I just need to vent. I am one week pre-op and there are all of these sick people running around in my office. I mean they are really just hacking and spewing all over the place. One of them even opened my office door this morning and stuck his head inside and said "I won't come in because I'm really sick. Hackhackhackhack," and then closed the door.
I am drenched in Purell anti-viral stuff and my hands are numb from all of the alcohol.
The oddest part of these people's behavior is that they all brag about how much sick leave they have saved up.
I know it's probably just nerves.
Has anyone ever had their surgery rescheduled because they had a cold?
Thanks for listening. All done venting.
kate
People seem to think that sick leave is just for when you feel like you just can't make it to work. But really, you should use it when you're contagious to keep from infecting everybody else. That's just being considerate.
A asked my anesthesiologist this question when I had my pre-op meeting before my second surgery, whether they would cancel if I came down with a cold. This was really my biggest fear counting down the last week or two. She said that it would really happen only if you had a bad enough respiratory infection to affect breathing when under general anesthsia.
Your doctor might be different, though. If you're really worried you might try taking some Zicam. It seems to help prevent colds and lessen the severity if you do contract one.
Zicam, eh? I'll pick some up on the way home tonight. The problem is that the physicians' assistant here told me to stop all the meds a week before the surgery. I wonder if that would include the Zicam, too? I can at least get 2 days in (surgery is 4/27).
Glad someone else had this fear, too. Thanks.
kate
On the other hand, you don't want your surgery cancelled because you were taking Zicam. I had my surgery four weeks ago and I was the same as you. Seems like there were a lot of sick people in my office all of a sudden. A couple of times I thought I was getting a scratchy throat. I drank lots of OJ and got lots of sleep. I also kept washing my hands.
Good luck with the surgery. Happy future biking.
Mac
Clear any type of medicine with your surgeon even if it is natural, over the counter. You don't want to have to reschedule! :-*
You're obviously correct. I should have included that "disclaimer" in my earlier post.
Well I am sick right now! Hacking up green chunks, feel pretty good overall. I am 3 weeks out for my surgery. I need to do pre-op testing and wondering if I should wait a week? Been drinking lots of water and hot tea. I hope I can kick it soon.
Anyone else have advice about pre-op testing and a cold?
Lori
My surgeries were January 10 and 12 this year. That was right after the holidays and being around lots of people and little kids. Yes, my biggest fear was I would catch a virus from someone, somewhere and have to postpone my surgery. All you can do is wash hands and try to keep them away from your nose, eyes and mouth. That's tough to do. I made it to my week of surgery with no cold or even mild cold symptoms. Funny thing was, my surgeon Dr. Gross had a cold that week and would not even shake anyone's hands! Ironic! ::)
Steve
I was sick the week before surgery, I was really worried it would mess up my surgery....I went to Dr. Gross, so o was traveling and had hotel plans, airline tickets....it would have really been awful to get cancelled....
I felt ok but was coughing a lot. I called his office and the nurse said to get some antibiotics. My local doctor got me a rx for antibiotics / zithromax, and it worked just on time.....or maybe I kicked it only own...I was barely coughing when. I flew out of town and was ok for surgery....
Rest, drink lots of fluid, rest, rest....use tour own sick time if you need to. I ended up taking an extra week off because I had that cough, so I left work early to rest.... It all worked out in the end.....ihabe my fingers crossed for you!
I was completely OCD pre-op in relation to germs and getting sick - I was ready and didn't want to reschedule for anything. I even made my husband stay longer on a business trip so he didn't bring anything home. I was a completely Crazy person, so don't be concerned about your venting :)
Edit: the husband actually had germs which was the reason for his exile. Not many were left (a slight sore throat still) but it had to be completely gone. I had that previously and probably gave it to him but that was beside the point - I could have gotten it back!! I was given/allowed antibiotics (since it seemed to be bacterial) and it went by the time it needed to.
You guys make me laugh. Only another pre-op peep would understand how OCD we get about every little thing. I started the Zicam yesterday. I actually went in the pharmacy's drive through window and made the pharmacist go get it and bring it to me so I wouldn't have to go into the store. He was very nice about it, though. I'm okay with meds through tonight on the week thing, so I'll e-mail the physician's assistant and make sure it's okay.
I've got a yellow sticky on my door today that says "please keep door closed. thank you." We are playing tag-team with documents flying back and forth between me and the one "safe" person. Seems like everyone here is sick.
