet) came in. This cost more but the handles came in handy. I also slept propped up with pillows and one under my knee (I'm still doing the knee pillow).

I also stopped taking the narcotics about day 4. When you are on them make sure to take a stool softener. They forgot to tell me this. Trust me take the stool softener.

After one week I was off the CPM and TED tights. I was also cleared to drive, swim, stationary bike, and to walk without crutches around my apartment. I began walking about 14 days out but I'm still not 100% stable (only walking around the apartment, crutches everywhere else). I stated swimming MWF two Wednesday's after my surgery. The walking and freestyle have really helped! I do have a word of warning, stay away from the breaststroke for a while, that one hurt!

I returned to work September 15th, 4 hours per day. For the first week after 4 hours I was sore and grumpy, but a 2 hour nap solved that problem every time! I'm entering week 2 of work. I'm still part time but slowly increasing my hours.

I hope this helps and let me know if you have any further questions!

Fall and Go BOOM!

I am three weeks out from my surgery. Week two I started swimming (20 min ~3x a week) and using the stationary bicycle ( 10 min ~2x week). I have also been walking around my apartment without crutches for about a week now. Last week was my first back to work and I went 4 hours a day. It was definitely tough (and school days even tougher). By the end I was crabby and in pain, plus Tylenol wasn't cutting it. (Working in aerospace doesn't give to well with the narcotics so I'm left with Ibuprofen and Tylenol right now). But overall life is grand!

So I wanted to share a little story. This past Thursday was supposed to be bike day (10 minutes), but before hand I wanted to make chocolate pudding. I needed my measuring cup which was in the back of a bottom cabinet. I was squatting and reaching when my knee popped! It didn't hurt but the next thing I knew I was collapsed on my back on my kitchen floor. I'm really glad I didn't land on my newly fixed hip!! I was more shaken up than anything else. Lesson of the day: Don't make pudding before working out!!

Update

Tomorrow will be two weeks since my surgery. The surgery went really well. Dr. Polloski (sp) preformed his arthoscope first with my leg in traction. There was a bit more damage than they were expecting so he cut off two cartilage tears and then melted the rest of the cartilage back into place. Then Dr. Sink opened my hip joint from the front side and removed bone from my femorial head and neck region. After removing the bone, he placed his finger in the removed area and moved my leg around... no impingment!!!

Then I was off to recovery. When I woke up I kept saying "My hip hurts" over and over again but I guess it came out as grunts. lol They finall figured it out and gave my a little over 3 mL of morphine directly into my hip (a person my size can have up to 10 mL). It knocked me right out and the nurse commented "she's just a baby." LOL a 5'9" person is not a baby, but I sure can't take my pain meds. The doctors and nurses ended up having a powow after this to discuss the lack off tolerance in pain meds. After than I was put on a 0.6 mL morfine pump (the lowest posible dosage).

The first day I slept most of the time. I was lucid while they hooked me up to the CPM (continous passive motion machine) that moved my leg up and down. It REALY hurt and first but then got better.

Time to make a list with my mom. I'll update the rest later.

Alive!

I'm alive and well!! My surgery went great and I came home the next night (Saturday). Yesterday I spent the day sleeping and having snacks. Today is even better! Maybe I'll venture outside for a bit. I'll update on the surgery and hospital soon!

Take care!

Less than 12 hours

It's almost time for my surgery!! My mom came in town and I'm super happy to have her here with me. I've been walking around showing her where everything is in my place. From the gauze I picked up to the drawer with tank tops to peanut butter. I finally decided I'm nervous for tomorrow. My nervous energy is showing up by walking around my one bedroom apartment without a purpose.

I've packed comfy shorts and some satin pjs so I can easily slip around in my hospital bed (ooo la la), Rubber soled socks so I can walk around, and a Michigan T-shirt so I can support my team tomorrow. It's important!

Everyone has been super supportive. My Mom has a HUGE list of names in case she needs anything. Today tons of people gave me hugs and left me notes of encouragement. I love that I live over 1000 miles from my family, but I have one here with people I've known for a short amount of time. Everyone: You Rock My World!!

See you on the flip side!

10 Days

It's time for the final countdown. I'll be having surgery on the 29th, 9:30am at Denver Children's Hospital. I'll be having the limited open scope, which Dr. Sink has preformed once before. That's a little scary, but he has preformed over 200 Open Dislocations and I'll be having a sports doctor preform the scope part of the surgery. Needless to say I am a little nervous, but I still believe this is the best option for me. (sorry I just realized this post will be a bit random but I have a lot on my mind).

I'll hopefully only be at the hospital for one night. The second day I'll be cleared to get out of bed, off the toilet, and up and down stairs. My mom is taking care of me the first week then my awesome friend Silvia is letting me stay with her the second week. After that I'll be returning to work part-time for one week. I guess I'll get a new countdown then.

Crutches will be my saviour for at least 1 month. I won't be able to do any lifting for awhile and at work I'll need to run my depositions from a high chair. I did get good news the last time I went in to the doctors. I should be able to snowboard by Christmas time! Talk about a great gift!!

Last week I was in San Diego for the SPIE conference (Optical and Contamination). I went out a bit early to see my family. I had such a great time!! We went to the vineyards and tasted some delicious wine. I also went to Coronado and went surfing for the first time! Luckily no pain while surfing. Walking on the board walk in flip-flops was uncomfortable and sitting at the conference for hours on end was also painful.

I can't wait to have my hip fixed! Watch out world here I come!!

Limited Open Osteoplasty

Medical journal article about my type of surgery. (warning: a couple of internal scope images)

Extremely Angry HIp

Okay my hip is angry. A bit more than its usually unruliness. Good thing I'm getting it fixed in a month. The MRI showed tissue irritation and slight cartilage damage. Luckily, the damage isn't too bad. Because of the limited damage and my thin frame, I'm able to have a third surgical option. It is a Limited Open Osteoplasty and hip arthroscopy. First a sports surgeon will use a scope to look around my hip from the side. He'll be removing any debree from the area. Next, Dr. Sink will enter the front of my hip with a 1.5-2 inch incision. This will be in the front of my bikini line (typically it is vertical but with my weight he might choose horizontal). Then he'll go in and remove the Cam section of my impingement (the bump on my femoral head). They won't be removing bone from my acetablular cup with this surgery. I chose this option because my hip sockets are fairly shallow and if they remove too much there could be dislocation problems in the future.

I'm have a pre-op appointment next Monday. He didn't require one but I have so many new questions floating in my head. Can I take a shower before my stitches are removed? What medical equipment should I purchase? Are the European or American crutches better? What will my physical therapy schedule be like? What medications will I be on? (No Naproxin!!).

My surgery is August 29th at Denver Children's Hospital at 9:30am. I will be staying at the hospital for two nights. From what I've seen online, the rooms are awesome!! They are all singles, with windows, x-box, and a sofa that folds out into a bed (for parents). If you're in the area come by to play the x-box.. and do take pictures of me in my drugged state. ;-)

The Cottage

Garden of the Gods