Surgery Report

On Me

I had the surgery to remove the pins and rods from my hip on Monday.

All went well but the doctor decided to keep me in the hospital overnight. That was a bit unexpected, but I was not totally unprepared. I did have to contact my horsesitter to feed the indoor kitties for me, but otherwise, it was OK.  The only annoyance was that my doctor had decided that before I got to the hospital so it would have been nice if he'd told me ahead of time.

Don't remember a thing after I got into the operating rooms. I must be a "cheap date." It was a spinal injection and I don't even recall getting it.

Woke up in recovery with a lovely, kind nurse, unable to move my legs.  That is a strange feeling for sure. Your brain sends to command to move, and nothing happens. The anesthesiologist had told me that might happen since she was giving me a little extra stuff since they didn't know how long the surgery would take--it's not a common procedure. I was told later it was an hour and a half.

Back in my room, I was soon able to order late lunch--3 PM or so--and then a dinner.

Now, people do complain about hospital food, but I may say, University of Princeton Medical Center at Plainsboro has some darn good chefs in the kitchen. Some of the dishes are downright delicious. My meatloaf could have used a bit more spice, but the roasted tomatoes and the sweet potatoes were wonderful. The next day I had some amazing chicken salad too. Wish I knew how they'd spiced that.

You can order food all day from 7AM to 7PM and there is an extensive menu if you are not on a restricted diet.

Nursing care there is wonderful as well.  The staff is very responsive and, since I make an effort to be friendly to them, they are really kind. As I did the last time I was hospitalized with the initial broken hip, I tried to get everyone to laugh before they left my room. It did make the frequent visits interesting.

I guess my only complaint is the typical hospital one. It seemed that every time I did manage to drift off to sleep, someone would come in to take my vitals signs or give me a pill of some sort.

The Physical Therapist insisted I get a walker, so now I have just about every assisting device I could need--shower seat, raised toilet seat, crutches (two kinds), walker, and a wheelchair I bought.  I am mostly using the wheelchair in the house as it's faster than trying to get around with the walker.

For now, I am not supposed to put more than 50% weight on my left leg. That is not easy. I fear I have cheated more than once. (The doctor's assistant kind of said it was OK...the doctor is rather more cautious.)  At any rate, I am being REALLY careful, honest.

The pain is minimal, actually. Certainly, the stapled area is sore, and when I flex the muscle, that hurts, but to be honest, considering how much the darn hardware hurt at times, this really isn't a whole lot worse.  Tylenol takes the edge off just fine, so no heavy duty painkiller needed.

All told, it will be a full six weeks before I am officially recovered, but it might be longer before I can ride again.

I start PT on Monday and this time, I am going to make sure we include exercises to stretch my legs so I will be able to sit astride a horse without pain. You bet.