Hola, all -- happy fall and hope everyone had a great summer.  I pushed the second hip re-surfacing back to this fall so I could enjoy a summer on my horses and in the mountains.  The not-yet-fixed hip has been manageable (failing fast, though) so I hated to give up the brief summers we get.  Turned out to be a good decision although for an unforeseen reason -- we ended up having to evacuate for the Funny River wildfire at the end of May, so I was very happy to not be on crutches for that little adventure.  No damage to our property; horses, dogs, cats, goats and pigs got to go live at a friends for a couple weeks.  The fire got within 3/4 of a mile of our place but by then we had everything important out. 

Dr. Gross said I'm a candidate for outpatient surgery on the second hip due to my overall health and the fact my recovery the first time was totally uneventful - I never took a pain pill and despite being on the slow recovery program, I only missed 7 days of work.  I'm looking forward to outpatient!  My husband can take me to the hotel as soon as I'm awake and all systems functioning, we'll spend 5 days hanging out at the hotel and then fly home.  I'm very happy to not have a 2-day hospital stay!  My insurance provider had a little struggle to approve the procedure, but we got there eventually.  It's a substantial cost savings, less than half including the hotel! 

Will keep everyone posted.  Surgery is scheduled for November so I'm in pre-op prep mode, swimming 5 days a week, biking, lots of hiking, and just came back from a 5-day girls only horseback moose hunting / camping in the rain trip.  Yoga, weights, and I'll do the pre-op cold laser protocol again as I think it really helped. 

Wow! that's great. As close as a one-night stay is to outpatient, I didn't know anyone actually did that. That will be very cool if that works out.

I am in Alaska too (well, nearly, Anchorage anyway) and now 2 weeks post-op from a bhr. Glad the fire didn't cause any property or personal damage.

All the best!

Hola, all - update post -op.  Flew to NC on Nov 12th, did all the pre-op work at Dr. Gross' office on the 13th and then goofed off for the weekend.  Got to the surgery center Monday the 17th on time, there were 5 hips scheduled that day and I was #4.  They were having some equipment issues, so a pretty long delay before surgery.  I'm one of those who declines all drugs until absolutely necessary, so a stressful day ...  went in to the OR about 1:30, I remember sitting up for the spinal and nothing more until waking up about 4:30.  The surgery took a little longer than expected, lots of damage in the joint but Dr. Gross was happy with the outcome.  So much so that instead of the slow recovery program I was on last time I was upgraded to the fast track; 2 weeks on crutches and 2 more with a cane. I use trekking poles instead, they work better for me.  I was up and about by 6 pm and back at the hotel by 8 pm with no pain.  Ate a light dinner and spent a lot of time on the ice machine.  Home health nurse came by and was happy.  Decent night's sleep. 

Dr. Gross and the nurse both came by hotel the next morning and everybody was happy except my glut muscles which had to abruptly learn new angles and were NOT happy.  Lots of cramping but moving around and stretching helped.  I accused Dr. Gross of whacking me in the butt with a baseball bat :) which is about what it felt like! 

No pain meds after the mandatory 3-day long acting Nuycenta, which I didn't need.  Lots of sitting around in the sun, lots of water, all the exercises.  Nurse and Dr. Gross stopped by the second morning at the hotel and released me until 6 week follow up. 

8 hours of flight time home with one connection was by far the worst of the whole thing.  Lots of swelling but a day on the ice machine pretty much took care of that.  Tylenol only along with the prescription anti-inflammatories. 

I'll be back at work tomorrow, my job allows me to schedule office time so I've basically blocked the next four weeks to be either in the office or in training classes rather than in the field.

Outpatient is THE way to go!  The surgery center staff was awesome as was the hotel - they have an arrangement with Dr. Gross and waited on us hand and foot.  Recuperating in a hotel room or by the pool beats the hell out of being in the hospital! 

Now I can focus on full body recovery rather than pain management as has been the case the past couple years.  Very much looking forward to it.  Please ask anything --- if you have the option for outpatient, take it! 

Congrats! welcome to the bi-hippy club. Sounds like things went really well, now you're all done and can just recover.

Congrats! Sounds like a fast recovery. I'm seeing Dr. Gross in 3 weeks myself (not outpatient though).

Thank you for the words of support and yes, I'm glad to be a bi-lateral hippy!  My runner and swimming girls are full of ideas about tatoos I should have done with the scars .... nice to have a support group with a sense of humor! 

10 days post-op and I can't believe this recovery is easier than the first one; which I thought was impressive.  I'm full weight bearing today with trekking poles for balance -- being Alaska, we do have a bit of snow and ice around ..... I assume Dr. Gross would be unhappy with me if I were to fall and undo all his fine work. 

Surgical dressings came off yesterday; no drainage and minimal swelling.  Little itchy and some bruising.  No swelling at the knee or below, which is definitely different than the first one. 

The only thing I have changed in this pre- and post-op is I have added a couple essential oils for their anti-oxidant properties, and, no, I'm not a crazy cat lady.  A (very practical and sane) good friend recommended it and after I watched her recovery from a total shoulder reconstruction after a very traumatic injury I became a believer.  I think what the oils have done is help my body flush out the bruising and edema.  Plus I am drinking AT LEAST 3 liters of water a day. 

Worked full time this week and then some, no issues.  Since there are no scabs or weeping in the incision, I am planning to be back in the pool next week.  I swim in a competition temperature pool (read: freeze your butt off) and I think it really helped with the first recovery.  Good cardio and full body movement, but no impact. 

Did I mention NO PAIN? 

As always, if I can answer any questions, please let me know either on the forum of PM.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  I have much to be thankful for this year and am very grateful.