Earthquakes, Hurricanes, First Day of School and a Total Hip Replacement

Yep, it's been that kinda week. I came in Tuesday morning at 5:30am. Got all prepped and ready to go and headed into surgery around 8am I think. It wasn't quite as easy as it was the first time around. First, let me note that I did have a great anesthesiologist; he was able to get the line in on the first go around so that was great. However, there were issues later on related to it. So I go into surgery and of course, the next thing I know I'm waking up in recovery.

Now a little bit of backtracking. During the first surgery, when I was put under it was strictly through the epidural. It was great, and coming out of it was a breeze. This time, however, was a whole different story. I found out once I was going under, that it was going to be under general anesthesia, I went to sleep mad, and woke up grumpy. >:-/ So I'm in and out of conciousness, when I feel my bed shaking lightly. I thought it was ME at first, so I sat up a little wondering what was going on, and the shaking stopped. Laid down, it came back...sat up, it went away. Laid down again and THAT was when I knew it wasn't really me! We all were a rocking and a rolling, it was like a fun ride, but scary too cause we didn't know what was going on. Then all the phones were down so noone had a way to call out or in. Slowly but surely they came back and that's when the world knew there had been a 5.9 earthquake that hit in Virginia. It apparently was felt all over the East Coast, and even over in Michigan. They say that it has to do with the rocks on this coast being older, so they can transmit the earthquake easier. All I know is that it was so freaky! Poor Mom & Isaiah had just gotten out of his open house at school. They were in the car and Mom turned the car on when it hit, so she panicked thinking that it was something wrong with her car and that it was going to blow up. Right then, my Aunt sent her a text saying that it was in fact an earthquake. So there is day 1 of my recovery....

Well, part of it. The rest of it was spent feeling absolutely horrible! I would get sick to my stomach, throw up nothing but the sips of water I had drank. Then I would feel ok, sip a little bit and get sick. It felt never ending. And then there was the epidural...yes, it got placed easy, however I got SO lucky, as it sent the pain meds to the wrong leg...whoops! I'd press my boost button and it wouldn't help my new surgical leg, instead it went to my right leg and made it completely numb. I was able to move my feet and toes, however I could only bend my leg less than an inch at the knee. So I laid in bed, in a huge room this time (one good thing!), with a numb leg and a surgical leg in pain. I think I was getting a small amount of the meds to that leg, but not much. So we tried some Dilaudid for the pain and it definitely helped more. Day 2 was better, didn't hurt so bad, ate nearly 3 whole meals, and stayed up for quite a bit of the day. The downside was getting 2 units of blood transfused. I'm not sure if it's the same for everyone, or if I'm just weak, lol, but it's not a comfortable procedure, and it lasted like 6 hours! Physical therapy came in also to try and get me out of bed, but that didn't work out so well. We made it to the edge of the bed, but because of the numbness of my right leg, I couldn't stand on it. When I tried it nearly went out from under me, but the PT was holding me up and got me back on the bed. Good thing cause that could have been an ugly site! The night went on and I got some good sleep. Slept for about 4 hours from midnight to 4am, woke up hurting and got some more Dilaudid. 4:30am rolled around and the pain had lessened, but not fully gone away, so they brought me some Tylenol-3 to take. It helped and I got some more sleep.

Wee early in the morning the doc and his crew rolled by seeing how I was doing and what he felt my estimated time to go home was, if at all. He finally felt that probably Saturday would be a good day like last time. Then the morning rolls on, I get more sleep, then head to x-ray...yea, THAT didn't feel good. Ugh...during the first surgery it wasn't painful, just a bit scary cause of the new hip. This time it was both - lol. Then I head back to the room again and fall back asleep. I was in and out of sleep all the way like 1:30pm. I thought I was just tired, or the meds, but then I heard something in the hallway about Oxygen, and it turns out that my Oxygen had dropped to 87 for some reason. They popped the oxygen tubes back in my nose and slowly but sure was finally able to wake up fully. Kind of creepy knowing that I couldn't wake up on my own til they did that. Since then though, it's been a good day. Physical and occupational therapy both came to visit me. Yes, I was able to get out of bed today! Yay! We walked out the door and across the hall then back to the far side of my bed to my chair. Rested for a few, then occupational came in and had me walk nearly the same distance, but to the bathroom, made sure i could sit on the potty, and then back to the chair again. They both said I did amazing so that's was good to hear!

