4 Days Post Hip Surgery #3

I had hoped to have been online sooner after surgery however this latest op has affected me a lot more than I expected and it's been more painfull than I had thought too but that's alright - feel up to a little catchup now :)

This surgery was to go in and remove the two screws left from the open surgical dislocation last June as my specialist thinks one of the reasons I am still in so much pain is my body's reaction to the screws which where still in the hip. As well as injecting my right hip's bursa with a steriod injection to try and settle this side down as I have been unable to lie on this side for a while now and that side ends up going numb also.

We drove up to Christchurch on Thursday (27th) as check-in wasn't until Midday. We had time up our sleeves so popped into Riccarton Mall so I could pickup some loose cargo pants for after surgery, though no stopping at the Tank juice bar as there was no drinking or eating after 7am that morning!

Made it to Southern Cross hospital at Midday and checked in. I was only booked as a day surgery, though EVERY nurse questioned that and made me also think I should at least be in overnight!

Went through the usual routine of being admitted and answering a book's worth of questions - getting my special hospital bracelet and a second one for any drug reactions or allergies (no NSAID's for me and none of a particular antibiotic that didn't agree with me) this one was bright red with highlighted pink wording - this is where fashion trends start lol. Then got changed into the stylish gowns and sexy gauze underwear (which I am not sure of the point as when you have a hip op you go into theatre wearing them and come out with only one leg left in them anyway!!)

We got settled and started watching Four Holidays on the inroom TV then the nurse came back to record the pre-op vitals & to give me a "relaxant" plus 3 Pandol (I have a fine balance with my stomach most days with the amount of painkillers I take so wasn't liking taking all that on an empty stomach!)

I had never been given a pre-med relaxant before any of my other surgerys so not sure why they did this time, so I had no idea what it was like. Settled back again to watch the movie while we waited and after around 10mins I fell asleep and though I was woken up when the surgen came in to answer pre-surgery questions I have absolutlely no memory of talking to him!

I had a number of questions to go over with the surgeon as I had not seen him since he applied for the surgery many weeks ago - main points to cover were;

Keep the screws please

Still going ahead with Steriod Injection to the other side's bursa?

I asked my partner if I asked these questions (I had them on paper anyway) and aparently I did and made sense at the same time lol. I can't even remember the surgeon pressing round my right hip making sure the bursa area was the worst for pain on that side and him marking it with a dot for later.

I did remember a couple of flashes before I got into theatre - one being when they put the IV into my hand (I hate needles so they put the numbing patches on each hand to help but it still hurt and they ended up putting it in an odd place near the outside of my hand (photos to follow). Second thing I remembered was in theatre and getting layed on my side and having the round bollard-type things bolted to the table to support me so I could lie on my side without falling off the table (how thoughtful :) then the plasticly smelling mask with the gas appeared over my face and nighty night.

Woke up in recovery (for what I thought was my first time waking up) and was asked the normal question what is your pain on a scale of 1-10, it was about an 8.5 from what I could tell through the foggyness. Then the nurse says "So your pain level has increased?" my reply was "But I have only just woken up - this is the first score I have given you!"

This particular nurse didn't have the most nuturing of nature and dismissed what I said and went and recorded notes. I was in and out of a sleepy state over the next hour in recovery and finally got a friendlier nurse who administered more pain-relief.

Pain relief is always a struggle after operations as I have been on Sevredol (Morphine) on and off for over two years my body has a higher tollerance to the drug than most people who would not normally take it and because of this when they give me the normal dose in hospital it is never enough to get on top of the pain. With my big surgery last year - the open dislocation it took till I was at home managing my own medication for the pain to be settled. This time when I woke I was very sore and they gave me extra in recovery and though it was charted the grumpy nurse was constantly trying to not increase what I was given.

Finally got back into the room around 4.30pm still a bit groggy and in a little more pain than I wanted to be in. The next nurse who was looking after me had a trainiee attached to her side and was really lovely - she gave me another couple doses of painkillers just to get on top of the pain and it worked well bringing it down to around 4 on the pain scale.

I had a little nibble with the pain killers and drifted off to sleep. Was in and out of sleep till around 6.30pm when I felt much more awake and 'normal'. The nice nurse was still questioning me being discharged that night but I had already booked a nice motel unit for the night and felt up to traveling the short distance there, plus I don't like staying in hospitals if I don't have too!

After going through the discharge papers etc and being given more pain relief for the trip we were on our way. At the motel I managed a light meal and fluids but was very tired and slept most of the evening with the help of LOTS of pillows :)

I woke around 3-4 times during the night and kept on top of my pain relief and was awake around 8am the next morning. Attempted to have a quick shower with the help of my partner however was in a lot more pain than I was expecting and it ended up being a superquick one indeed - but managed to get most of the iodine off which I am sure they slop on with a broom - seriously it was EVERYWHERE!