OJ is a good idea also.
Thanks for the insights ~~
kate
I'd wondered if my OCD and other various oddities present in my behavior came from focusing on the little and insignificant pre-op rather than dealing with the enormity of what I was doing (doing both at once and all) and it going to be such a life changing event. I kept a record of a lot of it in my blog and when I look back I figure that something seriously was going on with my mental health!! Think it's starting to come good now - or maybe I'm just used to being crazy now and I don't notice so much :D
5 days and counting. I have drunk so much chicken soup that I may begin clucking. Three quarts of orange juice and counting. I am sequestering myself behind barricades in my office. I may rent a Hazmat suit for next Monday and Tuesday, or find one of those cute little white things that they wear over their mouths in Taiwan.
I Lysol-sprayed my office this morning to get rid of the germs on the files, and the secretary outside my office started sneezing and gagging. Guess I spread it on a little too thick?
I venture out for coffee stealthily. Crack open the door and peer down the hallway. Limp out on my cane. If I see a sick person walk down the hallway, I sprint back to the office, shut the door. WHEW! A close call.
Using the rest room is a toss up. Do we go for the common rest room or limp farther down the hall to the handicapped one? Only one person can infect the handicapped restroom, but perhaps they were there longer, with more germs per cubic centimeter? Oh, the choices to be made.
Files are no longer files. Oh no. They are pieces of cardboard crawling with slimy green germs. Use a paper towel to process the files.
Can't wait till Wednesday, friends.
Kate
Files
You are cracking me up! ;D
I wonder how cautious (read paranoid) I will be before my surgery. In the meantime I am going to work my butt off to be the healthiest I can be. I figure that if I am in really good shape I will also probably not be as susceptible to the germs.
Good luck with the self-imposed exile. I hope your surgery goes smoothly.
;D ;D ;D ;D
Too funny Kate!!
After what you're going through now your recovery will be a piece of cake (hopefully sterile cake).
Hiya everyone, I have my pre op tomorrow and hopefully get a date for my surgery. I just hope my blood pressure is ok as i have white coat syndrome lol,I had a hip resurfacement 5 years ago but its never been pain free and my blood test s i ve had lately show very high amounts of cobalt and chromium.i am having the M O M hip taken out and having a cemented ceramic THR. all being well i will be painfree soon.
Quote from: thelandlady on April 25, 2011, 12:18:27 PM
Hiya everyone, I have my pre op tomorrow and hopefully get a date for my surgery. I just hope my blood pressure is ok as i have white coat syndrome lol,I had a hip resurfacement 5 years ago but its never been pain free and my blood test s i ve had lately show very high amounts of cobalt and chromium.i am having the M O M hip taken out and having a cemented ceramic THR. all being well i will be painfree soon.
Hi
I hope everything goes well for you.
Ed
Kate
I think today is the day, hope it goes well and enjoy the stay in the hospital.
Cheers Phill
Good luck Kate. Please let us know how you surgery and recovery goes.
Mac
Good luck, Kate and see you on the other (happier) side.
Good Luck, Kate. Hoping to have good news soon....
Thank you, everyone, for the wonderful well-wishes.
The surgery went off without a hitch. Everything was completely uneventful. There were no rough patches whatsoever. Everyone at the Cleveland Clinic from the anaesthesiologist to the houskeeper has been very attentive and focused on listening to my needs.
Initial impressions:
~~ I was surprised in recovery to see that my heart rate was 46 and that my teeth were chattering cold. They put on a fabulous hot-air blanket with a cutout for the head to warm me up. Within a few minutes, I was toasty-warm.
~~ They were playing Billy Joel in the O.R., I think. I *came to* with these lines in my head: "You may be wrong. I may be crazy. But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for." Henceforth, this shall forevermore be my mantra. :D
~~ They give you this bright blue thing that looks like a leash for an invisible dog to pull your leg up to your chest. No restrictions on range of motion.
~~ I am lying here with two thingies gently squeezing my legs and an ace bandage wrapped tightly from my toes to my butt. It's comforting, like being hugged by a very precise mother.
~~ Dr. Brooks is my personal hero. And Phil's running a close second.
~~ There is no pain. There is no pain. There is no pain. Gracious God, after all this time, there is no pain.
Thanks again, everyone, for the warm thoughts.
Take care, talk when I'm more lucid.