Now i'm just resting and hanging out here chatting away about my week. Speaking of week...I'm supposed to go home on Saturday. Saturday is when this lovely Hurricane Irene is due to hit up near us. Yikes! Right now it's a Catagory 3, and getting close to slamming the Outter Banks of North Carolina I believe. I feel for them!! It's not going to be a pretty site. From there, they're saying that it should be decreased to a Cat. 2, but that will still be pulling in some 100mph winds along the coast. I heard for a brief moment that here inland it will definitely be raining with winds ranging from 50-60mph. The upside is that I more than likely will get released early that morning, and it's not supposed to roll through until the evening, so hopefully me and Chris can get out of here and back down south. It's all kinds of crazy I tell ya!!!

Now for the final part of the week...my baby started Kindergarten!!! He's absolutely loving it, and I couldn't be prouder. Sadly I missed it, but I'll be there for the rest of the year, and Grandma is a champ for taking over Mommy Duty during all this. An interesting tidbit, Mom was telling his teacher how he was rushing her to get out of the door so that they could go and telling her what time it was. When the teacher heard that, she was like, "Wait, he can tell time?" Apparently she's never had a student his age who could tell time, and not just on a digital clock, he can tell it on an analog clock...with Roman Numerals. Then that night she's telling me how she told him what his student ID number was. Now mind you, it's a 6 digit number, and she told it to him once in passing. She then went on asking if he remembered his bus number from the last school year since it would be the same and he says, yea...then proceeds to repeat the school ID number. What a rockin' kid!! He's in love with numbers...just like his mommy. :)


So that's been our week in a nutshell...or maybe an ostrich shell cause it was a lot. If you made it through all that, I am very proud of you. Haha! If not...and you skipped down to here...I do NOT blame you at all!!!

'twas the night before surgery

Just a super tiny short post...surgery tomorrow! Gotta be at the hospital at 5:30am!!!

It all happened so fast (7 weeks post op)

Tuesday afternoon, I was enjoying a lazy day outside with Isaiah. He was running about in the yard while I sat and read some Anita Blake on my Nook. Through the window I heard the phone ringing, and seconds later Mom walks out and hands me the phone. On the other line was my surgeons nurse, Pam. Let me start by saying how much I love this woman. She is so full of joy and so kind. So I get on the phone with her and she tells me that she knows that my surgery is scheduled for next month, but how would I like to get it done sooner...much sooner. I asked her when, and her reply was...Tuesday, like August 23rd. At that moment, I felt like I was in another world. I couldn't think, I could barely even talk. So I told her that I'd call her back in a bit, that I had some talking it over to do with the family. One of the hardest parts for me, was that that very same day is Isaiah's school open house for Kindergarten, and on Wednesday he starts school. So I would be missing my baby's first day of school. I think though, had this been his first time going to school at all, I would have probably not taken the sooner date. As it stands though, he already went to school last year for pre-k and he's absolutely ready to start Kindergarten. At one point during the conversation I asked him if he wanted me to go ahead and get the surgery done now and have to miss the beginning of school with him, or wait and get it done next month. His response, "I think you should get it done now so you can run and play with me again." I had to hold back the tears, because those few little words pulled on my heart strings something serious. That right there pretty much made up the decision for me, though there were a few other things to go over. In the end though, some 2 hours or so later, I called Ms. Pam back and left a message saying, "Let's do it." Bright and early the next morning the scheduling lady called me and it was all done with.

Yesterday we went up to Baltimore and I had my pre-op workup done, and also had my first visit with my surgeon after my 1st surgery. Everything went well, he wants me to walk as much as I can full weight on my new hip for the next few days before surgery to get it ready for Tuesday when I'm going to have to use it to carry my new leg. It's all so exciting!! I'm thrilled to be able to get this done nearly a month sooner than expected. I'll be reaching 8 weeks post-op and heading into the OR for another brand new hip! What milestones! So in another 6 or so weeks...I'll be posting a photo similar to the one below...but instead, with two brand new beautiful bionic hips.

Til next time!

Good guys finish...

...last? Hmmm....I don't know about that.

Btw - I would like to say, that I might just use some foul language in this blog, if you don't like that...stop reading now.

On a for real note, this phrase annoys the shit out of me. Like, seriously. I hate stereotypes and all that jazz. Does one really think it's because they are "nice" that they finish last? I don't. Most of the nice guys I've come across have more than just being nice in common. Please note that I said *most* and not *all*, so if you take offense to this, then maybe you should look in the mirror...if you don't, then this isn't for you.

Women don't want a man who is a pushover. We don't want someone who will do "whatever we want". We want a man who is going to stand up and make a decision, take a little control in a relationship. This doesn't mean you have to be a dick. Taking control doesn't mean that you have to treat a woman like shit, cheat on her, blah blah blah. It means that you are not a weak man who lets people run all over them. Guys have got this "nice guy" thing twisted. Of course we want someone nice, who will treat us well, but we don't want someone who will bow down to us, someone who will drop everything to do what we want, when we want. If you got something to do, go do it! If you have something you *want* to do, and we mention doing something else not knowing that...don't drop your other plans for us...go do what you were gonna do! Trust me, it's NOT going to hurt our feelings. Ok, maybe some females it will...but they're generally insecure in themselves and needy females as well. Which leads me to the next point...confidence.

