My New Best Friend

Below is the instrument of my humility!

I don't like it but it is helping me get around very efficiently.

Happy Sunday.

One Week and Counting

It has been a little over a week and things are getting better and better every day!

My bruise is getting smaller and smaller. Instead of beinga deep dark purple my side is now turning a weird yellow color. My incision is looking good as well. I don't notice any infection or redness. It also looks gross but I think it is healing nicely.

There is still swelling in my left leg. I still keep ice on it all day and it is helping. The pain from the swelling is not as bad as it was. I still have numbness in my upper thigh and I am sure that is due to the swelling. I am hoping that goes away soon as it is a bit irritating.

Overall, the pain is getting better. I am still taking all my pain meds per the doctors instructions but during the day I am taking my long acting pain meds. Theresa suggested I try Ibuprofen during the day to control the break through pain. Since I am working I think that is good idea. It is a bit difficult and honestly, I am still taking one fast acting pain pill every 4 hours. My goal is to only take the fast acting pills (Narco) at night. Long term I think it will make getting totally off these easier if I start now.

By 5pm my leg still really hurts. Night time is the worst but it is not surprising.

I am trying to do as much as I can on my own. However, at night when I am getting up my walker makes a lot of noise. I am bumping it into the wall and the door of the bathroom every time I go into it. I think the walker is a tab bit wider than the doorway so I have angle it to get in. After this is over I think I am going to need to re-paint the door and the door jam. I am scratching it. I also make a lot of noise moving up and down the hallway.

I am having a great time giving myself sponge baths in the kitchen sink. Kind of gross if you think about it but its the only place I can wash my hair. I can not wait until I can take a real shower. I feel disgusting...

Theresa brought home a very cool cold pack that her boss got from PT. It is re-freezable and it is big enough cover my incision and my swollen thigh. It feels better than the ice packs the hospital gave me and does not leak. I would suggest getting a couple of these as they are fantastic!

My fever is gone. I am running a very low grade fever "99.6" but as of today my temp has been normal! I am very happy about this. Having a fever this long has been no fun at all.

I have my first follow up appointment Monday at 2:30. I am anxious to see the x-rays of the repair and verify my blood counts have bounced back. Based on how I feel, I am assuming everything is fine.

Not to be accused of passing on too much information but I have been having the worst constipation in the world. I have never in my life had this much trouble. I about passed out last night and I was sweating like a pig. I felt like I was going to die!! I am finally doing what I should have done, take stool softeners!! I am an idiot sometimes.


Anyway, enough of that!!

It has only been a week but I can tell you I am going to go nuts! Living on this couch sucks big time. I also am feeling guilty about needing help. I know it has been going on for a long time, even before the surgery but I just want to be less of burden to everyone.

Having said that, I need to be aware that if I push myself to hard I could end up causing damage and add more re-hab time or worse screw up my hip further.

I just need to keep thinking this is the home stretch!!! IT IS ALMOST OVER FOR EVERYONE!

Now its time for lunch....

Nasty Bruise!!

A Picture is worth a thousand words:



YES IT HURTS!!!!

Finally Home

Sorry for lack of updates but it been a tad rough.

Below are pictures of my room Wednesday morning:


This was a decent morning but still have pain control issues. My Doctors PA had told me the procedure went well which echo'd my doctors comments on Tuesday afternoon in recovery

Below is shot of my incision:


It is fairly large incision but had no weeping or additional bleeding at the site which is good.

About this time, I started having some additional challenges that my doctors did not expect. This made my stay in the hospital go from 3 days to 6 days.

I started having a fever of 101 consistently, growing nausea which caused me to throw up twice. Turns out my blood counts were dropping specifically my hemocrits. They were unable to rebound on there own so they decided to give me a blood transfusion. The next day my color started coming back and my counts had leveled out somewhat. They took a blood test before I left on Sunday but they did not bounce back like they had hoped. However, I do feel better and less dizzy.

My PT says I have good muscle control of my leg and I have been able move fairly well with a walker. It is very hard to move around putting no weight on my left leg but I am getting better at it. I still need help to move my leg off the couch so I can roll over to get up but I think in a few days it will get even easier.

The biggest concern right now is swelling and making sure my fever goes away. To control my swelling, I have two bags of ice on my leg all day. I am taking ibuprofen for the fever. So far my temp today is normal.