Getting sleepy again so second half will follow :) thanks for all the lovely messages xox will reply to each when I have more energy!!

Teeny Weeny Mini Update

Well somehow time has ticked by and it's now ONE WEEK till my third hip surgery. There is so much going on right now - pressures, concerns, things to organise, getting the flu, constant pain etc etc that I have been neglecting my blogging & emailing all the wonderful people that care and want to know how things are going!

So this is a quick shoutout to everyone - I haven't forgotten you & know your all going through your own struggles and from the 27th August I will have things organised so that I am able to recover from surgery with little stress and I will be able to keep in constant touch :) Know that though I haven't been in touch via the WWW I have been thinking of everyone & what they are dealing with and send positive thoughts out everyday!

Will update properly soon xox

Oriental Acupuncture - 1st Treatment Today!

After a bad start to the week from high pain levels and my upper back becoming horribly irritated from tension and compensating for my hip area I had my first appointment with the Oriental Acupuncture Clinic here in Timaru this afternoon.

I had acupuncture previously with physio's but most times it hurt or they managed to hit a nerve which was not pleasant. Plus their attitude and execution make you feel like a number rather than a paitient. They pop some needles in and leave you for 5-10mins then take them out and send you on your way. I never thought to ask how long they trained for and what was their qualifications..

I arrived and was led into a lovely warm treatment room and got settled face down in the table. He started off feeling different points over my back and identifying the problem areas then started inserting the needles across my shoulders, down my back and around the hip area.

Once all the needles were in he turned on a heat lamp (this bit I loved as I hate the cold and felt like a turtle sunning it'self!) and positioned it over the needles to allow the muscles to warm and the heat to travel deep into the muscles down through the needles.

While the needles were doing their thing he moved onto my ears and undertook acupuncture on each ear with an Electro Acupuncture machine - basicly it found the points and beeped when in the correct position then the needle went in and an electric stimulation charge was sent through the needle. (I know this sounds weird but I will try to find some good reference photos!) There were about 5-6 points on each ear and once finished he placed small seeds over the points and secured them with tape as in txt below;

How is ear acupuncture used in a treatment?

Ear acupuncture is generally incorporated into a regular acupuncture treatment. In addition to using acupuncture points on the rest of the body, your acupuncturist may select a few ear acupuncture points that they feel will be helpful for your particular condition.

What are ear seeds and ear tacks?

Ear acupuncture points may be stimulated for a longer period of time by using ear seeds or ear tacks. Ear seeds are small seeds from the Vaccaria plant. These seeds are held in place on the ear with a small piece of adhesive tape. Ear seeds may be left in the ear for a few days or up to two weeks. Ear tacks are very small needles with an adhesive backing. Ear tacks are inserted into the ear and left in the ear for a few days or up to one week.

So I think I will wear my hair down for the next couple of days otherwise I think I will get some funny looks!!

A while later the needles were removed from my hip/back and this was followed by the most amazing massage - completely different to any I had experienced over the years from physios/therapist and was vigourous but relaxing at the same time. He also used a very strong peppermint/herb oil and I felt this seeping deep into the muscles.

The whole treatment was just over an hour and it was so much more rewarding than any physio appointments I have had. I walked out feeling like I was on a cloud and that lasted for a couple of hours before the aches started to come back again. I do expect some flares as this is the first time I have had handson treatment in OVER 6 MONTHS!! So I have a lot of knotted/tight/toxic muscles.

Off to heat a wheatbag up now and hopefully have a better nights sleep :)

Earthquakes + Pain Meds = Interesting!

At 9.22pm tonight there was an Earthquake centered approx 90km south of Te Anau. I was catching up on some emails and felt a little 'dizzy' and thought my laptop screen was moving.... (it didn't help that I had taken some strong pain killers with dinner as my hip had been bad today!!) I looked over at our kitten (who had been fast asleep) and she was looking at me and around the room like "What the??"

I figured she hadn't been into my meds so it must be an earthquake :). This is the first earthquake since we have had this house and it's pretty solid I must say. There were only a couple of creaking sounds, nothing falling off etc. It was quite a rolling long quake and the main one was at 9.22pm hitting 7.8 with an aftershock at 9.41pm with 6.1.

For those that are interested you can go to - www.geonet.org.nz and click on the RECENT QUAKES tab for more info, I had a look and there are smaller quakes happening all the time over NZ which is hardly surprising as there is a large fault line all the way through the country!

