7 days from now....

A couple of Facebook statuses to tell the story...

11/25/13 11:00 PM
A week and a day until the Great Hip Replacement Caper of 2013 enters Phase II (December 3) - and boy do I feel a lot better before this surgery than I did for the first one! What a difference Great Results make - and having some knowledge and experience - and some great doctors, nurses and their medical teams. 
Having my sister here as the home team leader will be so great, and Mariam too, as always - I love and appreciate EVERY person who gave their time and love the first time - but I confess that not having to build a spreadsheet and keep track of who has what shifts to watch after me is so much easier. However, I would LOVE visits through December! Laughter is pretty swell physical therapy. 


11/26/13 7:50 PM

Today, I had a great pre-op consult with my very cool and skilled (and yes - cute!  ) surgeon. He was pretty excited about it too, and that was really neat! Thanks for going with me, Mariam! 

It was great - I was practically giddy when it was done. Green light, my sister Toni arriving tomorrow to hang out with me for the duration... T-Day with the brother and his fam, including the wee grand niece 
Next Tuesday is Go Day, and then it's nothin' but better. As much as I've said it, It begins to actually sink in that I will be *repaired*. So many years of deteriorating hip joints, and a lifetime of walking on deformed hips, without even knowing it...
Talk about your Thanksgiving!!  — feeling giddy and excited.

Truly - today, Dr. Smith was quite excited to talk about the upcoming surgery - really happy to see how excited I was, and he gives all the time you need in the world. He is respectful, and friendly, and it was great to see him pretty smiley this time. The last time, not knowing me, and not know what he might find, he was understandably a little conservative. I understand and appreciate it. 

But this time it's fun, because he sees how much more confident and relaxed I am, and we are both going in better-informed, and feeling a bit, I think, like co-conspirators in a wonderful event! 

I really like my surgeon, and am extremely fortunate that THIS guy is the guy I was able to sort of conjure in to my situation - I couldn't have asked for a better doctor and surgeon for *me*. He also trusts my choice of supplements - most MDs are skeptical... but he was totally respectful, and trusts that I am intelligent and study and learn before just jumping in to anything. I don't just take the latest trendy supplements. 

After the appointment, I made THREE shopping trips - to the drug store, the Gluten-free Grocery store for supplies to bake GF dinner rolls for Thanksgiving(and a coconut cream pie I didn't intend to buy, but what the hell, it's Thanksgiving!!) , and to the Co-op for some foodstuffs and 

I really am quite excited, and though emotions are running high, I am mostly quite happy - I am feeling a good lot of joy, and it feels *GREAT*! I'm feeling it because I know what to expect, and it's GOOD! 

Dr Smith did remind me that often people will feel something and think, "Hey - I didn't feel this last time!!" or such - I promised him i would be cautious, and it I had any questions, not to freak out, but to *ask*. Having a house- call nurse helps that a lot, too. 

It is amazing and marvelous to me that this time next week, I will be tucked into my hospital bed, having had surgery, my first post-op visit from Dr. Smith, sat or stood up already ( this time, milder pain meds, so perhaps this time I will be ready to stand up on the first day- Either is just fine!) , a good visit from Toni (one of my dear sisters) and Mariam (My dear friend who "stage Managed" my first surgery - organized, stayed with me, helped with everything)  - and then perhaps a  pain-med enhanced post or two on Face book - and then in three more days, home again, to begin the whole healing process again - and this time, to an end - not to the next phase. 

Two proper legs, learning to actually walk again, unsupported - I'm been using a walker with occasional short bits painfully supported on a cane since June. Hard to believe - six months since I have actually *WALKED* - and that, terribly unstable and painful. I cannot actually tell you the last time I walked without pain. 

But I WILL tell you the next time I do.