Countdown to my 2/23/11 resurfacing with Dr. Gross

[23109VC]

I have joined the surface hippy club!  I'm done!  Everything went as planned!  It feels great.

Everyone was so right, it was virtually pain free...I'm sitting here in my hospital bed typing on my iPad.... No pain.  Maybe some minor soreness in my hip area, but nothing that bothers me. I think geting the IV was maybe the most painful part....and that was just a little pin prick....  

When I got to the hospital I checked in with admitting.  Then waited for them to come get me.  They put me in preop, and did the standard stiff..blood pressure , temp,

They gave me some pills right away. Some celebrex and oxycontin.  I didn't fel much except some grogginess...very minor.  The IV was put in, and they put so anti bacterial swabs in my nose.  I got an anti nausea patch behind my ear.

They let my wife come back and sit with me afterward...and she was with me almost 30-45 minutes.   Maybe an hour?  It was great to have her there with me for support.

The profusionist came in with a big scary needle, but it ended up not hurting.  It looked a lot worse than it really was..and they had given me some happy juice by then so I was fine.  It was a big tube of blood they took to use in the surgery...they docsomething. To that blood and then jee it to aid bne growth and healing. Tjats what the profusionist said at least...

I have no memory of kthe surgery...the whole thing went on while I was sleeping.
I remember going to the operating room and moving off the gurney and onto the surgery table.  I remember the anesthesiologist telling me to bend forward and a nurse helped ,e lean forward....that's the last thing i remember.  I have no memory of the spinal itself.

I woke up and though "I'm done???". Weird feeling! But a good weird....I almost got tears in my eyes...I was so happy.  I have started to realizr that getting this surgery is going to be a life changing event in my life and my family's life too. Instead of being so limited, I'll be able to participate in so much more with my entire family!  The realization of that makes me emotional at times....it's good emotion.... :)

I'm now sitting in recovery.  I apparently missed dinner so all I'll get is a snack...but they said I can eat what i want so my wife went to grab me something to eat...

This whole thing was a million times easier than. I ever thought it would be.  It was not bad at all.  I am not in pain as I type this.  I'm excited to see how my hmew hip feels!  The numbing effect is still there. So i can't really fel my feet 100%.  When I first woke up i could barely wiggle my toes...that is wearing off and I can move my legs a bit more....  I can now move my operated leg side to side and a bit up and down.  I don't feel ANY joint pain!

I was able to call my family members and tell them everything was fine.  I didn't alk to Dr. Gross but he went to talk to my wife after the surfery...she was waiting in the hospital, and told her everything went well. 

I want to thank all of you who responded to my posts, emailed me, and offer words of encouragement!  I really appreciate the support. This website has been wonderful too...providing valuable info to help me research hip resurfacing!

I AM DONE!  WOO! HOO!

[obxpelican]

Glad to see you joined the club, we're glad you are in it and I am sure everyone will be happy that you are doing so well.

I told you that happy juice is the bomb, I told Lee afterwards that they should bottle that and sell it.

You'll do PT tomorrow as I think the PT staff work daylight.  They will get you on the steps I think the second time around.

Now off to good rehab to you young man, remember lot's of foot pumps and make sure they keep your ice machine filled up all the way till you checkout.

Chuck

[einreb]

Great job Sean!  I was thinking of you today.  That all sounds so recently familiar.  I almost miss the hospital grits. :)

I hear ya on the emotion side.  My wife told me today that I seem happier than I have been in a long time even though I'm running around on crutches.  Went out to dinner tonight with the family and had a blast.  Of course I'm icing it now... :)

[obxpelican]

Ok, I have to ask.... is Dr. Gross doing just aspirin or is he having people self inject a blood thinner?  I thought he went to the aspirin regime in leu of other drugs for blood clots.



Chuck

[FlbrkMike]

Great job Sean! 

Somebody should make an archive of all the "first post out of the OR" entries.

[Dayton96]

Great to hear you Sean.  I'm impressed you were able to type all of that on an iPad.  I keep getting tempted by those darn things.  I'm wondering what Apple has coming out in a couple of weeks for its iPad update.

Seriously, great stuff you have been writing.  You and Bernie and Chuck and all the other surface hippies, make it so much easier to pick a surgeon, prepare for surgery, and then get through it all.  I'm looking forward to hearing about you first day of PT.

By the way Bernie, how is your PT going?

Mac

[newdog]

Alright Sean! See, what did we tell you. The surgery is no sweat. The same thing happened to me, I was asked to lean forward and ZZzzzzz....... I don't remember a thing after that.
My wife and I are in Columbia right now for my 6 week post-op appointment tomorrow. We will stop at Providence H. tomorrow to visit the new hippys. See you then.

Love that happy juice!!

