Back for an update on my hip replacement on Wed. Surgeon used the direct superior approach (DSA) with spinal block & conscious sedation. Indeed, there was far more sedation than conscious and I emerged absolutely unaware of anything associated with installation of my after market parts. Three hours after wheeling into recovery, I was stepping up into our pickup (with my good leg mind you) and headed home feeling like hey, maybe this whole thing might work out.
Home health met us at home and helped me get settled in and PT arrived the next day. I’ve been up and about more than I imagined and am recovering well and ahead of schedule so far. I have none of the previous arthritis pain, only (quite literally) the pain in my butt from the surgery.
I hadn’t had much experience with the healthcare system here (we moved here 3 years ago) but was very impressed with all aspects of my experience (nurses, techs, admin, docs, pharmacy, etc). We are having a covid surge and it looked like a lot of surgeries might have been scheduled in anticipation of less availability in the near future. It was all hands on deck, everyone helping each other out and communicating what was going on and what to expect at each step along the way. This gave us a lot of confidence at a time of well, high concern.
Oh, as an aside, my covid test prior to surgery was the saliva test, not the deep dive nose swab so I was grateful for that although I must say, generating 2 ml of saliva is more of an effort than one might think...
This morning I actually put on my own socks (it’s the little things as we say) with a “sock puller” and said a thank you to the clever designer of this handy tool, wherever you may be!
Whew!!! So far, so good and...onward!