Steve’s hip  –I just had surgery at Wake Forest Medical
Center with Dr. Jinnah. Here is my story. Since I live in Virginia there
were a few logistics about how I would get to and from the hospital. I have
many friends who are pilots and one volunteered to take me to Wake Forrest
and also provide the return trip. I was not worried about getting down there
but getting back would pose some challenges. I went down with a companion
and we stayed at the Hawthorne the night before. Not a bad place and they do
have a shuttle.If I had to do it again though I would check out the Wingate. The morning
of surgery we went over at 6:30 AM and waited for 2 hours. I was called into
prep and that lasted about 30 minutes. My companion was allowed to wait
until it was time to take me in. When I was ready they gave me a “cocktail”
to make me sleepy. The next thing I remember was waking up in Post op. I had
a spinal block. There was no ill affects and it was much better than full
anesthesia. I felt nothing.

The first day I was pretty groggy but my pain was managed well. I never
got above 3 on a 1-10 scale. Slept fine the first night. They took the
catetheter out ( it was put in when I was asleep in surg) and I was hoping I
would be able to urinate. That turned out not to be the case and by 6 that
night I was uncomfortable. They had to reinsert the catheter but because of
my swelling it was difficult and took 4 attempts. That was very
uncomfortable. When they were about to go for number 5 (the fourth one
failed) I said “enough” and was somehow able to make it happen. From there
on ..no problems. My recommendations here is to see if you can take Flowmax
before surgery. They put me on it after that point and I have had no
problems.

In the hospital you get training from PT and OT which is not much as you
don’t need much. Its all about learning how to do certain things without
breaking hip restrictions. It was easy and fun. I was walking the day after
surgery, not fast but fine. Wake forrest likes to use walkers that work very
well.

I was discharged on Wednesday and made the flight home. I basically had
to back into the back section of our small plane ( a bonanza). It was very
similar to getting in or out of a car. As advised I have been staying ahead
on my pain meds which has helped.

Thursday ( first day home) I slept fine last night, no issues. In the
morning I got up and was able to go the bathroom and had my first bowel
movement since surgery. No big deal. I have been taking Fibercon which seems
to work fine. There has been much talk about drugs causing constipation and
it is a concern but not a huge one. First , take the pain pills, whatever
you’re concerns are about constipation they are minor compared to effect of
pain on your recovery. If you hurt you don’t move as much, drink as much and
so everything is slower. From my experience I would say drink as much as you
can and take a stool softener (they will prescribe one probably) Then
something like Fiberone.

I am in less pain today and was able to go down the stairs (12 of them)
without any issues. The swelling in my leg is starting to go down so walking
is easier. It is easy to overdue so I would suggest taking many small walks
and resting as well for the first couple weeks. At this point I would say
that the surgery and recovery is much less problematic than I imagined.