I took my shirt off last night and I have the largest and nastiest bruise on my side I ever seen. It is a tad bit frightening. My doctor was surprised how bad the bruise is and the amount of swelling. It took them about 4 days but they figured out that I had a small vein still bleeding somewhere. That bleeder accounts for the crashing blood counts, the bruising, the swelling and the fever.

He said he has only seen this happen once several years ago and it was a male patient about my age. Just my luck right!!

I go back to see my doctor early next week for my first followup. They expect my recovery to still be about 6 weeks with a walker and then several weeks adding more weight each week.

I have more to tell but I am getting a bit tired. I knew this was going to be rough but this past week has been very very difficult and bit scary for me. I know everyone has been on edge as well waiting for me to finally get out the hospital.

When I got home it was great to see everyone. Cam was very very helpful. He made me dinner, got me water helped get up and down. He also told me to call him from upstairs if I need anything. He was awesome!

I will touch base later today.

The Night Before

Well

I made to Seattle and had my pre-surgical appointment. It is going to be a 2 hour procedure and 1 hour of recovery time. Not as long as thought it would be. Suppose to start at 9:30am.

The nurse says that I will also be seen by the physical therapist tomorrow late afternoon or early evening. So it sounds like they will get me up and around fairly quickly. Also, she explained to me that for the first 24 hours I will be hooked up to a pain pump. It administers a dose on demand every 10 minutes. I am to keep my pain level no higher than 5 or it wont work.

I did have a concern about the medication not working well due to my Vicodin use. However, she said that even at the dosage I have been taking I would not have any tolerance issues. If I do the nurse can get the dosage set higher. The key is to stay ahead of the pain and "don't be macho".....ME NEVER....I AM A LIGHT WEIGHT....JUST ASK MY WIFE!!!


Finally before I go to bed the nurse wanted me to take a shower with a 4% Chlorhexidine Gluconate solution. Then in the morning do it again.

i just finished and this is the cleanest I have ever been in my life!! They also took a nose swab of all things as there is a Staff infection issue in the city of Seattle.

It was a very easy appointment and nothing special except they were training a new lab tech. She stuck 3 times in both arms before getting enough blood. She also made my had swell at the injection site. She must of poked through the vein. Not a big deal, I have gotten use to giving blood. I just hope the IV nurse is better. I do not want another repeat performance of the ER nurse and the agony I went through with that crappy IV line.

Well, I think will try to read a little before bed. I am very grateful my mom was able to take me to get this done. It makes things very easy for the rest of the family..

GOOD JOB AARON FOR MAKING THE SOCCER TEAM!!! I AM VERY PROUD OF YOU...

One last thing. My laptop died. Cam and his friend re-imaged my hard drive. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR DOING IT, CAM!!!

Hope everything works out OK as I really really like my laptop (so does Theresa) it would be hard to live with out it.

Take it easy and I will post probably when I get home... I don't want to post under the influence as it makes for very very bad writing!!!

Why a PAO vs Replacement-??

The below article gets right to the issue of why a PAO is warranted in my case: (from hipandpelvis.com- Joel M. Matta, M.D. Inc., Robert E. Klenck, M.D. Inc. ) First a definition: Periacetabular Osteotomy is a hip preserving procedure performed to correct a congenital deficiency of the acetabulum: acetabular dysplasia.