In the same way, men find that the #1 attractive trait in a female...women feel the same way. You gotta have confidence in yourself. Again, that doesn't mean you have to be a cocky asshole, it just means you have to be secure in WHO YOU ARE. Most self-proclaimed "nice guys" are just the opposite of that. Yes, we all - men & women - have things here and there we don't like about ourselves, or things we'd like to change. In this case, you have two choices. Either shut up, stop complaining and change it, or learn to accept it and love yourself for who and what you are.

I'd also like to state, that this is not just in reference to relationships, it also goes for jobs and anything else you can find to relate it to.

So that's that. You don't finish last just for being "nice". There are 15,000 other reasons for finishing last. Take a good long look at yourself inside and find out what is really going on. Then maybe, just maybe, you'll end up finishing first.

Burn, baby burn!

I had a chat with my OS's nurse today. I've had a rough time with my bad hip since coming down off the Tylenol-3 meds. It's been hurting me something terrible, so we decided to go back to taking it regular until I stop taking the coumadin next Tuesday. I will be 6 weeks post-op that day, so I'm allowed to stop the blood thinners and can go back on my anti-inflammatory meds. I take naproxen, and that also thins the blood some, so I wasn't allowed to take it with the coumadin. Once I'm back on the naproxen, then I'll be able to get off the heavy meds more than likely.

I also asked her about my lovely compression stockings and she told me, "Girl! You can burn those things!" HAHA! I cracked up at that...and was so very happy that I'm done with them. I can't believe how fast these 6 weeks have flown by!

I haven't talked much about my little man lately tho, have I? Isaiah is doing really well. For just 5 years old, he has been SUCH a big help. Whenever I drop something, I don't even have to ask him to come help me get it. He'll hear it fall and comes running, "I got it!!!" he calls out. Such a great kid. I am so very proud of him. He does get a little antsy and cranky on days where I have a hard time staying awake and don't do much with him. However, on the days where we play board games together and watch movies and stuff, he's a dream child. So happy and loving, asking to snuggle while we watch the tv and such. Then there's kindergarten coming up! Both of us are excited and nervous for the same reasons. He loves school, and I love that he loves school and does so well. Plus, it will give me the chance to finally look for a full time job once I'm free from my restrictions post 2nd surgery. The part that makes him nervous and me sad, is how long he will be there. He'll be hopping on the bus around 8:30am every morning. School starts at 9:15am this year, because his school is being renovated and they will be having class in the annex buildings behind another elementary school. Also because of that, he won't be getting OUT of class until 4pm, which will put him home somewhere between 4:15 and 4:30. I feel like I won't get to hardly see him anymore! Once he gets home it'll be, homework, dinner, shower, bed, and throw in football practice a couple nights a week. :( We're definitely going to have to have special days on the weekends together!!!


So anyways, it's getting late and I haven't even had time today to play on all my Facebook games...wait, did I just say that out loud??? :::sigh::: Yea, yea, I'm one of THOSE geeks...lol. So off I go to farm, treasure hunt, and find hidden object! Toodle-oo!

5 weeks!

I can't believe that it's already been 5 weeks since my surgery!!! Time is seriously flying. Only 7 more weeks until my other replacement surgery, and I'm stoked! This next one should a breeze since I already know what to expect, and hopefully I can sneak out of the hospital and back home a day or two earlier than I did last time...lol. Or maybe I'll just stay in for the extra alone time...kidding!

I did the dishes today for the first time since I've been home. Yea, that chore hasn't changed much, stinks as much as it did then. Of course it was only like 5 dishes so it really wasn't that bad - haha!

For awhile there I was slacking on my exercises daily. I'd do a few of them but not all. The past couple days I've done much better. I've done the full set of them once a day, and then half sets a few other times in the day (the seated ones that is). Today tho, I'm going to get on it and get the full second set done later this evening.

Today is also a "test day" for me. I decided that it's time to get off the hard meds, and move on to the OTC ones. I asked Dad to pick up some regular Tylenol (ok, maybe extra strength, but you get the idea), so I can wean off of the Tylenol w/ Codeine that I was sent home with. So far today I haven't taken anything at all. I'm seeing how long I can go without any at all and so far so good. The last time I had any meds was last night before bed around 2am...yea yea, way too late but that's a whole different issue I'm working on. If anything though, I want to try and only take the OTC Tylenol during the day, and then take the prescription before bed, and then after a few days try the OTC before bed and see how it works out. We shall see!

Until next time my friends....