Kate
Great to hear
I could never find a way to use the blue nylon foot helper thing without pulling my foot towards my hip - that hurt so I stopped using it
Cheers
Great news Kate, and congratulations.
This part almost brought tears to my eyes, I think a lot of us can relate:
Quote from: katekosar on April 27, 2011, 05:45:35 PM
~~ There is no pain. There is no pain. There is no pain. Gracious God, after all this time, there is no pain.
Kongratulations Krazy Kate! ;D
Enjoy the woozy meds and the squeezy boots and let us know when things are really on the mend - that first post-op BM! ;)
Best, HD
Congrats Kate!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy for you! Welcome to the Club!!! ;D
Hi Kate
Great to hear your news. Like Mike, I enjoyed reading your repetition of "no pain". Good, isn't it! ;D ;D ;D ;D
Best wishes for your recovery
Ed
Kate,
You are done! You made it through the pre-op gauntlet of "slimy green germs" and are through to the happy side. Enjoy the ride, it's so much better now. I'm really happy for you!
Steve :) ;D
Kate-
Well, as they say, "this is the first day of the rest of your life." Or maybe they say "You've only just begun." Congratulations!
Thanks for the description too. I am looking forward to my procedure in August.
Dan
Awesome, Kate! I remember the squeezy things on the legs were the best thing. It's great that things went well and you have no pain. All good from now on.
Congratulations Kate. Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Look forward to hearing about your progress!
Take care :)
yeah .. no pain .. how good is that ... ;D ;D ;D ;D :D
biggest congrats kate
Paul
You did it, Kate ! Best wishes for a prompt recovery.
Kate, this sounds so warm and sweet. I am so happy for you. I love billy Joel also, my favorite song and mantra is "My Life", i have been singing it since I was 5. :)
Thanks I am going to read this post everyday prior to surgery.
Some thoughts on immediate post-op:
They took out my urinary catheter this morning. I am afraid that I won't be able to hobble over to the bathroom in time. I told them about my fear. They said oh don't worry about it, you'll do fine. OK then, if I pee all over the bed, it's their fault. :D
I had a meltdown. It was a grand and glorious meltdown complete with full-fledged hyperventilation. My hip muscles decided they wanted to hurt as I was sitting back on the bed. Really hurt. Tears just sprang to my eyes. It lasted maybe five minutes max. I suspect that I needed to release all that pent-up stuff in any event. I am okay now. I realize that you have to stay on top of the pain meds, particularly before Brunhilde comes lumbering over for therapy. (Brunhilde is about five foot nothing, 98 pounds soaking wet). How could she possibly hold me up if I went down like the Lusitania?
I am grateful to all of the kind people that are tending to my care. I'm not at all sure that I will be able to move again, but I will try. This much I know ... you sure as hell can't go back. The only way out of this is forward, one small step at a time ::)
Talk later,
Kate
Hang in there Kate! Each day gets better...remember that all of the small steps forward in progress will make a difference. You will look back on this and like childbirth, forget all of the bad stuff...unless you wrote it down! ::)
Very best wishes with your recovery, Kate. As someone said - the longest journey starts with a single step. You've made lots of steps to get to this point. Onwards.....
Ed
Don't worry about the catheter or lack of it. If anything, I had trouble going at all, which, while I didn't have a catheter, they definitely used it as a big stick to prompt me... as in "if you don't go soon, we may put a catheter in..."
I don't think anyone's recovery is linear, we all hit our plateaus and temporary setbacks. It's why it's a good thing to keep in mind the progress you've already made. Keep it up, you are going in the right direction.
Kate, even before surgery I understood exactly where you were coming from as the thoughts that you posted were very much in sync with where I was pre-op. It seems post-op we've been through a very similar thought process as well. No one talks about what happens when the catheter comes out other than the 'she'll be right mate' platitudes that don't really help reassure. (that's the Aussie version :)) but I was freaking out as I'd already had two days when I couldn't weight bear (negative of two at once) and didn't think I'd make it at all let alone in time. I'm a few weeks past that and I can happily report that I did manage to make it each time and it has gotten progressively easier to get myself there. I am still working on getting back into bed and need assistance with that, but by that time the period of possible accidents has past and I can wait for assistance.