Steve (newdog)

[toby]

Sean,
Greetings from London.
I told you not to worry but just enjoy.. glad that you did-it just gets better and better from here on -just take it sensibly.
Best
Toby

[Dayton96]

By the way Sean.  There is a discussion on the yahoo site about how much an implant weighs.  Evidently the BHR is 1-1/2 to 2 lbs.  I'm assuming the Biomet has a similar weight.  Can you actually feel the extra weight?  It seems to me if you have an extra two pounds on one hip, that would throw off your stride or balance just slightly.

Mac

[moe]

That's why I told the doc, "make it a double!"  ;)

[einreb]

I'm looking forward to hearing about you first day of PT.

Sean, I think you will have the 'group therapy' tomorrow.  That one is pretty cool since you get put in a room with all the other resurfacing patients.  There is definitely a feeling of 'connection' with the others there that is nice.

[23109VC]

I'm lying in my bed at the hospital, about to go to sleep.  Thought I'd give you a quick update.

Pain has been very tolerable.  I'm taking two oxycontins a dat..one in am, one at night. I have another pain medc called Nucynta which I can take if I need it.  The worst pain has simply been a general feeling of stiffness or puffiness?  Not any sharp pain, just a dull kind of ache.  Not bad at all.  When I first woke up from surgery I had zero pain, but the spinal was stil working.  The worst the pain has ever been is a 3 or 4?  Nothing bad.  By taking the meds, the pain has been kept in check.

Today i did some PT in my room in the am, then in the pm we had group physical therapy.  That was fun vc I got to talk with the other people who had it done same day i did.  There were five of us in total.  Everyone there had travelled to see Dr. Gross.  One man was from Ohio, a spam from Colorado, one patient was a doctor himself...an opthamilogist who came from north Carolina.

It was fun to be with other people who had just been through the same thing. Yes, there was that feeling of us all being in the same boat..everyone shared stories of how their hip went bad...

I also got to meet "Newdog" in person!  He was in town for his 6 week followup and he stopped at the hospital to say hi to me. That was great to put a face to the posts and emails we shared!  

I made several trips around the hospital hallways on my crutches.  I can say that my hippain is really gone.  It is an amazing feeling to know the pain is gone.  I still dont have great range of motion..that will come in time...but, I have ben able to sit up straight and be in a position that normally would have made my hip joint give off sharp pain...and now....nothing..zero pain!!  There is the incision pain...but it is different.  The awful pain inside my hip ismgome!  Hasta la vista...baby!  

I do think the stiffness and sore Veling in my hip is worse tonight than it was before..so if you do this, know that it hurts a bit more on day 2.. But still...its not bad.

Dr. Gross stopped in to see me in the am.  I talked to him a fee minutes and he told me the surgery went great! I asked him how mich the implant costs...silly question, but I was curious.  He saidmthe actual hospital cost is $7,000.  Pricey little sucker eh?

The food here is fine.  Nothing to write home about, but it is not bad...I've had worse hospital food.  You will be happy with the meals

Free wifi in my room...but some cites were blocked...and no..I wasn't trying to surf porn...I tried to watch a Netflix movie with my iPad.no luck, Netflix blocked.  I can, however, acres most websites...check email, etc.  Nice.

I'll get released tomorrow.  I'll keep posting my progress.  Bottom line. I am so glad,I did this.  Having my hip pain gone is going to be life changing!



-Sean
Biomet uncemented, Dr. Gross, 2/23/11

[FlbrkMike]

It's great to hear that your'e doing so well, Sean.  Too bad about the Netflix, though.  They probably block it because it's such a bandwidth hog.  I kept myself occupied about half the night on my first night in the hospital watching George Carlin stand-up on Netflix.

[Dayton96]

Sean:

Smooth sailing from here.  Sorry to hear about the Netflix.  I've already loaded up my iPod with a bunch of old time radio programs, lots of music, and lots of podcast radio talk shows like Rick Steves' travel show.  What does your wife think of the experience?

Mac 

[obxpelican]

That was nice of the dog to visit you.

We're all happy you are doing so well, but we hate to tell you, "we told you so".

People generally have great results with Dr. Gross and crew, they really do have everything down to a science to make sure you have the best possible result.  Dr. Gross pretty much takes up the whole floor you are on, I've heard and I don't know this to be true but he controls who works that floor and how they are trained to take care of you.

I myself if my left goes on me would not be afraid whatsoever to get it done.


Chuck

[23109VC]

Dayton - I don't knowwhat the implant weighs.  I played with one at Dr.Gross's office but wasn't paying to much attention to what it weighed... It might weigh 1-2 lbs..it felt dense, but not excessively heavy.  I can tell you this, I can't feel anything in my hip..nothing .  My leg is stif and sore, but when I movemit around, innate ZERO sensation of something artificial being in my hip.  It just feels like me, but without any pain.  I'm not doing anything except wiggling my feet, getting in and out of bed, and walking up and down the hallways here in the hospital.  