We don't have a lot of 'big' quakes here & that is a good thing - the last significant one was quite a few years ago and I remember standing in the kitchen at my parents place and the whole house swayed from side to side and I couldn't believe there wasn't huge cracks in the walls afterwards!

Hawaii had a Tsunami warning in place for a period - this is now lifted and there has only been one report of a small wave surge hitting an area near Haast on the West Coast.

Date For Surgery & Cold Weather

Finally received an email back today from the specialist's receptionist with a selection of dates to choose from for my next surgery.

I chose Thursday 27th August - little over 5 weeks away! So at least we have time to get things organised. It's in Christchurch again, back at Southern Cross Hospital.

I am looking forward to my screw removal surgery because things can't go the way the have been - it's just getting too sore however I am quite nervous as there is no way to know what is going to happen after the surgery. Crutches will be my friends again for a while and I can only hope the operation doesn't flare things up even more.

Winter is also taking it's toll - the cold is really not my friend and the past two nights the temp has got down to around -5oC!! The ground is still frosty white and it's lunch time.. brrrr.

Tens Machine + Antiflamme + Trigger Points = Happier Muscles

I had such a terrible nights sleep last night I decided do try a few things to help tonight. First i got out my Tens/EMS machine which is physio issue - not the cheap pocket ones you can get on Trademe!

I had used it on my partner a few times but kept forgetting to use it on me! The area I was having a lot of problems as well as my hip was my back, mainly my upperback at the moment from braline above. My muscles are so tight from the strain of what's happening in the hip area that my neck, across my shoulders and down my upper arms is a minefield of red hot poker knots. I started with the EMS mode which stimulates healing and relaxes the muscles in preparation for the Tens mode.

Placed a couple patches at an angle on each shoulder (will post up some photos tomorrow if I get a chance) and relaxed while it did it's work. After the time was up it felt good - like I had done a workout and loosened the muscles up. I followed that up with some trigger point work across the upper back area (man there were some mean points I found) and ended with lashings of Antiflamme and E-Balm.

It has definately helped so hopefully one part of me will be a bit more relaxed tonight for a better sleep! I think I will work more on my back tomorrow to try to settle that down a bit more :)

Sleep well everyone xox

Operation #3 - Waiting for a date

This week I received my surgery approval to remove the screws left in from the open surgery I had on June 14th last year (2008). Thankfully it only took a couple of weeks from seeing my specialist to getting the approval from ACC however my specialist is now on holiday and I am still waiting after many emails for a surgery date. It is looking like late late August/Early Sept at this stage.

Little frustrating as over the past couple of weeks I have had a major flare - not even sure if I can call it a flare more like everything has got worse and not settled. This week alone my hip has started hurting much more in the groin (labrum issues again??) and there have been a lot more pains deep in the bone. As well as increased muscle pain - currently my calves and hands are the only muscles which are not in severe pain.

Sleeping has been frustrating more than usual as my 'good' side is now so irritated I am unable to sleep on it and if i try it goes completely numb and hurts like crazy so I am left to sleep on my back with pillows under knees etc. Very hard to get comfy so lack of sleep isn't helping!!

I was also given new painkillers to try as my body had gotten used to previous ones and the effect was minimal. These new ones are very strong and it feels like there are a lot of nasty chemicals in their makeup.

Hmm I think that's enough moaning for now :) Post more later! Hope everyone is surviving winter - there have been some heavy frosts here!!

X-Ray Timeline

Here are some of the x-rays taken throughout my injury;

1/ Left hip pre any surgery

2/ Cross table view pre surgery

3/ Left Hip 6 Weeks Post Op From Open Surgery To Treat - FAI/Labral Tears/Bursitis

The only thing which is really evident on the x-rays is the shaving of the Femoral Head on the left side as you look at the x-ray. Most of the bone which was cut away was around the back of the head and can be seen better in the cross table view.

You can also see the two screws which are holding the Greater Trocanter in place after it was cut off (you can see where they cut in the x-ray as a thin white line) whilst preserving the blood supply to the hip to allow the surgeon to dislocate the hip.

4/ Cross Table View Same Date As Above

5/ Left Hip 1 Year & 1 Week Post Op From Open Surgery (as above)

6/ Cross Table View Same Date As Above

Dusting Off The Cobwebs..

Yes my blog has been neglected - my last post was in October last year! Though it doesn't feel to me that long. Well as I bring this back to life I am waiting for my third hip operation in a year & a half.

Amazingly in a few months it will be fours years since my accident that started me on this rather painfull road. Though because of my injury I have been fortunate to meet a lot of wonderful people and new doors have opened along the way.

Just a quick post - more catchup posts to follow later today :)