I think that the meltdowns are part and parcel with the process. I don't have the pain to explain mine either. Once you get the meds under control, I hope that is all you need to get on top of things. Don't be too hard on yourself though if you find yourself having mini-meltdowns every now and then as you are working through the recovery process. I do wonder if the process is more difficult for fiercely independent people (I'd be more likely to say having slight control freak tendencies if I just referring to myself and since I don't know you well enough, I won't use this description) as at this point in time we are reliant on other people to help us do simple things like get to the bathroom in time or in my case get my damned feet back into bed.
I got told that some of my meltdowns in the first week were assisted along to the weakness/exhaustion that I felt due to low haemoglobin and a couple of units of blood helped perk me up a little bit. Even if you don't need blood, you've been through a massive surgery and don't discount the effect that this has had on your body. How your body feels can absolutely affect your mood. Everyone is different and takes time to bounce back to their 'normal' selves. I didn't want to see anybody except for my husband in the first week. I was all over the place and didn't want anyone to see me so disabled. I did feel like I'd made a mistake that I couldn't take back and for a while I didn't really know what would happen to me if I couldn't do what I needed to do. I did have the spirit that I would try even when I thought I couldn't do something, I'd give it a go. Sometimes I'd try two or three times over the space of a couple of days before I'd get there. You've said you'd try and that's all you can do. When I think I'm going nowhere, I come back and read other people's posts about where they are now. The other people in the rehab ward are also inspiring. We are all here for different things and though I don't really talk to them about about any negative thoughts I might have, seeing progress in them and us all cheering each other on helps - far more than from the physios or nurses (who might be telling the truth - but unless you've done rehab, subconsciously I think I must figure that your opinion doesn't have as much impact)
I'm slowly getting back to normal and the things that upset and frustrate me now are more proportionate to the catalyst that has set them off. I'd say I'm a slow case emotionally (maybe because I am too hard headed to take things as they come and have placed too high expectations on myself), and I'm getting there so I figure you'll make it too :)
Take care Kate. I hope that the positive moments start to outweigh the negative ones soon and you begin to see progress that helps inspire your recovery along faster and further.
It sounds like the hospital leaves some room for improvement so don't take it all on yourself as that is a downward spiral that's too easy to fall into and not easy to pull yourself out of. It's ok if you are slow at rehab. It is so NOT ok for the PT to make you feel like that by commenting like that. Health professionals are supposed to realize that a patient's positivity aids recovery and shouldn't put you down like that. I got upset first at being told a negative from a PT but then I got mad. I got my back up with a I'll show you attitude (which might have been her point but it seriously wasn't the right way to make it).
Are there any social work or occupational therapy services available to you while in hospital? I know I benefited from talking through the emotions and also by working out ways around some of the things that were big issues for me with the OT (stepping over shower ledge - didn't think about sideways did I?) just getting one thing sorted out helps to be more positive and other things follow. Don't focus on the if only, maybe try focus on one good thing even if it is unrelated and work from there.
And stairs - still working on it - the lifting is screwing me up - you should be ok with this bit and I'd guess yours is the pain and balance and maybe quads? These shouldn't be too far away for you - keep on the bed exercises - just the ones you can - they all make a difference. You'll see small improvements and will slowly be able to more of the others. The connections are still all there, it just takes a little time to wake them up and work them again.
Things suck at the moment but do you remember why you did this? It's a little way away but dream about that. Remind yourself each day what you are working through this for. You will get there. It's hard and you might not think you can make it but you need to think about something good again, something to remind you why this will be worth it soon.
Hiya, I got though my pre op no problems, They gave me a date for my revision surgery 19th May at Wrightington Hospital nr Wigan uk. I am having an epidural with sedation i just hope they keep me a sleep.On 4th may i had a visit from ocupational therapy to see what i need when i come out of hospital, raised loo seat and frame, commode, highback chair for the lounge, aperching stool and a grabber, all this was delivered the day after and all brand new. God bless the NHS
Kate, way to go. It gets better every week. Just hold on and let your fam, doc and body do its thing. I was whacked and scared after surgery. Even today, there is always something that seems off. For example, I still limp but it gets better each week.
Don't fear telling others how u feel. Make new posts, if something else comes up. The people at Surface Hippy really helped me through.I dont know these people from a hole in the wall but I told things that no one else has ever heard. I just hope I don't run for political office - Half and Phil might use it against me. I hope they are not from the U.S.
Thanks Hipn.
Appreciate the support. Really. You guys are amazing.
Take 'er easy ~~
Kate