I know the pain is gone, though, because before my surgery, even sitting up straighten bed would hurt.  I can sit up and when I get to the angle that should make me feel a sharp pain...there is no pain.  That is awesome.  I'm not allowed to bend my hip past 90 degrees for the next six weeks...but before surgery, bending my hip to even 70-80 degrees caused pain. That pain is gone.

I also had a lot of pain in my knee....I haven't felt any pain in my knee either!  Dr had told me the knee pain wasprobably referred pain from knee..and I say he was right, because the knee pain is gone!!!

I am supposed to be discharged sometime today.  It's 7am here and I am just resting in bed.  The nurse dame in a few minutes ago to remove my IV.

 I had a catheter too, but they took it out yesterday. The catheter kind of hurt cming out, butnonly for a split second.  I was out cold in the OR when they put it in, so i have no recollection of it going in, but woke up to see a tube coming out of you know what.. If you aremwondering how they take it out...they just yank it out..fast.  I would analogize it to pulling off a bandmaid...you can do it fast or slow, but fast mnimizesmhow long it hurts....same thing.  For a split second imhadna really uncomfortable feelingnin my penis...kind of a stinging feeling, but once it wasout..it stopped hurting.  So only a split second of pain...no biggie.  Inthink I had the catheter in a total of only like 15 hours.  Just overnight.  The first time I was able to go pee after the catheter was out, I had a harder time than normal going pee...I could go, but the flow would start and stop.   I was told having the catheter in can affect your bladder....ok....I knowmitsma bit weirdposting about bathroom stuff...but I figure a future hip patient is going to readmthis, and hopefully  this info will help you know exactly what to expect.

I am excited to be released and get back home.  I won't fly home until mon or tue, soi have a few more days to get stronger before I fly home.  I really miss my kids, so does my wife, and we are looking forward to being back home.  

If any of you are going to go through this, and you are single...I'd strongly suggest you get someone in your family to accompany you.  I am married and my wife came with me.   No matter how tough you think you are, it is a somewhat frightening experience...especially when you are in preop and you know you are moments away from the OR...once they give you the happy juice you will have no worries and no memories....but at least for me, having my wife here with me made it a million times better.  

I'll keep posting as I get back home and continue to improve.  If you are suffering with hip pain, and you are contemplating surgery, just do it.  I probablymshould have done this a couple years afo, but I opted to avoid surgery and just deal withnthe pain...only you knowmwhen the right time to have surgery is.  My logic was to wait as long as I could until the pain and negative impact on my life reached a point where I felt I couldn't tolerate the pain anymore.  In retrospect, I maybe should have done it a bit sooner.  I was partly willing to wait out of fear of the surgery.  there are positives to waiting, you can wait to see if better devices come out...or better evaluate devices being used.  If I had done my surgery back in 07 when it started getting bad,there would have been less data on Dr. Gross's uncemented setup...by waiting, I got to see four years of data which helped me choose him and that device....buti also suffed with pain for longer than I should have.

Ifmyou are reading this and you are in pain and contemplating surgery, I think you will just know when it is time.  That's how it was with me.  Imstarted researching the process, the doctors, but I wasn't ready to actually do it.  As my hip got worse, I got to a point where I was ready to do it.  

As to the person wondering about the iPad...I love mine. It's small light and simple to use. I've typed all these messages on it's virtual screen..you get the hang of it and get pretty fast.  Wait a bit to buy as I hear an updated iPad will be out soon.  You couldmalso score a sweet deal on a iPad when the nee one comes out, because the apple fans womhave to have the latest n greatest will craigslist theirs to get the new one.  An ipad is not a necessity, andit cant do everything a laptop can do....but it is very convenient.  Once you have one you will love it.

Anyway - the nurse just came in and said I will do morning physical therapy, see Dr. Gross, and then will be released.  I should be on my way to my hotel by lunch.

I'm really excited...I still have surgical,pain, but I can feel that my hip is fixed.  I know am giung to get better day by day and in a matter of weeks i am going to be walking a mile..and my range of motion will come back.  No more pain...ill be able play racquetball, ride my bike, and play with my kids pain free.  I've lived with hip pain for so long it is going to be so great to be able to just move around and not think about my hip!

I'm going to rest until breakfast shows up.... Talk to you all soon.  

[Lopsided]

Evidently the BHR is 1-1/2 to 2 lbs.

That sounds a bit heavy, Mac. I was told that the C+ (which I got) weights 300 grams, about 10 ounces. I imagine all devices are similar weight.

D.

[toby]

This topic has come up before and the response from several surgeons-Depends on the femoral/acetabular size-but most devices range ;D from 10-16 ounces.
I don't know how much the cement weighs though-maybe that extra pound!
Toby

[hernanu]

Congratulations Sean! great to hear that everything went so well. Now start your life up again, great to have you in the club. Are you going to do PT at home or outpatient PT?

[Tin Soldier]

Good job Sean, me too and happy to be done.

I drank too much beer the night before also, kinda stupid.