Lefty: status post Day #2

All in all, things are looking up! Lefty is done and I'm officially on my way to a FULL recovery!!! Woohoo!!! My immediate post-op was a little rough, but we got through it and I'm now sitting in my favorite recliner at our new friend's (The Peters Family) house here in Augusta, Georgia. I can't say enough how lovely it is to have a warm and inviting home to rest in, instead of a hotel. Praise God for His people...loving and kind and generous. I pray that when the opportunity presents itself, that we will be able to return the favor to someone in need of a warm place to lay their head, a cozy meal and friendly banter. We have made lifelong friends here and praise God for them every day!

As for me, well it's pretty much like before...just on the opposite side ;-) Pain is rough at first when moving, but definitely manageable. I am getting up and stretching and walking as frequently as I can tolerate. Plans are to fly home to Texas tomorrow....and boy am I ready! Missing my kiddos something fierce! Besides, we have some serious holiday FUN ahead and I need to get my crutches all warmed up and ready to rock!

Countdown is on!!!

In only 24 hours (give or take) Lord-willing, lefty will be FIXED for good!!! Pre-op going well....pretty much identical to last time. Sure am missing these guys though.... Thank God for FaceTime on the iPhone! :-D

Giving Of Thanks

I am beyond elated to get ourselves to Georgia to get this other hip finally, FINALLY fixed! But some mixed emotions keep sliding in and out of my mind. I am a little worried that this surgery will be much tougher than the last. Logic would say this is a false concern....that the right one is fixed, therefore it is strong enough to withstand bearing most of the weight. However, reality is that it is still healing...even after 3 months, it is still in the heart of restoration and healing. And that may prove to be challenging now that it will be bearing most of the "stress". I pray that I, myself, am strong enough to press forward, to work hard through physical therapy, to keep moving when my body doesn't want to. I pray for patience, that I won't feel defeated when my legs won't carry me as I would like them to, as quickly as I would like them to. I pray that my family and friends remain loving and patient with me when my awkwardness and pain keeps me from moving about as they can (this really isn't a concern, my family and friends have been so incredibly supportive!!! But I pray nonetheless). I pray that our children are well cared for in our absence, that we will be missed, but that they will be content without us as well....that their young lives are as negatively effected as little as possible. I pray that the physical pain is well-controlled and that the long travel there and back home is uneventful and safe. I pray that I can drive right away (seriously, that was SUCH a pain in the rear when righty hip was out of commission...I HATE being chauffeured!!). I pray that we remain financially "okay", especially through the holidays. This is quite possibly the WORST time of year to be having surgery as major as this. But alas, it is what it is and we press forward to bigger and brighter things!

We celebrated Thanksgiving a few days ago, and now I offer up my own prayers of thanksgiving.... Thank you Lord God for blessing me with such loving and supportive family and friends. When I stop and think about it, I am overwhelmed...flooded with tears of joy and praise, that God would be so loving to give me these amazing people in my life! I don't deserve it, and yet He continues to bless me day after day. How great is our God!!! Thank you Lord, for my husband. He is truly the rock in my life, the solid place I can trust to not only be protected, but compassionately cared for and unconditionally loved. Thank you Lord for my dear children. Again, overwhelmed with tears when I think of my kiddos. They are so young, and yet so mature in their attitudes, their empathy toward others, their responsibility toward not only themselves, but to their family and friends....and their innocent love of God. They completely amaze me! So much, Lord...far too much, the blessings in my life. I don't deserve them, and yet You give them so freely to me. May I be a living example of You. May I live my life as You would have me do, loving and kind toward others, as your Son, Jesus. May I be an instrument of Your goodness and peace.  In your Son's precious name...Amen.

Countdown...again!

Thursday we carve the turkey....then Tuesday we carve the hip.  Sorry, that's kinda gross huh?  Well, I'm excited.  Sounds weird, but I am.  I think because the last hip surgery went so smoothly and I'm already beginning to see the change in my right hip (increased ROM, less pain, etc.), I'm anticipating this will be the same.  I'm just ready to be done already, for cryin out loud!  I'm ready to actually join the mobile human race again and not have to "think through" a walk of any distance.  "Will I need my cane?"  "Should I use the handicapped parking today?"  "Am I 'crippled enough' to warrant stares from other shoppers?"  "Should I just keep the crutches handy, ya know 'just in case'?"  Kinda sick of all that....  But alas, I see the light!  And the light looks good from over here :-)

To recap...here's another little lesson in basic hip anatomy and then in "Amy's hip anatomy":

Here is a picture of a normal hip.  So, you see where the labrum is...it's the tissue that seperates the "cup" from the "saucer".  Well, MY labrum on the right hip was completely torn off, flipping on itself and pinching between the bones with each and every step.  Yeah, owwwwch!!!   But, now it's been repaired with some handy dandy screws.  Word has it that the labrum is torn on the left too...we shall see how bad when Doc gets in there.





Now, you see a hip with Femoroacetabular Impingement (FAI), this one doesn't show any dysplasia like I have, but you get the idea.  So basically, in a nutshell, there's bone where it doesn't belong and therefore rubs and bumps against one another.  Yeah, again, owwwwch!!!  So, the fix is either to break the pelvis and rearrange the entire thing and screw it back together, OR....a less invasive option is to "shave and trim" the bone so that it no longer bumps and rubs together. This is what we did with the right hip in August and the plan is to do the same to lefty on Tuesday.  Yay!!!

Nesting

Making sure all my little chickadees are in a row...

It is now exactly 24 days until, hopefully, my final surgery of all hip surgeries.  Woohoo!  Now it's lefty's turn, or as I call it, the "virgin" hip (it's the one that's never been operated on in the past).  Strangely enough, I seem to have turned a bit of a corner the past day or so.  The pain in the left is surpassing the right...which by my calculations, sounds about right.  The right one is still healing, no doubt.  But the pain in the left is a more acute, sharp, throbbing and the right is stiff and fatigued....very different.  So, as weird as it sounds...this is actually a good thing!  Seems like the right is healing up as it should and the left is about ready to throw in the towel.  Good thing...because the right is about to get a big wake-up call here in a few weeks.  Hope it's ready to withstand all the pressure and there are no setbacks.  Only time will tell....  In the meantime, I've had the strangest "nesting instinct" take over my brain.  And no, I'm NOT pregnant!  But, it feels very similar to when I was expecting my babies.  Perhaps it's because I know that here in only a few weeks I won't be able to squat and scrub those baseboards or climb to dust the ceiling fans (how the heck does dog hair get up on the ceiling fans?!  Seriously???).  I've even already warned my family that my Christmas decorating will be done BEFORE Thanksgiving *gasp*!  I mean, I can't very well trim a tree properly if I'm on crutches, now can I? So, while there's barely a dent in the Halloween candy...I'm already getting all the lights and garland and ornaments down from the attic.  And one simply cannot properly decorate a home for the holidays without listening to *clutching the pearls* Christmas music!!!  I've never loved Pandora more than I do right now!  My kids think I'm nuts, but of course my husband has known this fact for years now.  We just celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary and that man is proficient in the ways of his wife around the holidays.  He has wisely learned to just be a spectator and let the madness commence...it will be beautiful when all is said and done, so just leave me to my holly jolly nuttiness and peace will come to all in the end.  Now, I just need a warm cozy beverage and we're all set!

Peppermint Hot Cocoa with whipped cream...all is right with the world.  Blog on!

*sigh* NOT my house...but a girl can dream, right?