Hip Resurfacing Surgery Scheduled for September 3rd

[KevinLHitt]

As my date gets closer and I am becoming a bit anxious! However, my doctor, Dr. Joseph Jankiewicz from the SHARP orthopedic center in San Diego has been amazing.  He feels I will be able to handle going back into law enforcement if everything simply turns out normal.

I really want to get this done so that I can be pain free and stop taking these meds that have so much liver damaging capabilities!

My wife and I have decided, even if the law enforcement career doesn't pan out, simply being pain free will be worth it!

So I will be alone quite a bit as my wife will not be able to be there the three days I will be in the hospital.  I hope there are some people on here that will be around!

[Boomer]

Kevin,

If you are like most Hippys, you will have some difficulty sleeping for the first few weeks after surgery. It's the vampire stage of recovery, which then becomes the zombie stage before you start to get some real sleep. I remember posting at all hours of the night and getting plenty of responses to help me through the dark times. We'll be here for you. Post away!

Boomer

[Juno]

Best of luck! I am 5 weeks post op and it does get better. Although I definitely wish it was a faster recovery. I agree, sleeping is hard for the first few weeks. Do the best you can to get comfortable. Take the pain meds.

Everyone is so supportive here and really understands.

[Lauren Lee]

Kevin, I am 8 weeks post op and this site and all the people on it were great support and a wellspring of information and atta girl encouragement. I spent a lot of time on it and still check in almost every day. I think anyone on here will tell you the first couple of weeks are the toughest and you will have lots of questions about practical matters- most of which are addressed somewhere on this site. So much experience here. My doc checked it out before he recommended it and now recommends to his patients.
You won't be alone. A whole bunch of folks out in cyberspace either are seasoned hippy's, new hippy's or future hippy's. Best wishes for an uneventful recovery. Slow and steady...I am learning. You can't rush the healing. Can't be done. I tried.
As far as being on your own in the hospital- I tell you I napped a whole lot (when I wasn't up with PT or walking) and really didn't care if I had visitors or not.  If people came I just wanted them to leave after a half hour or so so I could go back to sleep. I took a whole pile of books and things to do and they pretty much stayed in the bag. I can't even recall watching a lot of TV. They can control any pain that you have (and it will probably be less than you had pre-surgery)  but the only cure for the probably drug induced fatigue I had was sleep. And it felt so good.
Be sure and let us know how you are doing when you can.

[Granton]

Hi Kevin,

If you didn't get a bit anxious there would be something wrong with you. I lay in my hospital bed the night before surgery thinking "I'm not really in that bad a way. Perhaps I should just get up and go home." That was nearly fourteen years ago and I am very glad I didn't.

Scheduled for my other one 8th Oct. I hope to be less anxious this time around.

David

[Reno]

Hi Kevin-

Congrats on your upcoming hip surgery.  My THR surgery date is fast approaching, just over a week prior to yours, on Aug 26th at 2:00pm.  YIKES!!!  I am scared to death, and like David indicated, I keep toying with the question of the necessity of the operation.  Really, there is no question, as I could run screaming in the streets at some points due to the pain and feeling of being a virtual invalid at this point.

So, your anxiety is normal, I would say. It sounds like you have faith in your doctor, as do I, which is critical to reducing the anxiety, perhaps just a wee bit... :-(    Good luck with your surgery and recuperation. I will be following your progress.

Take care.
Reno

[Anna]

Good luck Kevin, I will look forward to your updates 

[Charvel101]

Good luck Kevin I am going in in 2days I will let you know how easy it was (-:  ,,, Chris