During the past 15 years there has been a renewed and growing interest in adult hip osteotomy. Osteotomy was used more frequently as a treatment for adult hip problems before the advent of Charnley's low friction arthroplasty (the first successful artificial hip joint) in the 1960's. The encouraging early good results regarding function and pain relief after Charnley total hip replacement in young patients led many surgeons to abandon osteotomy. Osteotomy was considered to be difficult and have results that were less predictable and less satisfactory to the patient. Despite the good initial results of total hip replacement, the long-term follow up of these patients has shown increasing problems, especially in the young active population. Osteolysis (bone loss) associated with loosening of the bone to hip prosthesis (artificial hip) bond plagues those patients who outlive the longevity of their artificial hip. Hip revision surgery for the failed total hip can present significant problems particularly for the patient with osteolysis. These failures of Charnley’s hip prosthesis have stimulated the production of hundreds of new hip prosthesis designs to solve the problems of loosening and osteolysis. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of new designs have not performed as well as the original Charnley prosthesis, and none have been proven better in long term follow of young patients. Therefore, despite that the modern hip replacement has been used for more than 30 years, its problems for active young to middle aged adults have underscored the importance of preserving the hip rather than replacing it. Osteotomy should not be thought of as an inferior second choice to total hip replacement that the young patient with early arthritis must undergo because he or she is too young for total hip replacement. The results after PAO, which preserves the patient's own hip, justify its use and the long term results can be better than what the patient could have obtained from a hip replacement. The patient's own hip is a living tissue with self-maintenance capabilities, whereas deterioration with time is inevitable for an artificial part. The sensory capabilities of the joint are preserved and the patient can continue to remain as active as symptoms or their lack of permits. The patient with a total hip replacement, however, always must be cautioned regarding possible hip dislocation and be restricted from vigorous activity Results of Periacetabular Osteotomy From 1987 through 2006 Dr. Matta performed 135 periacetabular osteotomies. Final follow-up of these patients has shown the results of examination to be: The majority of patients with poor results did not have an immediate poor result but were benefited by the PAO for a variable period (up to 12 years) before requiring further surgery. For patients who develop a poor result some time after their PAO surgery the cause is typically advancing hip arthritis. These patients are almost always best treated by total hip replacement surgery. For these patients the previous PAO has typically enhanced the acetabular bone with the increased femoral head coverage. Enhancement of a dysplastic acetabulum contributes to the success of a later total hip replacement by making the stability of the prosthetic acetabulum more reliable Pictures before: Hemi-pelvis with dysplastic acetabulum and femur. After surgery: Right after procedure // After healing & screw removal There you have it. As I said before I should have full function and no restrictions for many years to come!!! Keep your fingers crossed. This will more than likely be my last post until I get home on Friday.....

Weekend before D-Day!!

Well:

I buttoned up work this week and hopefully everything will run smoothly next week while I am gone. I cant believe today was the last day I will step foot in that plant for 6 weeks!! It scares the hell out of me!

Everyone wished me good luck and made me promise I would send a note after the surgery. They want to know that everything went well. It made me feel good!

The boys left for Camporee tonight! I am very very bummed I am not going! I remember last year I was well enough post chemo to go. It was the best camp out. Even though Cam got heat stroke, the three of us had a great time. This is just another reminder that my life has NOT gotten back to normal yet!

Tuesday will be the beginning of a new life not just for me but for the whole family!!

Theresa and I went out to dinner after we dropped the boys off. Then she got me a great SURPRISE! She bought me a new flat screen. She said its for my convalescing

I leave for Seattle on Monday for a 4pm pre-surgical appointment. I will take pictures while in the hospital and post as often as I can.

D-day is approaching

One week and counting.. I have been waiting for this for months and now I am getting very nervous. My leg is awful today so I am going to keep it short.

Getting things at work wrapped up and trying to figure out how I am going to work through this recovery at home. I still have not worked out the logistics.

Again Mom Happy Mothers Day.

Take it easy.

Say a Prayer

My neighbor's son past away from Leukemia Friday. I hope everyone is thankful for what you HAVE it can be taken away so fast.

Like I said before, sometimes life is not fair!!

LIFE IS NOT FAIR

I just got news regarding a neighbor who has been very sick for a long time with Leukemia. He and his family were told today that he will not live and he will only last for two weeks.

I tell you this because I have been spending time telling you how bad I have been feeling. I have been frustrated and unable to enjoy anything over the last few months.

Well, I am not going to die. I will get better and move on. As I think about how this person has handeled himself and his family has dealt with this situation over the years, I am amazed. I could not be so noble or as strong.

Everyone should hug your loved ones and be thankful you are OK. I have been told since I was a kid that everything happens for a reason. Lately, I really don't know if I believe that. I do know that life can very unfair and very cruel at times. This is one of those times......

Take care,

Where is the sun!!

I think we are being teased! We had great weather on Thursday and now its back to the rain! I cannot wait for summer!!

Well, the week went about the same as last week. A lot of pain driving to work. More than usual. Going home is still just as bad. But I guess it is what it is.

I am now two weeks away from the surgery! Maybe that's why my pain is worse? Some of it could be anticipation.

The boys are helping out a fellow Scout on his Eagle Project today. It is a great cause! To bad it is so rainy however.

Cam, Aaron and I are thinking about going to the new Wolverine Movie! I cant wait to see it but not sure if I can make it through the movie! We shall see. I miss going to movies for sure! Next week is the new Star Trek Movie.. I will see that no matter what!!

Getting work done around the house this morning and so far so good.

Not much else to say except it sucks that the BLAZERS GOT BLOWN AWAY IN GAME 6!! Oh well they had a great year and things are looking up for the future!!

I changed the picture again at the bottom page!

Talk to you later!